People v. Gardner

PRESIDING JUSTICE WOLFSON

delivered the opinion of the court:

Clarence Gardner contends the trial court’s failure to ask or to allow his defense counsel to ask gang bias questions to prospective jurors deprived him of an impartial jury. To resolve the issue, we have to determine whether defense counsel actually requested gang bias questions and, if not, whether the trial court should have asked them anyway.

Following a jury trial, defendant was convicted of first-degree murder under a theory of accountability and sentenced to 35 years’ imprisonment. The judgment was affirmed on direct appeal.…