This is the actual text of an excerpt from the dissenting
opinion by former Chief Justice William Heiple of the Illinois Supreme
Court. (We are not sure if he is still doing stand-up.)
A learned professor of the zoological
sciences was performing tests on a frog. He observed that if he stood
several feet behind the frog and clapped his hands sharply, the frog would
jump three feet. The professor cut off the frog's left hind leg and
repeated the hand clapping. This time the frog jumped only two
feet. He then cut off the frog's right hind leg and again clapped his
hands. This time the frog didn't jump at all. The learned
professor concluded that cutting off a frog's hind legs causes deafness.
The moral of the story is that it is
possible to have almost everything right and still draw the wrong
conclusion. So it is with the majority opinion in this case.
In re Decker, 153 Ill.2d 298 at 329-330, 606
N.E.2d 1094 at 1109 (Ill. 1992).
