members of a street gang, the Black Disciples. The defendant held the title of assistant regent, and he was to discipline gang members who broke gang rules. On cross-examination, Chiampas said that the defendant, in reviewing the statement he had given to the court reporter, added the comment that Antoine Moore was laughing and joking after the murder, and that the defendant replied that it was wrong for Moore to tell him to shoot the victim.

The defendant did not present any testimony at the hearing, but counsel did submit 17 letters from family members and friends of the defendant. These persons wrote favorably about the defendant. Counsel also presented, by way of stipulation, testimony from an officer who investigated the carjacking of Edwina Harrison. The officer would havetestified, if called as a witness, that Harrison described the offender as being 28 years old and 5 feet 6 inches tall.

At the conclusion of the hearing, the trial judge found that there were no mitigating circumstances sufficient to preclude imposition of the death penalty, and the judge therefore sentenced the defendant to death for the first degree murder of Clifford Chase. The judge did not impose any sentence on the defendant's separate conviction for attempted armed robbery.



I

A

The defendant raises on appeal a number of challenges to his convictions and death sentence. We will first address the issues arising from the guilt phase of the proceedings, and we will next consider the issues involving the capital sentencing hearing.

The defendant first argues that he was not proved guilty of