Jerry's Journal

People v. Simon, 2011 IL App (1st) 091197 (May 27, 2011).

Defendant’s conviction for first degree murder was affirmed, despite his arguments that he acted with actual, though unreasonable, belief in selfdefense that required reduction of the conviction to second degree murder, that the trial court erred in barring evidence supporting his theory of self-defense, that the trial court relied on the erroneous recollection of certain testimony, and that State failed to disclose one witness’s felony conviction and allowed the witness to provide perjured testimony concerning his criminal history, since the fact finder could have found that defendant failed to prove he unreasonably believed he was acting in self-defense, the trial court’s exclusion of the evidence of the victim’s violent acts against defendant was not abuse of discretion, appellate court refused to find the trial court improperly recalled the testimony of one witness, and there was other testimony supporting trial court’s decision.

Tags: Criminal Procedure