People v. Preston

Mr. PRESIDING JUSTICE SULLIVAN

delivered the opinion of the court:

After convictions of murder and robbery in a jury trial, defendant received concurrent sentences of 75 to 150 and 6 to 18 years imprisonment. He presents the following issues on appeal: (1) whether the court’s polling procedures improperly coerced a juror to assent to a verdict which was not hers; (2) whether a juror’s affidavit may be considered in determining the question of coercion; (3) whether the deadlock instruction was phrased improperly and was untimely given; (4) whether prosecutorial argument constituted improper…