People v. Barnes

Defendant was convicted, after jury trial, of aggravated battery of a child. Using a four-year-old child as an exhibit was extremely prejudicial as risk of inflaming jury outweighed probative value of evidence. State did not meet its requirement of showing more than mere suspicion that Defendant actually caused victim's liver contusion. Court properly barred evidence of victim's mother's prostitution arrests and loss of custody of her children.Evidence was sufficient to prove Defendant guilty of aggravated battery beyond a reasonable doubt; thus, no double jeopardy impediment to new trial on those counts. (NEVILLE and PUCINSKI, concurring.).