Illinois Appellate Court
Criminal Court
Expert Witnesses
On retrial, Defendant was convicted by jury of first degree murder of 8-year-old girl shot in check-out line of grocery. Court properly denied Defendant's request to further impeach, with "numerous prior inconsistent statements", a material and unavailable witness, whose testimony from first trial was read to jury. Fingerprint expert's opinion was properly admitted as it had sufficient evidentiary foundation; Defendant admitted he may have touched items found in garage, and his fingerprints were found on objects in garage controlled by Defendant's gang . Defendant was not entitled to Frye hearing to challenge fingerprint examiner's methodology. (CAHILL, concurring; R.E. GORDON, dissenting.)