People v. Jordan

• Decision Date: 22 January 1960
• Docket Number: No. 35476,35476
• Citation: People v. Jordan, 165 N.E.2d 296, 18 Ill.2d 489 (Ill. 1960)
• Parties: PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Defendant in Error, v. Orabelle JORDAN, Plaintiff in Error.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

Page 296

165 N.E.2d 296

18 Ill.2d 489

PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Defendant in Error, v.Orabelle JORDAN, Plaintiff in Error.

No. 35476.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Jan. 22, 1960.

Rehearing Denied March 28, 1960.

Chester Thomson, John W. Biggers and Ralph Schroeder, Bloomington, for plaintiff in error.

Grenville Beardsley, Atty. Gen., and Wayne C. Townley, Jr., State's Atty., Bloomington (Fred G. Leach, Asst. Atty. Gen., and Richard J. Dalton and Marvin H. Gesell, Asst. State's Atty., Bloomington, of counsel), for the People.

HOUSE, Chief Justice.

Defendant prosecutes a writ of error to the circuit court of McLean County to review her conviction of the crime of murder.

About 9:15 p. m. on November 11, 1958, the defendant, accompanied by her husband and Walter Walls, arrived at the entrance to the Royal Palms Niteclub in Bloomington simultaneously with another group in which Queen E. Thornton was a party.Defendant and Queen had known each other for a number of years and, sometime before this meeting, had been involved in a dispute concerning the pregnancy of Queen's sister, Dorothy.When they met at the entrance to the club they renewed their quarrel but exactly what each said to the other is disputed.The State produced seven witnesses who testified in substance that the defendant told Queen not to speak to her anymore and invited Queen outside to fight.The defendant and two of her witnesses, on the other hand, testified that it was Queen who threatened and invited the defendant outside to fight.

Still quarreling, the two women went outside where they wrestled each other in the middle of the street.Queen apparently gained the advantage by throwing the defendant to the pavement and the latter suffered some head injuries.They fought for several minutes before being separated by one of the many onlookers who had come out of the club.After they were separated, the defendant went to the north side and Queen to the south side of the street where they remained for approximately one or two minutes before resuming their fight.Soon after the fight began the second time, defendant obtained a knife from her pocketbook and stabbed her opponent several times.

Whether the defendant or deceased was the assailant in the final struggle was also disputed.Four of the State's witnesses testified that it was the defendant who crossed over to Queen's side of the street.Another State witness, although he did not testify who made the first move, stated that the stabbing occurred on Queen's side of the street.Of the three occurrence witnesses for the defense, only the defendant testified that Queen was the aggressor.

After the stabbing, the defendant returned to her car on the north side of the street and was driven home by her husband.However, on arrival, she did not go into the house but instead took a walk in a nearby park where she disposed of the knife.Defendant then returned to her home, and after telephoning her attorney, voluntarily surrendered to the police at the precinct station.In the meantime, Queen died from stab wounds soon after she was taken to the hospital.

Defendant was tried under an indictment charging both murder and manslaughter.The jury returned a verdict finding her guilty of murder in manner and form as charged in the indictment and fixing her punishment at imprisonment in the penitentiary for a term of sixteen years.Post-trial motions in arrest of judgment and for a new trial were overruled and judgment was entered on the verdict.

Defendant does not deny engaging in the fight nor the subsequent stabbing resulting in the death of deceased but contends that she was acting in self-defense and that, as a matter of law, the State did not prove the element of malice aforethought or any intent on her part to kill the decedent.

Defendant's contention is not sustained by the record.In order that a killing be justified on the grounds of self-defense it must appear that the danger was so urgent and pressing that in order to save the defendant's own life or to prevent his receiving great bodily harm the killing of the other was absolutely necessary and it must appear also that the person killed was the assailant or that the slayer had really and in good faith endeavored to decline any further struggle before the mortal blow was given.Ill.Rev.Stat., 1957, chap. 38, par. 367.Whether a killing is justified under the law of self-defense is always a question of fact to be determined by the jury under proper instructions.People v. Maurantonio, 8 Ill.2d 60, 64, 132 N.E.2d 515.Once a jury has decided this question and has reached a verdict this court will not disturb that finding unless the evidence is palpably contrary to the verdict or so unreasonable, improbable, or unsatisfactory that it justifies entertaining a reasonable doubt of the defendant's guilt.People v. Johnson, 2 Ill.2d 165, 172, 117 N.E.2d 91;People v. McClain, 410 Ill. 280, 102 N.E.2d 134.

From a reading of the above summary of the testimony at the trial it is apparent that there was ample evidence from which the jury could properly find that defendant was the aggressor both in the first fight and in the second fight after the two women had been separated.It is true that there was some evidence that the deceased was the aggressor.However, when the evidence is conflicting it is the function of the jury to resolve the conflict and determine the credibility of the various witnesses.People v. Sudduth, 14 Ill.2d 605, 153 N.E.2d 557.We will not disturb the jury's finding that the defendant did not act in self-defense.

Defendant relies upon People v. McGraw, 13 Ill.2d 249, 149 N.E.2d 100, in which we held that the evidence showed that the defendant acted in self-defense.The facts in the present case are entirely different from those in the McGraw case.There the defendant accidentally scraped the rear fender and door of a car...