People v. Peery

The defendant, Major Peery, was indicted for the murder of his wife (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1969, ch. 38, par. 9 — 1), and after a jury trial he was convicted and sentenced to the Illinois State Penitentiary for a term of 100 to 150 years. In this appeal the defendant alleges that three instances of reversible error occurred during the trial and also that the sentence he received was excessive. The most important issue raised by the defendant, because it is dispositive of this case, is whether the trial court erred in refusing to give the defendant’s offered jury instruction encompassing the lesser…