People v. Heiman

Following a bench trial, defendant, Nicholas Heiman, was convicted of the first-degree murder (720 ILCS 5/9—1(a)(2) (West 1992)) of Erven Etcheson and was sentenced to 55 years’ imprisonment. On appeal, he asserts that (1) he was not proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt; (2) he did not receive a fair trial because of the trial court’s bias toward him and his witnesses; (3) he was denied effective assistance of counsel because the trial court would not allow his attorney to present a proper closing argument; and (4) the trial court made findings of fact not supported by the evidence. We…