People v. Rogers

Following a jury trial, defendant, John Rogers, was convicted of heinous battery (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 38, par. 12 — 4.1) and sentenced to 25 years’ imprisonment. On appeal, he contends that grain alcohol is not a caustic substance as required for conviction under the heinous battery statute.

During the early morning hours of April 17, 1988, complainant Veronique Gill was in a room at the Camelot Hotel in Chicago with defendant and two others. Earlier that night defendant had cooked cocaine, water and baking soda in a test tube over a flame until the ingredients combined. The “torch” he…