People v. Peery

The defendant, Major Peery, was convicted of murdering his wife, Lovelle Peery, on March 31, 1971, and after a jury trial in the Circuit Court of Cook County, he was found guilty of murder. That judgment was reversed on appeal (People v. Peery (1973), 11 Ill. App. 3d 730) because the trial court erroneously refused to instruct the jury on the lesser included offense of voluntary manslaughter. Upon remand to the trial court, the defendant was again found guilty of murder by a jury, and he was sentenced to a term of 30 to 90 years.

The issues on appeal are whether the court erred by failing to…