People v. Merchant

SECOND DIVISION

September 27, 2005

No. 1-04-1765

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, ) Appeal from the) Circuit Court of

Plaintiff-Appellee, ) Cook County.)

v. ))

HENRY MERCHANT, ) Honorable) Vincent M. Gaughan,

Defendant-Appellant. ) Judge Presiding.

Felix Frankfurter wrote: "In law, as in life, lines have to be drawn." Pearce v. Commissioner of Internal Revenue , 315 U.S. 543, 558, 86 L. Ed. 1016, 1025, 62 S. Ct. 754, 761 (1942) (Frankfurter, J., dissenting). In this case, we are called on to draw the line between theft from a person and robbery of that person. The answer depends on our evaluation…