People v. Williams

              1
SIXTH DIVISION
June 20, 2008
No. 1-06-0141
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, ) Appeal from the
) Circuit Court of
Plaintiff-Appellee, ) Cook County, Illinois.
)
)
) No. 04 CR 11378
v. ))
SEDGWICK WILLIAMS, ) Honorable
) James B. Linn,
Defendant-Appellant. ) Judge Presiding.
JUSTICE JOSEPH GORDON delivered the opinion of the court:
Following a bench trial in the circuit court of Cook County defendant, Sedgwick
Williams, was found guilty of aggravated kidnaping (720 ILCS 5/10-2(a) (West 2002)) and
sentenced to 25 years’ imprisonment. On appeal, defendant contends that (1) the State failed to
prove him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt; (2) the trial court erred in denying his motion to
quash the search warrant and to suppress evidence; (3) the trial court erred in denying his motion
to dismiss the indictment; (4) the trial court abused its discretion when it found that two child
witnesses were competent to testify at trial; (5) the trial court erred when it permitted Chicago
police detective Robert Smith to testify regarding a photo identification by Malik Baker where
the prosecutor never questioned Malik about his photo identification; and (6) the trial court erred
when, at various phases of the trial, it departed from its function as a trial court and assumed the
role of a prosecutor. For the reasons that follow we reverse.