People v. Guth

── People v. Guth ── Court: Appellate Court of Illinois Date: June 04, 2026 Category: General NOTICE 2026 IL App (4th) 250635-U FILED This Order was filed under June 4, 2026 Supreme Court Rule 23 and is NO. 4-25-0635 Carla Bender not precedent except in the 4th District Appellate limited circumstances allowed IN THE APPELLATE COURT under Rule 23(e)(1). Court, IL OF ILLINOIS FOURTH DISTRICT THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, ) Appeal from the Plaintiff-Appellee, ) Circuit Court of v. ) Woodford County BRETT A. GUTH, ) No. 18CF19 Defendant-Appellant. ) ) Honorable ) Michael L. Stroh, ) Judge Presiding. JUSTICE HARRIS delivered the judgment of the court. Justices DeArmond and Cavanagh concurred in the judgment. ORDER ¶1 Held: The appellate court affirmed, holding that defendant forfeited his argument that the trial court erred by considering improper victim impact evidence. ¶2 Defendant, Brett A. Guth, appeals his convictions for being an armed habitual criminal (AHC), aggravated domestic battery, aggravated assault, unlawful interference with the reporting of domestic violence, and unauthorized possession of cannabis sativa plants. Defendant argues that we should reduce his 21-year prison sentence for AHC or, alternatively, vacate his sentence and remand the matter for resentencing because the sentencing court relied on incompetent evidence. Specifically, defendant argues the court improperly relied on a portion of the victim impact statement that was contradicted by the factual basis for his guilty plea. We affirm. ¶3 I. BACKGROUND ¶4 In 2018, defendant was charged with aggravated domestic battery (720 ILCS 5/12-3.3(a-5) (West 2018)), unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon (UPWF) (id. § 24-1.1(a)), aggravated assault (id. § 12-2(c)(1)), unlawful interference with the reporting of domestic violence (id. § 12-3.5), AHC (id. § 24-1.7(a)(1)), and unauthorized possession of cannabis sativa plants (720 ILCS 550/8(b) (West 2018)). ¶5 On January 7, 2020, defendant entered an open guilty plea to all six charges. As part of the factual basis for the plea, the State asserted that on the day of the incident, defendant’s ex-wife reported to police officers that defendant grabbed her by the throat and face, causing her to choke and impeding her airway. Defendant then grabbed a pistol, put it against her head, and continued to yell at her. He then stated, “ ‘let’s end this,’ ” put the gun into his mouth, and “acted like he was going to kill himself.” Defendant’s ex-wife tried to call 911, but defendant grabbed her phone and broke it. She then attempted to leave in her car, and defendant punched the car window and caused it to “splinter.” The State also asserted that officers found cannabis sativa plants in defendant’s basement and defendant had two prior felony convictions. ¶6 On February 11, 2020, a sentencing hearing was held. Defendant’s ex-wife read a victim impact statement in which she stated, in relevant part: “[Defendant] followed me through our home with a gun and attempted to kill me by any means. He strangled me, he hit me,