People v. Evans

BACKGROUND

The defendant-appellant Priscilla Evans was convicted of murder for the January 1986 killing of her husband. That conviction was reversed on appeal and her case remanded for a new trial. In her second prosecution, the defendant eventually pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter.

In that second prosecution, the defendant retained a psychiatrist to render an opinion regarding her mental state at the time of the killing. Subsequently, she moved the circuit court pursuant to section 113 — 3(d) of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963 (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1991, ch. 38, par. 113 — 3(d) (now…