People v. Gonzalez

              Sixth Division
December 12, 2008
No. 1-05-3779
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS,
Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
GILBERTO GONZALEZ,
Defendant-Appellee.
)))))))))))
Appeal from
the Circuit Court
of Cook County
03 CR 135
Honorable
James B. Linn,
Judge Presiding.
JUSTICE McBRIDE delivered the opinion of the court:
Following a jury trial, defendant, Gilberto Gonzalez, was found guilty of first degree
murder and of personally discharging a firearm which proximately caused the death of the victim,
Jesse Sandoval. The trial court sentenced defendant to a term of 48 years’ imprisonment. On
appeal, defendant contends that: (1) he was denied a fair trial because the trial court failed to take
any remedial action when it knew that a juror may have fallen asleep during some of the
proceeding; (2) the trial court improperly instructed the jury on felony murder based on the
predicate offense of aggravated discharge of a firearm; and (3) he was denied a fair trial by
improper comments made by the prosecution during closing arguments. For the reasons that
follow, we affirm.
Defendant was charged by indictment with the first degree murder of Jesse Sandoval,
aggravated discharge of a firearm at Manuel Rayo, and aggravated discharge of a firearm at
Eduardo Negrete. The first degree murder charge was brought under three different theories -
intentional murder, knowing murder (also called strong probability murder), and felony murder.