Court Opinion

ID: 9727253
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 13:28:07.868326+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:25:35.655020
License: Public Domain

Mr. Presiding JUSTICE SMITH, dissenting: Guthrie, in my opinion, stands for the very reasonable proposition that if there is sufficient evidence to support a jury verdict either of murder or manslaughter the jury should be instructed as to both. I do not question the statement that the testimony of a defendant standing alone may be “sufficient evidence”, but I think it is incorrect to cite Guthrie as authority, because as I read that case, there was other supporting evidence. Be that as it may, I do not believe that a finding that there are facts sufficient to require the giving of an instruction on justifiable use of force, ipso facto, requires the giving of an instruction on voluntary manslaughter — the so-called third alternative. To me, the idea or concept of self-defense does not axiomatically include the idea or concept of voluntary manslaughter. This is not to say that they are mutually exclusive, only that facts which support one may not support the other. The majority would have us believe that in every case where IPI-Criminal, ¶24.06, is given (self-defense) then IPI-Criminal, ¶ 7.03 et seq. (voluntary manslaughter) must be given. In other words, a determination as to one question of law mandates the giving of two conceptually different instructions. I think there are two questions of law involved, that is, are there sufficient facts to support one (self-defense) and are there, again, sufficient facts, to support the other (manslaughter) ? Of course, the same facts could put both concepts in issue. But there are still two questions of law that must be answered, not one. But as I have said, I think it is also true that we could be presented with a factual context which would rule out manslaughter, but support an instruction on self-defense and vice versa. Here, I believe the tendered instructions were properly refused for the reason that there was not sufficient evidence to raise the issue of manslaughter. And, as I have said, I do not believe that a determination of the propriety of giving an instruction on self-defense mandates the giving of the tendered instructions on manslaughter. In this, I think, I am buttressed by the Committee Comment to IPI-Criminal, 7.05, Voluntary Manslaughter: “When the charge is murder, the defense is self-defense, and the proof supports a voluntary manslaughter instruction and verdict, the order of instructions should be: # To me this is an implied direction that a voluntary manslaughter instruction should not be given if the proof doesn’t support it. Indeed, the Committee’s Comment to IPI-Criminal, sec. 24.06 (self-defense) says nothing to the effect that in giving this instruction, a manslaughter instruction must also be given. If the majority is right, then surely a comment here would be very much in order as one of the prime purposes of pattern instructions is to relate one instruction with another if such is in fact the case. To me such silence is instructive. I assume, because defendant did in fact tender manslaughter instructions, that if defendant had not done so, the majority would not reverse. But they do not say so, and the statement that a determination of the propriety of an instruction on justifiable use of force presents “three alternatives for the consideration of the jury”, one being “that while the defendant might have believed that the use of force was necessary under the evidence, such belief was unreasonable”, leaves one wondering. If they do mean to say that the issue of manslaughter is raised by the giving of an instruction on self-defense, regardless of whether a manslaughter instruction is requested by the defense, trial courts in the future are left in an untenable position. Let us assume that there is sufficient evidence to justify a tendered instruction by the defense on justifiable use of force, but no tender of an instruction on voluntary manslaughter, and therefore none is given. If a conviction for murder does result, can it be argued on appeal that it was error for the court not to have given on its own an instruction on this issue? Seemingly, under the majority’s holding, such is now possible, but I do not believe that this should be so. For these reasons, I dissent.