The PEOPLE v. Carpenter

A jury in the criminal court of Cook County found Richard Carpenter guilty of the crime of murder and assessed the death penalty. We affirmed the judgment of conviction which was entered on the jury’s verdict. (People v. Carpenter, 11 Ill.2d 60.) Following our denial of a petition for rehearing Irene Carpenter, a sister of Richard Carpenter, filed a petition in the trial court alleging that Carpenter had become insane since the judgment and sentence. The court stayed Carpenter’s execution and a jury was impaneled to determine the issue of Carpenter’s sanity. A hearing was held on this issue…