People v. McCleary

State: Illinois

Court: 4th District Appellate

Docket No: 4-03-0759 Rel

Case Date: 11/16/2004

NO. 4-03-0759

IN THE APPELLATE COURT

OF ILLINOIS

FOURTH DISTRICT

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS,
                        Plaintiff-Appellee,
                        v.
BRIAN T. McCLEARY,
                        Defendant-Appellant.

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Appeal from
Circuit Court of
Coles County
No. 02CF61

Honorable
Ashton C. Waller,
Judge Presiding.

JUSTICE STEIGMANN delivered the opinion of the court:

In January 2002, the State charged defendant, BrianMcCleary, with manufacturing a controlled substance (900 grams ormore of any substance containing methamphetamine or any salt ofan optical isomer of methamphetamine, or an analog thereof) (720ILCS 570/401(a)(6.5)(D) (West 2000)), and possession of a controlled substance (900 grams of more of any substance containingmethamphetamine or any salt of an optical isomer of methamphetamine) (720 ILCS 570/402(a)(6.5)(D) (West 2000)). Following aJanuary 2003 bench trial, the trial court found defendant guiltyof both offenses. In September 2003, the court sentenced defendant to 17 years in prison on the manufacture-of-a-controlled-substance conviction but did not sentence him as to the unlawful-possession conviction.

Defendant appeals, arguing that (1) he did not effectively waive his right to a jury trial, (2) he was denied hissixth-amendment right to effective assistance of trial counsel(U.S. Const., amend VI), (3) his sentence violated the proportionality clause of the Illinois Constitution (Ill. Const. 1970,art. I,