Find Legal Information

NO. 4-98-0221

IN THE APPELLATE COURT

OF ILLINOIS

FOURTH DISTRICT

JUSTICE McCULLOUGH delivered the opinion of the court:

Following a jury trial in the circuit court of Macon County, defendant Nicholas W. Hancock was found guilty of unlawful possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, unlawful possession of a controlled substance, unlawful use of weapons, and two counts of armed violence. 720 ILCS 570/401(a)(2)(A), 402(a)(2)(A); 5/24-1(a)(4), 33A-2 (West 1996). Defendant was sentenced to concurrent terms of imprisonment of 17 years on one count of armed violence, 12 years on the other count of armed violence, 10 years for possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver, and three years for unlawful use of weapons, with credit for 49 days previously served. The unlawful possession conviction was found to have merged into the conviction for unlawful possession with intent to deliver. He was ordered to pay a $50 laboratory fee (730 ILCS 5/5-9-1.4(b) (West 1996)), $3,000 drug treatment assessment fee (720 ILCS 570/411.2 (West 1996)), and $3,700 street-value fine (720 ILCS 570/411.1 (West 1996)).

On appeal, the issues are whether (1) the "no-knock" search warrant should have been quashed and the evidence obtained as a result of the search suppressed for one or more of the following reasons: (a) the statute authorizing no-knock searches (725 ILCS 5/108-8(b) (West 1996)) was unconstitutional, (b) the facts did not justify the issuance of a no-knock search warrant, (c) stale information in the complaint for search warrant did not establish probable cause, (d) the informant was not reliable, and (e) police corroboration was insufficient; (2) defendant's motion to suppress evidence of his statements to police was improperly denied; (3) the armed violence counts should have been dismissed on the basis of defendant's pretrial and posttrial motions because they violated defendant's rights to due process (U.S. Const., amend. XIV; Ill. Const. 1970, art. I,