Court Opinion

ID: 9520195
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 01:33:05.711491+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:45:42.759763
License: Public Domain

Mr. JUSTICE SIMON, dissenting: Because the evidence at trial failed to establish beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant unreasonably believed herself in danger of imminent death or great bodily harm, I dissent from the majority opinion affirming her conviction of voluntary manslaughter. A conviction can be sustained on review only on the basis of evidence which removes all reasonable doubt of the defendant’s guilt, and excludes every other reasonable hypothesis. A conviction can be sustained only on the strength of the State’s case, rather than on the weakness of the defendant’s case. (People v. Coulson (1958), 13 Ill. 2d 290, 296-97, 149 N.E.2d 96.) Here, the State failed to meet its burden of proof that the defendant’s belief that she was in danger of imminent death or great bodily harm when she stabbed Delores Jenkins was unreasonable. According to the evidence most favorable to the defendant, when she encountered her husband and Delores Jenkins on the beach, Jenkins was drunk, told the defendant’s husband, “let’s get rid of this bitch,” and then swung at the defendant with a knife. The only permissible conclusion under this set of facts is that the defendant reasonably believed that she was in imminent danger of great bodily harm or death: an intoxicated woman threatened the defendant and attacked her with a deadly weapon. The defendant’s response to this attack was legally excusable. On the other hand, to sustain a voluntary manslaughter conviction, the State had to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant’s belief was unreasonable. The sole evidence the State could produce on the defendant’s state of mind were her own statements to the authorities at the time of her arrest — statements understandably imprecise because they were given to the police during the course of V¡í hour interview by a woman who was crying and upset, never had been involved with the police before, and only a few hours earlier had been involved in a struggle resulting in a violent death. By relying solely on the testimony of the police officers and the assistant state’s attorney recounting the defendant’s account of the incident, the State failed to meet this burden. Defendant’s statements were as compatible with the defendant’s innocence as with her guilt, and were insufficient to show that the belief under which she acted was unreasonable. In her first statement, the defendant indicated that the deceased had a knife; the second time, the defendant stated she thought the deceased had “something in her hand.” In her third statement to the authorities, the defendant stated that she saw the knife in Jenkins’ hand, and later that she drew her own knife when she saw “something” in Jenkins’ hand. The consistent thread in each of the defendant’s statements is that she believed she was under attack by an armed woman she encountered with her husband, and that she and that woman engaged in a struggle. Nothing in these statements demonstrated beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant’s belief that she was in danger of great bodily harm or death was unwarranted. The majority observes that the trial judge was free to reject the evidence of self-defense which the defendant’s husband, called as the court’s witness, offered in his testimony. Yet, even the majority concedes that the husband’s testimony was not directly rebutted. And if the husband’s trial testimony had any impact, it supported the defendant’s self-defense theory because the prior inconsistent statements were, as the trial judge indicated, not admitted as substantive evidence of the defendant’s guilt or innocence, but admitted solely to impeach the husband. Because the only possible negative effect of the husband’s prior inconsistent statements would have been to cancel out his trial testimony favorable to the defendant, the State was left with only the testimony by the police officers and the assistant state’s attorney as to what the defendant told them. The majority also states that the husband testified that when the deceased was stabbed she was twisted down and held by the defendant’s husband so that her back was exposed to the defendant. I do not believe this account gives the complete picture of the husband’s testimony. He testified that the death occurred in the midst of a violent struggle, when the defendant reacted to the deceased’s sweeping stab at her. Only after the deceased had swung did the defendant respond immediately and stab her, and any exposure of the deceased’s back to the defendant resulted from the deceased’s sweeping stab at the defendant. Although the husband testified that he was holding the deceased’s right hand there is nothing in the record to indicate he was holding it in a way which restrained her. Rather, it is more likely he was holding her right hand because they had been walking on the beach hand-in-hand. And, none of the testimony shows how much control he was exerting over her or whether she was in any way subdued. Thus, it is erroneous to conclude from this testimony that the defendant’s belief she was under imminent threat of death or great bodily harm was unreasonable because the deceased was so restrained and off-balance as to be a helplessly immobilized target. Further, the search for and discovery of a knife by Officer Ryan, discussed at length in the majority opinion, did not prove the defendant in any way culpable. The State’s suggestion that this knife was planted by the defendant and her husband after Jenkins’ body was removed is pure speculation — the State introduced no evidence whatsoever to support this theory. Finally, the majority notes that the record contains no assertion that the defendant actually believed the deceased posed a threat to her. However, it was not the defendant’s obligation to offer such proof. It is crucial to point out again that the defendant’s conviction must rest on the strength of the State’s proof that her belief she was being attacked was unreasonable. Thus, that the defendant may have failed to prove that she acted in self-defense did not lessen the State’s burden of proving the elements of the offense of voluntary manslaughter. Here, the proof offered by the State of the defendant’s state of mind was woefully lacking. In such a case, the presumption of an accused’s innocence until guilt is proved must be respected. By emphasizing the weaknesses in the evidence favorable to the defendant, the majority runs perilously close to placing the burden of proof in a criminal trial upon a defendant. I do not take issue with the maxim quoted by the majority that it is the trial court’s duty to determine the credibility of witnesses, including the weight to be given to their testimony, and that on review this court will not substitute its judgment for that of the trier of fact. Nevertheless, a reviewing court has a duty to examine the evidence in a criminal case; if that evidence raises a serious doubt of a defendant’s guilt, a conviction must be reversed. Otherwise, the concept of reasonable doubt, one of the cornerstones of our criminal justice system, would be irrevocably eroded. Accordingly, I would reverse the trial court’s judgment finding the defendant guilty of voluntary manslaughter.