People v. Ware

Following a bench trial, defendant Marvin Ware was convicted of aggravated criminal sexual assault and was sentenced to natural life in prison. On appeal, defendant argues that: (1) he was denied a fair trial when the trial court improperly admitted prior consistent statements; (2) his convictions should be reduced to criminal sexual assault; and (3) his natural life sentence was based on an unconstitutional statute under Apprendi v. New Jersey, 530 U.S. 466, 147 L. Ed. 2d 435, 120 S. Ct. 2348 (2000).

BACKGROUND

Defendant was indicted on 10 counts, 3 of which were nol-prossed by the State…