People v. Lafferty

On February 17, 1990, following a jury trial in the circuit court of Champaign County, defendant Richard A. Lafferty was convicted of two counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault. He was subsequently sentenced to terms of eight years’ imprisonment for each offense, with the terms to run consecutively. On appeal, defendant maintains (1) he was improperly sentenced to consecutive terms, because both offenses arose from the same episode or transaction; and (2) the trial court abused its discretion in sentencing him to consecutive terms, because he was a first offender and suffered from a…