People v. Cavette

Defendant was convicted, after jury trial, of armed habitual criminal and unlawful possession of cannabis. Defendant's armed habitual criminal conviction must be reversed as his 2011 conviction for aggravated unlawful use of a weapon (AUUW), a predicate offense, is void ab initio, as AUUW statute has been subsequently found facially unconstitutional. Defendant sufficiently proved trial court's instruction was an erroneous statement of law, improperly authorizing the jury to use the evidence of other crimes beyond the limited purpose of satisfying the predicate felony elements of the armed habitual criminal offense. Error was plain error, as evidence at trial was closely balanced. (HARRIS and CAVANAGH, concurring.)