People v. Luckett

The issue in this case is whether it was an abuse of discretion for the trial judge to refuse to instruct the jury on the lesser mitigated offense of second degree murder based on an unreasonable belief in justification (720 ILCS 5/9—2(a)(2) (West 1996)) for the charged offenses of intentional and knowing first degree murder (720 ILCS 5/9—1(a)(1), (a)(2) (West 1996)) where the record reflected evidence that, in self-defense, defendant believed deadly force was justified, but such belief was unreasonable. Pursuant to the supreme court’s supervisory order, we reconsider our original opinion in…