Court Opinion

ID: 9725876
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 12:17:36.620877+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:25:20.209055
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE LINN, dissenting: I respectfully dissent. Even assuming that the approach taken by the majority is correct, and that it was error for the trial court to refuse defendant’s instruction on voluntary manslaughter after tendering an instruction on self-defense, I do not believe that the omission requires reversal in light of the verdicts rendered by the jury. In addition to being found guilty of murder, defendant was also found guilty of armed robbery and armed violence. This indicates that the jury believed that defendant was the person who was armed with the gun and disbelieved defendant’s version of the events since he had testified that after Mrs. Kim grabbed him by the arm, Mr. Kim entered the store armed with a gun, and in the struggle that ensued, Mr. Kim accidentally shot himself in the chest. In People v. Negron (1979), 77 Ill. App. 3d 198, 395 N.E.2d 1055, decided by this court, the defendant was charged in a multicount indictment and found guilty of murder and robbery. On appeal, defendant contended, inter alia, that the failure of the trial court to give instructions to the jury sua sponte on the justifiable use of force was plain error. In that opinion this court commented that in finding the defendant guilty of robbery, “the jury effectively precluded any possibility that defendant’s use of force with (and murder of) the victim was justified,” and consequently that even if the trial court erred in not instructing the jury, the failure could not have deprived the defendant of a fair trial. 77 Ill. App. 3d 198, 206. I find this reasoning applicable to the instant case. The instruction tendered by the defendant indicated that he was relying on section 9 — 2(b) of the Criminal Code of 1961 (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1979, ch. 38, par. 9 — 2(b)). This section applies to one who intentionally and knowingly kills another under an unreasonable belief that the killing was necessary in order to defend himself. (People v. Purrazzo (1981), 95 Ill. App. 3d 886, 420 N.E.2d 461.) In finding the defendant guilty of armed robbery and armed violence the jury determined that defendant was the one who was armed, obviously disbelieved defendant’s claims that he was threatened by the proprietors of the store, and rejected any theory of self-defense. The verdicts also indicate that the jury determined that the killing took place during the commission of a forcible felony, and that defendant was guilty of murder. Therefore, in addition to my belief that the evidence presented in the trial court clearly did not support an instruction for voluntary manslaughter, I also find, in light of the verdicts returned by the jury, that the outcome would have been the same even had the instruction been given. Furthermore, in view of the overwhelming evidence of defendant’s guilt found in the testimony given by the State’s witnesses along with the physical evidence that was presented, and considering the testimony given by defendant, I believe that any error in failing to submit the instruction on voluntary manslaughter was harmless. (See People v. Jones (1979), 81 Ill. 2d 1, 405 N.E.2d 343.) I would affirm the convictions.