People v. Swimley

Defendant, Marlene Swimley, was charged by indictment with the offense of solicitation to commit murder. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1973, ch. 38, par. 8 — 1.) Specifically, defendant was accused of attempting to contract for the murder of her husband. Following a trial by jury, a verdict of guilty was returned. Defendant was sentenced to the penitentiary for a term of three to nine years.

The pertinent facts of this case, as set out at trial, need to be stated at some length:

In early November of 1973, in Schaumburg, Illinois, defendant’s son by a prior marriage, Joe Enderle, age 13, visited a neighbor,…