People v. Thomas

Defendant and Sheree Manning were charged by indictment with murder and armed robbery. A severance was ordered and Manning elected a bench trial, which was conducted simultaneously with defendant’s jury trial. Following that trial, defendant was found not guilty of murder but guilty of armed robbery and sentenced to a term of 10 years. On appeal, she contends that the trial court’s refusal to give one of the defense-tendered jury instructions prevented consideration by the jurors of her theory of defense and denied her the right to assistance of counsel in presenting that defense.

The charges…