People v. Alvarez

Defendant appeals his conviction for murder and his sentence of 50 years’ imprisonment, raising the following issues: (1) whether the trial court erred in admitting into evidence the victim’s statement identifying defendant as his assailant; (2) whether the trial court abused its discretion in denying defendant’s motions for a mistrial; (3) whether defendant was denied a fair trial by the prosecutor’s statements during opening and closing arguments; (4) whether it was plain error for the trial court not to instruct the jury on voluntary manslaughter; and (5) whether the trial court abused its…