People v. Wright
| Decision Date | 22 March 1963 |
| Docket Number | No. 36077,36077 |
| Citation | 27 Ill.2d 497,190 N.E.2d 287 |
| Parties | The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Defendant in Error, v. Hebie WRIGHT, Plaintiff in Error. |
| Court | Illinois Supreme Court |
Donald S. Jaffe, Chicago, for plaintiff in error.
William G. Clark, Atty. Gen., Springfield, and Daniel P. Ward, State's Atty., Chicago , for defendant in error.
In 1957 Hebie Wright was found guilty of murdering David Langhorn following a trial before a jury in the criminal court of Cook County, and was sentenced to 66 years imprisonment. A writ of error was issued, and this court is asked to determine the merit in defendant's contention that the assistant State's Attorney committed reversible error in his argument to the jury.
A summary of the evidence is essential to an evaluation of defendant's claim that certain statements were inflammatory and prejudicial. The testimony indicates that Freddie Woody, who was the defendant's mistress and the mother of several children, of one of whom defendant was the father, lived on the third floor of an apartment building at 214 West 55th Street in Chicago in a room which she and defendant had previously shared. Five other apparently unmarried individuals, including decedent, lived in the other five rooms on this floor and shared a common kitchen. Freddie Woody was steadily employed, but defendant was unemployed. He had moved out of the apartment sometime between February 1 and 11, following an argument with Freddie over $20 belonging to her which had disappeared and which she accused him of taking. On the evening of February 18, 1957, defendant came to Freddie's room. They visited, and defendant then went to the kitchen to get a drink. While there, decedent, whom defendant knew, came into the kitchen. Defendant testified that decedent then stated Freddie Woody 'was David Langhorn's girl now,' that defendant called him a liar and Langhorn pulled a pocket knife out and approached defendant with the knife in his raised hand; defendant grabbed deceased, they struggled, and defendant hit Langhorn who then fell. At this point defendant picked up a butcher knife from the table, ran toward decedent who was then on the floor and kicked him slightly to see if anything was wrong with him, then laid the knife on the table and left.
Freddie Woody testified that after defendant left her room she waited about five minutes, and then went after him; she met him coming out of the kitchen with a broken and bloody knife, which she knew to be his, in his hand; that he said, 'That is the end of that.' She then entered the kitchen and found decedent lying on the sink. She called several other roomers, Hugh Barron and Archie Smith, who came in and tried to carry Langhorn to his room but he fell to the floor. Defendant then returned and stamped decedent on the face with his foot, thereafter coming toward Freddie with a butcher knife which he had gotten from her room, threatening to cut one of the other roomers behind whom Freddie was hiding. Defendant then put the knife down, and 'tussled' with Freddie, who pushed him in the bathroom, ran downstairs and called the police.
The roomer, Hugh Barron, died prior to trial. Archie Smith testified, corroborating, in the main, the statements of Freddie Woody. The police officer who arrested defendant testified that defendant denied the stabbing...
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People v. Myers
... ... Defense counsel had himself twice mentioned the grief of the widow. Thus, this topic was invited by defense counsel. Under these circumstances, the prosecutor's comments concerning the grief of the widow were not prejudicial. See People v. Brown, 30 Ill.2d 297, 196 N.E.2d 664; People v. Wright, 27 Ill.2d 497, 190 N.E.2d 287 ... Defendant also complains about the prosecutor commenting upon the murder of George Ballard. We find nothing improper in the comments the prosecutor made concerning the murder of George Ballard. See People v. Ciucci, 8 Ill.2d 619, 137 N.E.2d ... ...
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...79 Ill.Dec. 663, 464 N.E.2d 261; People v. Jackson (1981), 84 Ill.2d 350, 360, 49 Ill.Dec. 719, 418 N.E.2d 739; People v. Wright (1963), 27 Ill.2d 497, 500-01, 190 N.E.2d 287. United States v. Young (1985), 470 U.S. 1, 105 S.Ct. 1038, 84 L.Ed.2d 1, which the defendant cites, is distinguisha......
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People v. Morando, 86-0065
...may, in closing argument, 'dwell on the evil results of crime and urge a fearless administration of the law' (People v. Wright (1963), 27 Ill.2d 497, 500-01, 190 N.E.2d 287, 289[, cert. denied (1963), 375 U.S. 925, 84 S.Ct. 271, 11 L.Ed.2d 167]; People v. Cukojevic (1981), 103 Ill.App.3d 71......
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