People v. Brown

── People v. Brown ── Court: Appellate Court of Illinois Date: May 14, 2026 Category: General NOTICE: This order was filed under Illinois Supreme Court Rule 23 and is not precedent except in the limited circumstances allowed under Rule 23(e)(1). 2026 IL App (3d) 240492-U Order filed May 14, 2026 ____________________________________________________________________________ IN THE APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS THIRD DISTRICT 2026 THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ) Appeal from the Circuit Court ILLINOIS, ) of the 12th Judicial Circuit, ) Will County, Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, ) ) Appeal No. 3-24-0492 v. ) Circuit No. 18-CF-601 ) DARRIUS D. BROWN, ) Honorable ) Carmen Julia Goodman, Defendant-Appellant. ) Judge, Presiding. ____________________________________________________________________________ JUSTICE HOLDRIDGE delivered the judgment of the court. Justices Brennan and Anderson concurred in the judgment. ____________________________________________________________________________ ORDER ¶1 Held: The circuit court did not err in summarily dismissing the defendant’s postconviction petition at the first stage of proceedings. ¶2 The defendant, Darrius D. Brown, appeals from the first-stage dismissal of his postconviction petition. He argues that the Will County circuit court erred when it summarily dismissed his petition where it pleaded the gist of a claim that trial counsel provided ineffective assistance when he failed to investigate a potential defense regarding the cause of the victim’s injuries. ¶3 I. BACKGROUND ¶4 On April 18, 2018, the State indicted the defendant on two counts of aggravated battery (720 ILCS 5/12-3.05(a)(1), (f)(1) (West 2018)), two counts of aggravated domestic battery (id. § 12-3.3(a)), unlawful restraint (id. § 10-3(a)), intimidation (id. § 12-6(a)(1)), two counts of unlawful use of a weapon by a felon (UUWF) (id. § 24-1.1(a)), domestic battery (id. § 12- 3.2(a)(2)), and resisting a peace officer (id. § 31-1(a)). The case proceeded to a bench trial. ¶5 Relevant to this appeal, Jamie Hollingsworth testified that she and the defendant were in a romantic relationship and had a child together. Hollingsworth had five other children from prior relationships. Hollingsworth testified that she lived with the defendant and her six children at the time of the incident. In February 2018, Hollingsworth was hospitalized with a head injury that she sustained by hitting her head in her bedroom. She did not recall how she hit her head. She suffered from memory loss after the incident and only told officers that the defendant had injured her because that is what she had been told at the hospital. Hollingsworth testified that she did not believe the defendant caused her injuries. ¶6 Hollingsworth’s children testified that they had, on prior occasions, heard her and the defendant fighting in their bedroom. Hollingsworth would leave the bedroom infrequently and when the children saw her, they observed bruising and cuts to her face. Hollingsworth