People v. Begay

              FOURTH DIVISION
November 1, 2007
No. 1-05-2453
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, ) Appeal from the
) Circuit Court of
Plaintiff-Appellee, ) Cook County.
)
v. ) 02 CR 13079
)
SYLVIA BEGAY, ) Honorable
) Daniel P. Darcy,
Defendant-Appellant. ) Judge Presiding.
JUSTICE O'BRIEN delivered the opinion of the court:
Defendant, Sylvia Begay, appeals her jury convictions for armed violence and aggravated
battery and her sentence of 10 years' imprisonment for the armed violence count and a concurrent
sentence of 5 years' imprisonment for aggravated battery. On appeal, defendant contends: (1) the
circuit court erred in allowing prejudicial other crimes evidence where the State did not establish
defendant's connection to the other crime; (2) defendant's counsel provided ineffective assistance
when he failed to challenge a prospective juror who stated she could not be fair; (3) during closing
arguments, the State improperly shifted the burden of proof to the defense; and (4) defendant's
aggravated battery conviction and sentence must be vacated pursuant to the one-act, one-crime rule
because it arose from the same act forming the basis for her armed violence conviction, and is a
lesser-included offense of armed violence. We affirm the conviction and sentence for armed violence,
vacate the conviction and sentence for aggravated battery, and correct the mittimus.
At trial, Terry Pringle (the victim) testified that he was employed as a police officer with the
Chicago police department. He and defendant had a relationship for approximately 3 ½ years before
the relationship ended in the early part of 2002. On May 1, 2002, around 12 a.m., the victim was