People v. Hightower

The circuit court of Williamson County sentenced defendant, Billie Gene Hightower, to 25 years of imprisonment after a jury found defendant guilty of the murder of his wife, Cathy C. Hightower. Defendant alleged that he was insane at the time of the commission of the offense. Both parties presented expert testimony regarding defendant’s sanity, and the jury was instructed, pursuant to section 3 — 2 of the Criminal Code of 1961 (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 38, par. 3 — 2), that defendant had the burden to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that he was not guilty by reason of insanity. The…