People v. Simpson

In a jury trial in Sangamon County circuit court, the defendant was convicted of murdering his paramour, Gwen Ellen Woods, in the early hours of October 30, 1972. The appellate court (39 Ill. App. 3d 661) reversed the conviction and remanded the case for a new trial because it deemed privileged a marital conversation testified to at trial (Ill. Rev. Stat: 1971, ch. 38, par. 155—1).

Sometime after midnight on October 30, the defendant and the victim were seen together at a tavern. They were later seen quarreling by the side of a road. A police officer stopped to talk to them, told the defendant…