People v. Wright, 986 N.E.2d 719

Wright was convicted by a jury of first degree murder and personally discharging a firearm resulting in death; he received 50 years for murder plus 25 years for the firearm enhancement (total 75 years).
Aukey Williams testified for the State and disclosed federal convictions; he had a plea agreement providing potential sentence reductions for truthful testimony in Wright’s case and in related federal cases.
The State sought to impeach Wright with Williams’ federal conviction and Williams’ plea deal; the court denied admitting finality of the conviction prior to sentencing, and defense agreed not to cross-examine Williams about the federal case.
Before trial, the State and defense agreed to limit Williams-related testimony; defense counsel agreed not to question Williams about the federal case to avoid bias against Wright.
During trial Wright attempted to testify to an alibi (being with his girlfriend at a location on the day of the homicide); the trial court ruled the alibi testimony was undisclosed, struck it, and Wright was not permitted to present that defense beyond denying the shooting.
On appeal Wright challenged (1) due process for not correcting Williams’ testimony, (2) right to testify and present alibi, (3) trial counsel’s effectiveness, and (4) mittimus correction; all issues were adjudicated.

Issue	Plaintiff's Argument	Defendant's Argument	Held
Whether the State’s knowing use of alleged false plea testimony violated due process	Nowicki: false plea testimony deprived due process	Wright: State failed to correct Williams’ testimony	No due process violation; insufficient showing of knowledge or prejudice
Whether Wright was deprived of the right to testify about an alibi due to lack of notice	People: discovery rules were not violated	Wright: alibi defense was precluded by discovery sanction	No plain-error or forfeiture; trial court did not abuse discretion in excluding undisclosed alibi
Whether trial counsel was ineffective for failing to impeach or for failing to raise alibi and hearsay issues	People: reasonable strategic decisions; no prejudice shown	Wright: counsel ineffective for not impeaching and not raising issues	No ineffective assistance; record shows strategic choices and lack of prejudice
Whether mittimus should be corrected to reflect a single first degree murder conviction with firearm enhancement	State: mittimus incorrectly listed two murders	Wright: correction needed to reflect enhancement	Mittimus corrected to reflect one first degree murder conviction with 50-year sentence and 25-year firearm enhancement

Napue v. Illinois, 360 U.S. 264 (U.S. 1959) (false testimony requires correction when known to be false)
Nowicki, 385 Ill. App. 3d 53 (1st Dist. 2008) (knowing use of false testimony; harmless-error standard)
Olinger, 176 Ill. 2d 326 (2000) (harmless-error standard for misused testimony)
Bowman, 357 Ill. App. 3d 290 (1st Dist. 2005) (prosecution obligation to correct false testimony)