People v. Brown

Defendant was convicted, after jury trial, of 1st degree murder, and jury found that he personally discharged a firearm that caused victim's death  and sentenced to 55 years. Court did not err in dismissing Defendant's postconviction petition at the 2nd stage. Defendant claimed ineffective assistance of counsel in failing to seek exclusion of a State's witness's testimony based on violation of court's pretrial witness-exclusion order. Whether to exclude witness testimony is within discretion of court. Even if it would have been excluded, it is unlikely the outcome would have been different, as there were 3 eyewitnesses in close proximity to shooting which was in a residential area during daytime. (CUNNINGHAM and CONNORS, concurring.)