People v. Mullen

After a jury trial, Willie Mullen, defendant, was convicted in the circuit court of Cook County of the murder of Ernest Jones. The appellate court reversed and remanded the case to the circuit court for a new trial. (184 Ill. App. 3d 539.) This court granted the State’s petition for leave to appeal (107 Ill. 2d R. 315(a)).

The sole issue on review is whether unobjected to prosecutorial comments in the State’s rebuttal closing argument denied defendant a fair trial.

On August 19, 1985, at approximately 12:30 a.m., Ernest Jones was fatally shot on the west side of Chicago. Defendant, James…