People v. Matthews

The defendant, Barry Matthews, was convicted by.a six-person jury of aggravated criminal sexual assault and was sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment. On appeal, defendant raises the issues of whether he made a valid waiver of a 12-person jury and whether the sentence was an abuse of the trial court’s discretion. Due to our disposition of this appeal, only the first issue will be discussed.

There are only four references to a six-person jury in the record. In chambers, in defendant’s presence, prior to the selection of the jury, the following colloquy occurred:

“[Defense counsel]: I think we will…