People v. Smith

After a jury trial, Terrence Smith was found guilty of voluntary manslaughter. The trial court sentenced the defendant to the Illinois State Penitentiary for a period of not less than 15 years and not more than 20 years. On appeal defendant contends that:

1. He was not proven guilty of voluntary manslaughter beyond a reasonable doubt;

2. Failure of his counsel to tender an instruction on self-defense amounted to incompetency of counsel and deprived defendant of a fair trial; and

3. The sentence of 15 to 20 years was excessive.

The facts are as follows:

The defendant, who was married, had dated…