2019 IL App (1st) 182581 No. 1-18-2581 Opinion filed May 2, 2019 FOURTH DIVISION IN THE APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS FIRST DISTRICT In re: H.C., a Minor ) Appeal from the Circuit Court ) of Cook County. (The People of the State of Illinois, ) ) No. 18 JD 01375 Petitioner-Appellee, ) ) The Honorable v. ) Stuart F. Lubin ) Judge, presiding. H.C., ) ) Respondent-Appellant). ) JUSTICE GORDON delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. Presiding Justice McBride and Justice Reyes concurred in the judgment and opinion. OPINION ¶1 After a bench trial in juvenile court for criminal sexual abuse, H.C., the 17-year-old minor respondent, was found guilty. The trial court adjudicated No. 1-18-2581 him to be delinquent and a ward of the court, and sentenced him to 18 months of probation. ¶2 In this appeal, respondent seeks a new sentencing hearing, claiming that the trial court improperly considered his maintenance of innocence as an aggravating factor when sentencing him and, therefore, denied respondent's request for supervision instead of probation. For the following reasons, we affirm. ¶3 BACKGROUND ¶4 On August 20, 2018, respondent was charged in a juvenile petition for adjudication of wardship with criminal sexual abuse, unlawful restraint and battery. Prior to trial, the State made a plea offer of one year of probation in exchange for a plea of guilty to simple battery, and respondent rejected the offer. When the State published this offer on the record prior to trial, defense counsel stated on the record that she had advised respondent of the collateral consequences of having to register as a sex offender if convicted of criminal sexual abuse and of the possible immigration consequences that could result from a conviction. The social investigation report later indicated that respondent had immigrated to the United States from Honduras three years earlier. ¶5 In this appeal, respondent does not challenge either the sufficiency of the evidence against him or the admission at trial of any exhibit, testimony or other 2 No. 1-18-2581 evidence. Thus, we provide here a summary of what the State's evidence established at trial. ¶6 On August 19, 2018, at 8:47 p.m., the victim, whom we identify by her initials, N.A., was walking eastbound on Wrightwood Avenue on her way to the Logan Theater in the Logan Square neighborhood, when she observed respondent and two other young men walking toward her. Respondent was wearing a white shirt and a white hat. N.A. was married and lived in the area, but did not testify as to her age. As she approached the men, they were positioned on the sidewalk, such that she either had to walk through them or walk in the street. The victim explained that she would have had to walk "out in the street because there is a tree on the right side here, and I would have had to walk around the tree, and here are the cars, so I would have to go around the cars or, yes, through ...
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