Court Opinion

ID: 9732846
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 16:38:54.368859+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:23:42.434312
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE WELCH, dissenting: I must dissent in this case. I do not find that the prosecutor’s comments during closing argument amounted to plain error of a prejudicial dimension. I find that the prosecutor properly commented on the credibility of the witnesses in light of the fact that Wyatt’s testimony was directly contradicting to that of the defendant. (People v. Spann (1981), 97 Ill. App. 3d 670, 679-80, 422 N.E.2d 1051, 1058, cert. denied (1982), 455 U.S. 954, 71 L. Ed. 2d 671, 102 S. Ct. 1462.) Further, his isolated comment, “There’s nobody here for the People, just you,” did not directly state that Wyatt or her family was personally threatened by the defendant or his family. Rather, I find that the statement is ambiguous, and as such, I cannot agree with the majority that it is so prejudicial to the accused constituting reversible error or that it was a material factor in the defendant’s verdict and that such verdict would have been different had it not been made. (97 Ill. App. 3d 670, 422 N.E.2d 1051.) Thus, since the defendant did not show that the statement was made in bad faith and it resulted in substantial prejudice to him, I do not find that there are grounds for reversal.