People v. Sloan

Following a jury trial in the circuit court of Sangamon County, the defendant, Mark A. Sloan, was convicted of murder and home invasion and sentenced to 40 years’ imprisonment. The appellate court, with one justice dissenting, reversed the conviction and remanded the cause for a new trial, concluding that the trial judge had erred in refusing the defendant’s instructions on self-defense and voluntary manslaughter. (129 Ill. App. 3d 242.) We allowed the State’s petition for leave to appeal (94 Ill. 2d R. 315(a)).

The evidence presented at trial was largely undisputed. Shortly after 2 a.m. on…