In re Olanni W.

2026 IL App (5th) 250716-U
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJanuary 9, 2026
Docket5-25-0716
StatusUnpublished

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Bluebook
In re Olanni W., 2026 IL App (5th) 250716-U (Ill. Ct. App. 2026).

Opinion

NOTICE 2026 IL App (5th) 250716-U NOTICE Decision filed 01/09/26. The This order was filed under text of this decision may be NO. 5-25-0716 Supreme Court Rule 23 and is changed or corrected prior to the filing of a Petition for not precedent except in the

Rehearing or the disposition of IN THE limited circumstances allowed the same. under Rule 23(e)(1). APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS

FIFTH DISTRICT

In re OLANNI W., a Minor ) Appeal from the ) Circuit Court of (The People of the State of Illinois, ) Champaign County. ) Petitioner-Appellee, ) ) v. ) No. 25-JA-38 ) Ocheion W., ) Honorable ) Robert E. Jacobson, Respondent-Appellant). ) Judge, presiding. ______________________________________________________________________________

PRESIDING JUSTICE CATES delivered the judgment of the court. Justices Boie and Vaughan concurred in the judgment.

ORDER

¶1 Held: The adjudicatory order that found the minor to be neglected and the subsequent dispositional order that found the respondent to be unfit and unable to parent the minor are affirmed because the circuit court’s findings were not against the manifest weight of the evidence.

¶2 The respondent, Ocheion W. (Father), appeals the circuit court of Champaign County’s

July 21, 2025, adjudicatory order and the August 19, 2025, dispositional order. On appeal, Father

challenges the circuit court’s findings that his minor child, Olanni, was neglected and that Father

was unfit and unable to care for Olanni. For the following reasons, we affirm.

¶3 I. BACKGROUND

¶4 This case began on April 14, 2025, with the filing of a petition for adjudication of abuse,

neglect, or dependency regarding Father’s minor child, Olanni, who was born on April 5, 2025. 1 Count I of the petition alleged the minor was neglected pursuant to section 2-3(1)(b) of the Juvenile

Court Act of 1987 (Act) (705 ILCS 405/2-3(1)(b) (West 2024)) by reason of being in an

environment injurious to her welfare when she resides with her parents, Tonja W. 1 (Mother) and

Father, as said environment exposes the minor to a risk of domestic violence. Count II of the

petition alleged the minor was neglected pursuant to section 2-3(1)(b) of the Act (705 ILCS 405/2-

3(1)(b) (West 2024)) by reason of being in an environment injurious to her welfare when she

resides with Mother in that said parent has failed to correct the conditions which resulted in a prior

adjudication of parental unfitness to exercise guardianship and custody of the minor’s siblings in

Vermilion County case No. 15-JA-109. 2

¶5 A shelter care hearing was held the same day. Father and Mother were present with their

respective attorneys. Father and Mother stipulated to probable cause and immediate and urgent

necessity for purposes of the shelter care hearing only.

¶6 Adjudicatory hearings were conducted on June 24, 2025, and July 21, 2025. The following

evidence was submitted.

¶7 The State presented evidence from several law enforcement officers. Officer Raymond

Rich, a former Urbana Police Department officer, testified that on April 14, 2024, at approximately

4:55 a.m., he was dispatched to 1004 South Smith Road, the apartment the respondents shared at

the time, for a reported domestic disturbance. Officer Rich testified that Mother reported that she

had been awakened by Father slapping her in the face and strangling her. Officer Rich observed

finger-shaped marks on Mother’s neck, one of her ears was bleeding, and one of her fingernails

1 Tonja W. is Olanni’s biological mother. She is not a party to this appeal. 2 Vermilion County case No. 2015-JA-109 was filed on behalf of T.M., born June 2015, against Mother and Anthony P., as father. Vermilion County case No. 2015-JA-103 was filed on behalf of T.P., born July 2013, against Mother and Robert P., as putative father. These cases were opened after T.M., aged four months, presented to the hospital with non-accidental abusive head trauma. 2 was injured and bleeding. Father was not at the apartment when Officer Rich arrived; however,

Officer Rich was able to speak to Father by telephone, at which time he admitted he had been

intoxicated. Officer Rich followed up with Mother within a week of the incident. At that time, she

informed him that she had fabricated the report she had given him and that she had been in an

altercation with an unidentified person outside the apartment complex.

¶8 Officer Justin Merritt, of the Urbana Police Department, testified that on May 20, 2024, at

approximately 2 a.m., he was dispatched to 1004 South Smith Road, due to a man calling about an

argument he had with his girlfriend or wife. Upon his arrival, Officer Merritt spoke to a man who

approached him from outside the apartment building, not from inside the residence, who told him

that everything was okay following an argument with his wife. No arrests were made, and Officer

Merritt completed a field interview report.

¶9 Officer Cale Reeves, of the Urbana Police Department, testified that on July 13, 2024, at

approximately 3:30 a.m., he was dispatched to 1004 South Smith Road in response to a 911 call

for a reported domestic incident. Upon his arrival, Officer Reeves spoke to Mother, who appeared

intoxicated as she was stumbling in the apartment. Mother reported to Officer Reeves that a

domestic altercation had occurred between her and Father. She reported that she was hit and kicked

by Father; however, Officer Reeves noted he could not get a definite statement from Mother, and

he observed no signs of injuries or evidence of a physical altercation in the apartment.

¶ 10 Officer Wade, 3 of the Urbana Police Department, testified that on July 20, 2024, at

approximately 3:40 a.m., he was dispatched to 1004 South Smith Road in response to a 911 call

for a reported domestic incident. Officer Wade spoke to Father, who indicated that a verbal

3 Officer Wade did not provide his first name nor was it solicited during his testimony. 3 altercation had occurred with Mother, but nothing physical. Officer Wade was unable to speak

with Mother because she refused to open the door to him.

¶ 11 Officer Todd Marcum, of the Urbana Police Department, testified that on July 27, 2024, at

approximately 10 a.m., he was dispatched to 1004 South Smith Road in response to a 911 call

made by Mother for a domestic altercation. As Officer Marcum arrived on scene, he was

approached by Mother in the parking lot. Officer Marcum observed that Mother was distraught,

with disheveled clothing, pink, puffy cheeks, and red, bloodshot eyes, as if she had been crying.

Mother reported that she and Father had been lying in bed after she got out of the shower; Father

became upset with the noise level and began striking her in the face and head. Officer Marcum

observed minor injuries to Mother but noted they did not reflect the severity of the physical attack

she described. Officer Marcum spoke to Father, who indicated that they were lying in bed together

when Mother, who was intoxicated, began to strike him and scratch his face. At that point, he

attempted to remove her, and then he exited the apartment because the last time police were called,

Mother was arrested, and he did not want her to be arrested again. Upon returning to Mother,

Officer Marcum overheard Mother speaking with her sister via video call. Mother reported to her

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2026 IL App (5th) 250716-U, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-olanni-w-illappct-2026.