2023 IL App (4th) 220717 FILED June 28, 2023 NO. 4-22-0717 Carla Bender 4th District Appellate IN THE APPELLATE COURT Court, IL OF ILLINOIS FOURTH DISTRICT THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, ) Appeal from the Plaintiff-Appellee, ) Circuit Court of v. ) Peoria County WONNE FISHER, ) No. 19CF588 Defendant-Appellant. ) ) Honorable ) Kevin W. Lyons, ) Judge Presiding. JUSTICE ZENOFF delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. Justices Lannerd and Knecht concurred in the judgment and opinion. OPINION ¶1 Following a jury trial, defendant, Wonne Fisher, was found guilty of aggravated criminal sexual abuse (720 ILCS 5/11-1.60(d) (West 2016)). The trial court sentenced defendant to imprisonment for 12 years and 6 months. Defendant appeals, arguing that he was denied a fair and impartial sentencing hearing because the court was biased against him, considered improper aggravating factors, and failed to consider pertinent mitigating factors. We vacate the sentence and remand for a new sentencing hearing before a different judge. ¶2 I. BACKGROUND ¶3 In September 2019, the State charged defendant with aggravated criminal sexual abuse, alleging that defendant knowingly committed an act of sexual penetration with D.B. The State further alleged that, at the time the act was committed, D.B. was at least 13 years of age but under 17 years of age, and defendant was at least 5 years older than D.B. ¶4 Defendant’s jury trial commenced in December 2019. The State first called D.B., who testified to the following. D.B. lived with her mother, Danielle C., who is blind, at an apartment complex in Peoria. When D.B. was 13 years old, defendant sent her a friend request on social media, which D.B. accepted. Defendant started texting D.B., asking to meet and talking about sex. D.B. “brushed him off” because she did not know defendant. D.B. testified that in December 2016, she briefly encountered defendant in person for the first time at the back door of her apartment building. At that time, D.B. told defendant her age, which was 15. Thereafter, defendant and D.B. continued texting. D.B. told defendant that she was 15 on several occasions. Defendant told D.B. that he was 20 years old. D.B. saw defendant at the apartment complex “all of the time” and “bumped into” him “a few times,” but she was unsure if defendant lived there. ¶5 D.B. testified that on January 15, 2017, defendant came to her apartment while Danielle was away, and she and defendant had sex for the first time. On January 26, 2017, D.B. and her family had a party at a hotel for D.B.’s fifteenth birthday, which had occurred several months prior. According to D.B., Danielle’s caretaker, Dedrick Eckwood, invited defendant to the party because “they’re supposedly related.” D.B. explained that she and defendant had sex in her hotel room that night and again the following day. D.B. testified that they had sex again in February 2017. D.B. asserted that they did not use protection on any of these occasions. D.B. denied that she told …
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