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Filed 11/16/07 NO. 4-06-0945

IN THE APPELLATE COURT
OF ILLINOIS
FOURTH DISTRICT

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, ) Appeal from
Plaintiff-Appellee, ) Circuit Court of

v. ) Sangamon County
MALCOLM A. FARRELL, ) No. 06CF635

Defendant-Appellant. )
) Honorable
) Robert J. Eggers,
) Judge Presiding.

JUSTICE COOK delivered the opinion of the court:

In August 2006, a jury found defendant, Malcolm A.
Farrell, guilty of aggravated robbery. In October 2006, the
trial court sentenced him to a 20-year prison term. Defendant
appeals, arguing the trial court erred by allowing the State to
introduce evidence of defendant's 1988 theft conviction for
impeachment purposes. We affirm.

I. BACKGROUND

On June 15, 2006, the State charged defendant by
information with aggravated robbery. 720 ILCS 5/18-5(a) (West
2004). The State alleged that on May 26, 2006, defendant took
Richard Desollar's wallet by threatening the imminent use of
force. Defendant purportedly indicated to Desollar, during the
robbery in the restroom at the Springfield Amtrak station, that
he had a firearm.

Prior to trial, the State filed a notice of intent to
impeach defendant with his prior convictions for armed violence
and armed robbery, both Class X felonies, and theft over $300, a

Class 3 felony. Judgments of conviction for those offenses were
entered on June 6, 1988; defendant received a 25-year sentence
for each of the Class X felonies and a 5-year sentence for the
theft conviction, with all three sentences to run concurrently.
Defendant had been released on mandatory supervised release (MSR)
on September 18, 2001, but returned to prison in November 2002
for an MSR violation. He was again released on October 17, 2003.
The trial court determined that the introduction of the armed

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