Illinois Appellate Court
Criminal Court
Closing Argument
(Modified upon denial of rehearing 5/5/15.) Prosecution made impermissible argument in criminal case for drive-by shooting in apparent gang dispute. Prosecutor improperly vouched, saying, "When a gang member comes before us and is charged with an offense, we don't just take everything he says for truth immediately, we check it out." This statement urged jury to believe his witness over Defendant because of government's verification of witness' version of event. Testimony thus became that of prosecutor rather than that of witness. Prosecutor impermissibly implied that he knew something that jury did not, but implication had no evidentiary basis.(PIERCE and LIU, concurring.)