Court Opinion

ID: 9520788
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 01:49:58.990313+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:46:57.092358
License: Public Domain

Mr. JUSTICE TRAPP, specially concurring: Since the issue is not directly addressed in the opinion, I concur specially in the affirmance of the convictions and sentences to address defendant’s argument that as a matter of law the murder conviction should be reduced to voluntary manslaughter because the evidence disclosed that by reason of mental abnormality defendant had an unreasonable belief that the use of deadly force was necessary within the meaning of section 9 — 2(b) of the Criminal Code of 1961. Ill. Rev. Stat. 1977, ch. 38, par. 9 — 2(b). If such hypothesis is developed into law, a person charged with murder who has been found to be sane under section 6 — 2 of the Criminal Code of 1961 (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1977, ch. 38, par. 6 — 2) may nevertheless present some evidence of mental abnormality and become entitled tó an instruction upon voluntary manslaughter asserted to exist because the abnormality alone, and without the imminent threat of death or great bodily harm, gave rise to the unreasonable belief that use of great bodily force by defendant was justified. See People v. Roberson (1980), 83 Ill. App. 3d 45, 403 N.E.2d 490; Ill. Rev. Stat. 1977, ch. 38, par. 7 — 1. Upon the trial here, the issue of defendant’s sanity at the time of the offense was put into issue by expert and lay testimony for both the prosecution and the defense. The trial court found that defendant was sane, and we cannot find that that specific finding has been challenged. In Illinois, sanity as a measure of criminal responsibility is placed in issue under the provisions of section 6 — 2(a) of the Criminal Code of 1961 (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1977, ch. 38, par. 6 — 2(a)), which provides: “(a) A person is not criminally responsible for conduct if at the time of such conduct, as a result of mental disease or mental defect, he lacks substantial capacity either to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of law.” The Committee Comments (Ill. Ann. Stat., ch. 38, par. 6 — 2, at 326-29 (Smith-Hurd 1972)), in sum, note that the statute was designed to remove the limitation of the M’Naghten rules historically used in the determination of sanity as a measure of criminal responsibility. Those comments point out that a characteristic of M’Naghten is “the requirement of total incapacity to know that the conduct was wrong or the total incapacity to control behavior.” (Emphasis added.) (Ill. Ann. Stat., ch. 38, par. 6 — 2, Committee Comments, at 328 (Smith-Hurd 1972).) It is apparent that the Illinois Code is much less demanding in developing the defense of insanity than the evidence required under M’Naghten. In LaFave & Scott, Criminal Law §42, at 329 (1972), cited in the majority opinion, discussion is directed to an abnormal mental condition which does not amount to legal insanity under the M’Naghten rules. It is notable that the cases which admit evidence of an abnormal mental condition that is insufficient to show legal insanity but which is sufficient to support an instruction on voluntary manslaughter measure legal insanity by M’Naghten rather than by a statute which denies criminal responsibility where there is a lack of “substantial capacity either to appreciate the criminality of his conduct or conform his conduct to the requirement of the law.” (People v. Wells (1949), 33 Cal. 2d 330,202 P.2d 53; People v. Conley (1966), 64 Cal. 2d 310, 411 P.2d 911, 49 Cal. Rptr. 815; People v. Castillo (1969), 70 Cal. 2d 264, 449 P.2d 449, 74 Cal. Rptr. 385; State v. DiPaola (1961), 34 N.J. 279, 168 A.2d 401.) In DiPaola, the court specifically refused to discard the M’Naghten rules as the test of legal insanity. In Conley, the Supreme Court of California discussed its form of “partial responsibility” at some length. Defendant was charged with murder in the first degree and he was found to be “sane” under the applicable M’Naghten rules. Upon appeal it was contended that there was evidence of such degree of intoxication that it was error to refuse an instruction on voluntary manslaughter. In Illinois intoxication may be a separate defense under section 6 — 3 of the Criminal Code of 1961. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1977, ch. 38, par. 6 — 3.) From that opinion we find that in California “malice aforethought” is an essential element of murder. The term is distinguished from “intent” to kill and cases are cited to establish that there may be an intent to kill without the presence of the necessary “malice aforethought.” In the opinion the term “malice aforethought” is stated to include as an element the determination that the defendant is aware that society requires him to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law and is able to comprehend that the act performed is prohibited. In essence, the concepts so stated are within our statutory definition of insanity. So, as in LaFave & Scott, at page 330, it is said that the evidence of an abnormal mental condition supporting an instruction for voluntary manslaughter where the charge is murder is “this new mitigating circumstance [which] concerns an absence of self-control such as would likely afford a complete insanity defense under any of the extant insanity tests except M’Naghten,” and which takes “account of inability to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law adopted in a jurisdiction where M’Naghten is the sole test for insanity and where departure from M’Naghten is believed to be a matter for the legislature.” Here, the evidence which is said to possibly support the giving of a manslaughter instruction has been once considered upon the issue of insanity. The defendant was found to be sane in the sense that he was capable of appreciating the criminality of his conduct and capable of conforming his conduct to the requirements of the law within the terms of the Illinois statute. The Illinois statute has abandoned M’Naghten and its interpretation and the concepts included in the doctrine of “partial responsibility” have been incorporated in the statutory defense of insanity. Where the defense of insanity is available to the defendant or has, in fact, been presented to the trier of fact, this court should not inject unnecessary and redundant concepts into the statutory definition of voluntary manslaughter as defined in section 9 — 2(b). Ill. Rev. Stat. 1977, ch. 38, par. 9 — 2(b).