People v. Ellis

This is an appeal by the defendant, Richard Lee Ellis, from a judgment of conviction for the crime of murder entered by the circuit court of St. Clair County pursuant to a jury verdict of guilty. The 29-year-old defendant was convicted of murdering William H. Johnson, the stepfather of the defendant, who died late in the evening of November 5 (or early morning of November 6, 1974) from injuries inflicted by the defendant with a blunt metal object in the presence of defendant’s mother, the victim’s wife.

An issue at the trial was whether the defendant was sane at the time of the commission of…