People v. White

This case presents the sole legal issue of whether, in Illinois, voluntary intoxication is a defense to the crime of armed robbery.

After a trial without a jury in the circuit court of Cook County, defendant was found guilty of armed robbery and was sentenced to a term of four to ten years. Defendant does not dispute the facts as presented in the trial court including the fact that he participated in the armed robbery, but argues that, as a result of his being voluntarily intoxicated at the time, he could not have possessed the requisite mental state to commit the crime.

On October 30, 1973, at…