People v. Pulgar

Following a bench trial, the defendant, Herberto Pulgar, was convicted of aggravated battery (720 ILCS 5/12—4 (West 1996)) and the commission of a hate crime (720 ILCS 5/12—7.1 (West 1996)). He was sentenced to an extended term of nine years’ imprisonment for aggravated battery and three years’ imprisonment for the hate crime, with the sentences to run consecutively. The defendant filed the instant appeal, contending that: (1) his due process rights were violated when the State obtained an indictment against him for a hate crime after the trial court, at a preliminary hearing, found…