A jury found defendant guilty of all charges, and he was given 2 concurrent sentences of 12 years in prison on the armed violence and criminal conspiracy charges and 2 concurrent sentences of 3 years in prison on the remaining counts. Defendant filed motions for a new trial and to reconsider the sentences, which were denied by the trial court. He appeals only his convictions for calculated criminal drug conspiracy and unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon, as well as the trial court's failure to grant him full credit for time served in pretrial and presentence custody. When considering the sufficiency of the evidence, we must determine whether, after viewing all the evidence in the light most favorable to the prosecution, any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond a reasonable doubt. This court rejected the application of accountability to a charge of calculated criminal conspiracy because a separate element of the charge required the coordinated actions of at least three people.
Accountability circumvents the requirement that the State prove each conspirator's culpability.
We find no compelling justification to depart from this reasoning. 135 Ill. App. 231 Ill. App. Neither case, however, refers to any accountability theory in its analysis. The State has failed to offer sufficient proof to support a conviction for calculated criminal drug conspiracy.