People v. Bailey

2025 IL App (5th) 240194-U
Procedural entryThis page is a short order in People v. Bailey. Read the opinion of the Court — 2025 IL App (1st) 242563-U
Appellate Court of Illinois·Decided November 24, 2025·No. 5-24-0194·Unpublished

Opinion

NOTICE 2025 IL App (5th) 240194-U NOTICE Decision filed 11/24/25. The This order was filed under text of this decision may be NO. 5-24-0194 Supreme Court Rule 23 and is changed or corrected prior to not precedent except in the the filing of a Petition for IN THE limited circumstances allowed Rehearing or the disposition of under Rule 23(e)(1). the same. APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS

FIFTH DISTRICT ______________________________________________________________________________

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, ) Appeal from the ) Circuit Court of Plaintiff-Appellee, ) Champaign County. ) v. ) No. 22-CF-361 ) DIVONTAE J. BAILEY, ) Honorable ) Roger B. Webber, Defendant-Appellant. ) Judge, presiding. ______________________________________________________________________________

PRESIDING JUSTICE McHANEY delivered the judgment of the court. Justices Barberis and Sholar concurred in the judgment.

ORDER

¶1 Held: Where the defendant waived the issue of the trial court’s consideration of improper factors in sentencing him because he failed to raise the issue with a contemporaneous objection during his sentencing hearing nor did he include the issue in his motion to reconsider his sentence, we affirm the defendant’s sentence. Where the evidence in this case was not closely balanced, or the error so serious to affect the fairness of the trial and judicial process, we will not consider the improperly preserved issue under the plain-error doctrine. Where the defendant cannot establish the second prong of Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668, 687 (1984), that the sentencing outcome would have been different if his attorney had objected to sentencing factors considered by the court, his ineffective assistance of counsel claim fails.

¶2 The defendant was charged with two related cases in 2022: attempted murder with a firearm

(22-CF-1003), and armed violence, possession of a stolen firearm, aggravated unlawful use of a

weapon, and resisting or obstructing a peace office causing injury (22-CF-361). After a jury trial,

the defendant was acquitted of attempted murder. Later, in the remaining cases, the defendant 1 entered an open guilty plea to armed violence in exchange for dismissal of the other counts. The

trial court sentenced the defendant to 17 years and 6 months in the Illinois Department of

Corrections (IDOC). After the denial of the defendant’s motion to reconsider sentence, he

appealed. For the following reasons, we affirm.

¶3 I. BACKGROUND

¶4 On March 27, 2022, Champaign police received a report about a group of armed males

near Oakwood Trace Apartments. While investigating the report, officers saw a white Range Rover

speeding and violating other traffic laws. The officers pursued the vehicle but eventually lost sight

of it. However, they later saw the same Range Rover driving in the opposite direction and obeying

traffic laws. The officers surmised that the driver’s current compliance with traffic laws meant that

the driver must have dropped off a passenger. The officers then began looking for anyone walking

in the area and discovered the defendant walking about one-half mile from the location of the

original dispatch. He appeared to be holding a concealed object. The officers began following him,

and he fled on foot, appeared to be hiding something, and ignored the officers’ commands to stop.

Officer McDonald eventually caught up to and tackled him. The officers discovered that he had a

loaded Glock 22 semiautomatic gun in his pants pocket. Officers also found a stolen Springfield

XD semiautomatic gun in a clothing donation box that the defendant had passed during the chase.

¶5 On March 28, 2022, Divontae Bailey (the defendant) was charged with four felonies:

(1) armed violence (720 ILCS 5/33A-2(a) (West 2020)), a Class X felony; (2) possession of a

stolen firearm (id. § 24-3.8(a)), a Class 2 felony; (3) aggravated unlawful use of a weapon (id.

§ 24-1.6(a)(1), (a)(3)(A-5), (a)(3)(C)), a Class 4 felony; and (4) resisting or obstructing a peace

officer (id. § 31-1(a-7)). Thereafter on September 27, 2022, the State filed a fifth count: unlawful

use of a weapon involving a machine gun (id. § 24-1(a)(7)(i), (b)). This charge stemmed from the

2 discovery of a gun on a balcony that was on the defendant’s path of flight on March 27, 2022. That

gun was a Glock pistol that had a switch device that could convert the weapon into a machine gun.

¶6 In a separate 2022 case, the State charged the defendant with attempted murder and

aggravated battery with a firearm. That case proceeded to a jury trial in July 2023, and the

defendant was acquitted of both charges.

¶7 On October 6, 2023, the defendant requested a Supreme Court Rule 402 (Ill. S. Ct. R. 402

(eff. July 1, 2012)) conference learn what sentence the trial court would likely impose if he pled

open to the armed violence count. The trial court acknowledged that because the defendant was

acquitted in the attempted murder case, the evidence from that case would have “a lot less weight,”

but the judge stated that he “would be a lot more convinced that [the defendant] was not present”

if the defendant identified the shooter who had been driving his car before the shooting occurred.

The court stated that because the defendant would not identify the shooter, the public was therefore

at risk of this unknown shooter’s violent tendencies. The court continued that if the defendant

identified the shooter, that would be “a huge mitigating factor because he’s putting himself at risk

to help take some other probably more dangerous, or at least as dangerous, person off the street.”

After argument by both sides, the trial court stated that there were strong arguments about “what,

if any, involvement” the defendant had with the shooting and the individuals involved, stating: “I

suspect he has a lot more information about that than he’s willing to even tell [defense counsel].”

The court concluded that considering factors in aggravation and mitigation, the court would likely

sentence the defendant to a 20- to 22-year term of imprisonment.

¶8 Before the Rule 402 conference, the trial court advised the defendant of the rights he would

give up if pled guilty. Those rights included the right to have a speedy and public trial; the right to

have the case tried by the court or by a jury; the right to present evidence on his own behalf; the

3 right to compel the attendance of witnesses on his behalf; the right to confront and cross-examine

all witnesses called by the State; the right against self-incrimination; the right to continue to plead

not guilty and require the State to prove each allegation of the crime(s) charged beyond a

reasonable doubt; and the right to appeal. The court also advised him of the process required to

seek a withdrawal of his guilty plea, if he opted to plead guilty, but later sought to have the

judgment and sentence vacated.

¶9 At the conclusion of the Rule 402 conference, the defendant agreed to enter an open plea

of guilty to armed violence in exchange for dismissal of the other counts. He confirmed his

understanding that by pleading guilty he was giving up certain rights, except for the assistance of

his attorney. The applicable sentencing range of 15 to 30 years was explained.

¶ 10 On November 28, 2023, the court held the defendant’s sentencing hearing for armed

violence.

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