Criminal Law

Defendant was convicted, after jury trial, of robbery and domestic battery. Court failed to give potential jurors the opportunity to respond as to their acceptance of presumption of innocence, which was a clear and obvious error. However, evidence was not closely balanced. State was not required to prove a lasting physical injury to sustain a conviction for domestic battery. Victim's testimony was corroborated before, during, and after the struggle with Defendant. Voicemail message captured the event itself, and witness and responding officer observed victim's physical state and that her apartment appeared in disarray. (REYES and MARTIN, concurring.)

Defendant was convicted of aggravated DUI of alcohol while driving without a valid driver's license. Court found that Defendant violated his probation by failing to report to his probation officer. Defendant was never informed of the nature of the alleged violation of probation, and was not informed of the potential consequences of a finding that he had violated his probation. Defendant was provided incorrect information as to the basis of the alleged violation, and learned the actual basis only at time of hearing. Given these multiple errors, court did not substantially comply with the Rule 401(a) admonishments in permitting Defendant to waive counsel, and court's failure to admonish Defendant of the sentencing range rose to level of plain error. Court did not abuse its discretion by failing to hold a hearing sua sponte into Defendant's fitness for trial. Defendant's lack of legal knowledge does not render him unfit. Defendant was able to assert a defense for the claims against him, suggesting that he understood the charges against him. (REYES, concurring; LAMPKIN, specially concurring.)

Circuit court summarily dismissed Defendant's pro se postconviction petition, but circuit clerk did not send notification of the order to Defendant until 21 days later. Clerk thus failed to comply with Rule 651(b) by failing to provide Defendant with the required notice of an adverse judgment. Defendant's untimely notice of appeal is treated as a petition to file a late notice of appeal, and thus appellate court has jurisdiction to consider the appeal on the merits. Circuit court's summary dismissal of postconviction petition was made within 90 days of its filing and was thus in compliance with the Post-Conviction Hearing Act. Judgment affirmed as Defendant raises no substantive arguments on appeal. (FITZGERALD SMITH and LAVIN, concurring.)

According to the plain and ordinary meaning of section 2-702(g)(4) of the Code of Civil Procedure, a defendant who has pled guilty caused or brought ab out his or her conviction and is not entitled to a certificate of innocence. It is the defendant's burden to prove b y a preponderance of the evidence that he did not cause or bring about his conviction. Defendant's testimony that his confession was the result of police coercion was not credible and was otherwise uncorroborated. Circuit court did not have to credit Defendant's explanation for why he pleaded guilty or ignore the fact that he never claimed his guilty plea was not voluntary.  (COGHLAN, concurring; WALKER, dissenting.)

Defendant was convicted of 2 counts of attempted 1st degree murder and 2 counts of aggravated battery with a firearm. One victim testified at trial that Defendant was the shooter. The other victim, who did not testify at trial, submitted an affidavit years later unequivocally stating that he was speaking with Defendant just before the shooting when someone other than Defendant shot him. He also stated that he told detectives that Defendant was not the shooter and that he was unaware of Defendant's trial and would have testified that Defendant was not the shooter had he known about the trial.  Detective testified that he searched for this victim for 30-45 days prior to trial and could not find him. Affidavit meets the criteria for newly discovered evidence; it is of such conclusive character that it would probably change the result on retrial. (ELLIS, specially concurring; McBRIDE, dissenting.)