People v. Roman, 990 N.E.2d 796

Roman was convicted of robbery and first degree murder after a bench trial and sentenced to concurrent terms of 7 and 35 years.
On appeal, Roman contends the trial court misremembered evidence to suggest the victim’s phone was taken and that physical evidence corroborated eyewitnesses.
Roman also seeks mittimus correction to reflect only one murder conviction since there was a single decedent.
Witness testimony included Giovanni Garcia and Sylvia Ortiz describing the assault and identification of Roman; a rock was presented but deemed not evidential.
A rock and other physical evidence were discussed alongside the autopsy and photos; Roman made a recorded statement admitting involvement, which he later denied.
The appellate court held the issue forfeited, vacated two of the three first degree murder convictions, corrected the mittimus to reflect a single murder conviction, and affirmed the judgment as modified.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Was the misrecollection of evidence plain error?	People argued no plain error.	Roman argued plain error due to the court's misstatement.	No plain error; forfeiture preserved.
Should the mittimus reflect a single murder conviction?	People concedes multiple murder counts.	Roman sought correction to reflect one decedent.	Two murder convictions vacated; mittimus corrected to reflect count I only.

People v. Bowie, 36 Ill. App. 3d 177 (1976) (trial court failed to recall crux of defense; due process denied in limited sense)
People v. Mitchell, 152 Ill. 2d 274 (1992) (crux of defense not recalled; due process concerns in suppression context)
People v. Beard, 356 Ill. App. 3d 236 (2005) (physical evidence corroboration considered in due process analysis)
People v. Beard, 273 Ill. App. 3d 135 (1995) (evidence corroboration and identification credibility considerations)
People v. Coli, 2 Ill. 2d 186 (1954) (reliability of eyewitness identifications and fear-based nondisclosure)