People v. Liddell
| Decision Date | 04 October 1933 |
| Docket Number | No. 21698.,21698. |
| Parties | PEOPLE v. LIDDELL. |
| Court | Illinois Supreme Court |
OPINION TEXT STARTS HERE
Error to Criminal Court, Cook County; John Prystalski, Judge.
Lampton Liddell was convicted of manslaughter, and he brings error.
Affirmed.
Frank A. McDonnell and S. B. McDonnell, Jr., both of Chicago (Elwyn E. Long, of Chicago, of counsel), for plaintiff in error.
Oscar E. Carlstrom, Atty. Gen., Thomas J. Courtney, State's Atty., of Chicago, and J. J. Neiger, of Springfield (Edward E. Wilson and Grenville Beardsley, both of Chicago, of counsel), for the People.
Lampton Liddell, by an indictment returned in the criminal court of Cook county, was charged with the murder of La Fisher Alexander. The defendant pleaded not guilty and waived a trial by jury. The court found him guilty of manslaughter, and, after overruling motions for a new trial and in arrest of judgment, sentenced him to the penitentiary. Liddell prosecutes this writ of error.
On the evening of December 30, 1931, certain police officers of the city of Chicago received a report that an automobile accident had occurred in the vicinity of 1310 Roosevelt road. Three officers drove to that address and found a man lying on the sidewalk. They took him to the Bridewell Hospital, where blood was washed from his face and it was discovered that he had been shot. The victim was identified as La Fisher Alexander and he informed the police officers that the plaintiff in error had shot him. Three officers arrested the plaintiff in error at his home and took him to the hospital where Alexander pointed him out as his assailant and signed a written statement to that effect. Afterwards, at a police station, the plaintiff in error in writing admitted that he shot Alexander and told the officers where the revolver which he used might be found. An investigation at the address given led to the discovery of a .38 caliber Colt revolver in the basement and of three empty shells in the rear yard. Alexander died on January 3, 1932. A post mortem examination of the body disclosed three bullet wounds in the head and neck and one in the left elbow. A flattened lead bullet was removed from the head.
The plaintiff in error and the decedent were first cousins; they were, respectively, 26 and 20 years of age, and they came from Mississippi. During their residence in that state, Alexander paid unwarranted attentions to the wife of the plaintiff in error and a suit and decree for divorce followed. After his removal to this state, the plaintiff in error married again and obtained employment in Chicago. Alexander's brother, and later Alexander himself, also came to Chicago, and shortly thereafter made their home with the plaintiff in error. In a few months, Alexander began to pay attentions to Liddell's second wife. The plaintiff in error attempted to prevent communications between them and requested both Alexander and his brother to leave his home. Although they found quarters in the vicinity, Alexander continued to write to and to call upon Mrs. Liddell. The plaintiff in error intercepted one of Alexander's letters and on the day of the homicide spoke to him, at their common place of employment, concerning the letter and the proposed loan of a revolver which the former possessed. Finding it inconvenient to hold a conversation at the particular place, Alexander suggested that they meet elsewhere. The suggestion was followed, and at the second place of meeting they drank some whisky and the plaintiff in error produced his revolver for Alexander's inspection. Alexander examined the revolver and returned it to the plaintiff in error. During this conversation Alexander admitted that his relations with Mrs. Liddell had been illicit, and he added that he proposed to continue paying attentions to her. The remonstrance of the plaintiff in error and his assertion that he would prevent further meetings and communications with his wife were followed by Alexander's threat to kill the plaintiff in error and by an attempt to regain possession of the revolver. A struggle ensued during which the revolver was discharged and a bullet struck Alexander. The latter started to run, and when he was about to fall the plaintiff in error shot him two or three times. After the shooting, the plaintiff in error stopped at a restaurant to eat, attended a moving picture theater, and returned to his home where he was arrested. No person other than the plaintiff in error and...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Butler v. State
... ... U.S. 4 Am. & Eng'. Ann ... Cas. 778; State of S. Carolina v. Gillis, 5 L.R.A ... (N.S.) 571; Jones v. State, 59 L.R.A. 1160; ... People v. Newman, 195 N.E. 645; People v ... Liddell, 187 N.E. 174; State v. Lewis, 160 So ... 485; State v. Harvell, 130 So. 348; State v ... Elmore, ... ...
-
People v. Echoles
...bar a subsequent prosecution for murder arising out of the same facts. (People v. Newman, 360 Ill. 226, 195 N.E. 645; People v. Liddell, 353 Ill. 201, 187 N.E. 174; People v. Clark, 15 Ill.App.3d 756, 305 N.E.2d 218.) Furthermore, notwithstanding the sufficiency of the evidence which would ......
-
People v. Newman
... ... The giving of this instruction was error requiring reversal. Conviction of manslaughter on a charge of murder amounts to an acquittal on the graver charge. [360 Ill. 233]People v. Liddell, 353 Ill. 201, 187 N. E. 174;People v. Carrico, 310 Ill. 543, 142 N. E. 164;Barnett v. People, 54 Ill. 325. Plaintiff in error cannot be again tried on that charge, and, as there is no evidence of his guilt of manslaughter, the judgment of the circuit court of Christian county is reversed.Judgment ... ...
-
People v. Thomas, 1-88-2819
...an acquittal of the murder charge and barred a subsequent prosecution for murder arising out of the same facts. (People v. Liddell (1933), 353 Ill. 201, 204, 187 N.E. 174, 175; People v. Goodwin (1981), 98 Ill.App.3d 726, 730, 53 Ill.Dec. 790, 793, 424 N.E.2d 425, 428; People v. Echoles (19......