People v. Clark

── People v. Clark ── Court: Appellate Court of Illinois Date: April 15, 2026 Category: General NOTICE 2026 IL App (5th) 240600-U NOTICE Decision filed 04/15/26. The This order was filed under text of this decision may be NO. 5-24-0600 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 ______________________________________________________________________________ THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, ) Appeal from the ) Circuit Court of Plaintiff-Appellee, ) Williamson County. ) v. ) No. 22-CF-337 ) NATHAN N. CLARK, ) Honorable ) Michelle M. Schafer, Defendant-Appellant. ) Judge, presiding. ______________________________________________________________________________ JUSTICE VAUGHAN delivered the judgment of the court. Justices Hackett and Bollinger concurred in the judgment. ORDER ¶1 Held: Defendant’s conviction and sentence are affirmed where defendant’s speedy trial rights were not violated, the requirements for plain-error review related to the hearsay testimony were not met, additional errors were precluded by the invited error doctrine, and defendant’s claims of ineffective assistance of counsel had no merit. ¶2 Following a jury trial, defendant, Nathan N. Clark was found guilty of first degree murder and sentenced to 40 years’ imprisonment. On appeal, defendant contends that his speedy trial rights were violated, the trial court abused its discretion by allowing hearsay excepted testimony at the trial, the jury was coerced into reaching its verdict, and his counsel provided ineffective assistance. For the following reasons, we affirm. 1 ¶3 I. BACKGROUND ¶4 On July 1, 2022, defendant was charged, by information, with three counts of first degree murder related to the stabbing death of Kerry Anthony on June 30, 2022. Two counts were alleged under section 9-1(a)(1) of the Criminal Code of 2012 (Code) (720 ILCS 5/9-1(a)(1) (West 2020)), and one count was alleged under section 9-1(a)(2) of the Code (id. § 9-1(a)(2)). Defendant was arrested on June 30, 2022, and following his first appearance, bail was set at $1 million. Defendant’s preliminary hearing was held on July 15, 2022. Probable cause was found and defendant waived a formal reading of the charges, pled not guilty, requested a jury trial, and interim pretrial hearings to ensure timely exchange of the evidence. ¶5 At the August 5, 2022, pretrial hearing, the State advised the court that it had received the discovery from the State police and planned to exchange the material by August 15, 2022. At the August 15, 2022, pretrial hearing, defense counsel stated that it had received some discovery but, after review, noted that significant amounts of discovery remained missing, including interviews, forensics, and everything from the Williamson County Sheriff’s