Opinion ID: 3134354
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Ill 2d 1, 27 (1994); see also Fair, 159 Ill. 2d at 89; Brisbon,

Text: 129 Ill. 2d at 218; People v. Salazar, 126 Ill. 2d 424, 468 (1988); People v. Free, 94 Ill. 2d 378, 422-23 (1983). After considering Roberts' testimony in light of these principles, we find her testimony to be both relevant and reliable. We first note that any evidence regarding a defendant's character, including proof of prior misconduct that has not resulted in prosecution or conviction, is relevant. See People v. Patterson, 154 Ill. 2d 414, 476 (1992); Salazar, 126 Ill. 2d at 468. Roberts' testimony was relevant to defendant's character because it showed that defendant was responsible for threatening a prosecution witness. As such, it reflected on defendant's violent character. In addition to being relevant, Roberts' testimony regarding the phone threat was also reliable because a combination of factors establish a sufficient connection between defendant and the third party's threat. First, defendant and the third party were both high-ranking members of the Maniac Latin Disciples street gang. Second, the threat specifically named defendant as the one whom Roberts should not testify against. The fact that defendant did not directly make the threat does not make this evidence less reliable given defendant's prior conversations with Roberts. When defendant believed that Montanez was going to turn State's evidence on her, she solicited Roberts to murder Montanez. Following Roberts' refusal, defendant said she would take care of it herself. When defendant learned that Roberts herself turned State's evidence, defendant called Roberts and threatened that she would be dealt with later. Then, a week before Roberts was to testify at defendant's death penalty hearing, she received a threatening phone call from a Maniac Latin Disciples gang member, who told her that if she testified against defendant he would have her killed. The totality of these circumstances demonstrates a sufficient link between defendant and the last threatening phone call made to Roberts. Roberts' testimony was therefore properly admissible as both relevant and reliable evidence. Defendant's reliance on our decision in People v. Lucas, 151