People v. Dillard

In a bench trial in the Circuit Court of St. Clair County defendants, Hubert McCray and Darrell Dillard, were convicted of murder and were sentenced to the penitentiary for terms of not less than 14 nor more than 50 years. Their separate appeals have been consolidated here for opinion. The principal contention in each appeal is that the homicide was committed in self defense and that the State failed to overcome such evidence by proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

Edward Brock, a gas station attendant, was shot and killed shortly after 10:00 o’clock in the evening on May 9, 1969, in East St.…