Opinion
No. 1-10-0395 No. 06 CR 22966
09-27-2011
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. ROBERT WEEKS, Defendant-Appellant.
Appeal from the Circuit Court of Cook County
Honorable
Michael Brown,
Judge Presiding.
JUSTICE CONNORS delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion.
Presiding Justice Quinn and Justice Cunningham concurred in the judgment and opinion.
OPINION
¶ 1 A jury found defendant Robert Weeks guilty but mentally ill on three counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault and one count of attempted murder. On appeal, defendant contends that the jury's verdict was against the manifest weight of the evidence and that he should instead have been found not guilty by reason of insanity. Alternatively, defendant argues that a new trial is warranted because (1) the trial court abused its discretion in failing to grant a continuance, (2) his defense counsel was ineffective, and (3) the trial court erroneously denied a motion to appoint a special State's Attorney for this case. We affirm.
¶ 2 I. BACKGROUND
¶ 3 The facts surrounding the offense were essentially undisputed, and the trial centered on the question of defendant's sanity. We begin by briefly summarizing the evidence presented at trial and this case's procedural history, and we will refer to additional facts as necessary in our analysis.
¶ 4 Defendant attacked and sexually assaulted the victim, E.L., in February 2001. As E.L. was walking home around 1:30 a.m., defendant knocked her down from behind and dragged her