People v. McCarthy

Following a jury trial in the circuit court of Cook County, the defendant, David McCarthy, was convicted of murder and sentenced to a term of 34 years’ imprisonment. The appellate court reversed the defendant’s conviction and remanded the cause for ,a new trial, finding reversible error in the trial judge’s refusal to instruct the jury on voluntary manslaughter in addition to murder. (181 Ill. App. 3d 208.) We allowed the State’s petition for leave to appeal (107 Ill. 2d R. 315(a)).

The victim in the present case was Adrianne Neal, with whom the defendant had previously enjoyed a longstanding…