People v. Pearson

I respectfully dissent since I believe that the omission of the element of force in the instruction on aggravated criminal sexual assault was not reversible error given the overwhelming evidence of guilt in this case.

Here, the trial court properly instructed the jury on the definition of aggravated criminal sexual assault in instruction No. 12, but incorrectly instructed on the issues instruction for aggravated criminal sexual assault in that this instruction should have contained the provision that the act was committed by the use of force or the threat of the use of force. See IPI Criminal…