People v. Collins

Defendant, Charles Collins, was convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to 26 years of imprisonment. He appeals from his conviction on two grounds: (1) evidence of the drunken struggle between him and his roommate supports only a finding of second degree murder; and (2) the Illinois homicide statute, which sets out first and second degrees of murder, violates Federal and State constitutional provisions that guarantee due process of law, equal protection of law, and the separation of powers doctrine.

For the reasons that follow, we reduce the murder conviction from first to second degree…