People v. Mercado

A jury convicted defendant Arcadio Mercado of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver in violation of section 401.1(a)(1) of the Illinois Controlled Substances Act (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 56V2, par. 1401(a)(1)), and the trial judge sentenced him to 20 years in the custody of the Illinois Department of Corrections. On appeal, he advances three assignments of error: (1) whether he had sufficiently shown that the trial judge was prejudiced against him, thus warranting a substitution of judges; (2) whether the judge unduly restricted his ability to impeach the credibility…