People v. Lara

This case presents question as to whether defendant was properly convicted of predatory criminal sexual assault for inserting his finger into vagina of 8-year old girl? Appellate Court, in finding that evidence supported only conviction for lesser-included offense of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, found that govt. had failed to present any evidence to corroborate defendant’s confession that he had placed finger inside victim’s vagina. In its petition for leave to appeal, govt. argued that evidence independent of confession need not prove charged offense beyond reasonable doubt nor be so strong that it establishes corpus delicti on its own.