Brown v. People

Citations

• 39 Ill. 407

Syllabus

<p>1. Justifiable homicide—defending one’s habitation. A party indicted for manslaughter, was warned that the deceased and two others were coming to attack him, and when they did come, and in the night-time, they broke in the door and window of the defendant’s habitation, and, while in the act, the prisoner, then in his own house, struck the deceased a blow with a poker, from which he died the next day. This was a clear case of justifiable homicide. The defendant had a right to defend his habitation.</p> <p>2. Same—of the effect of subsequent expressions of defendant. Subsequent expressions of the defendant that he did not regret the act of killing, while they may be improper, are not criminal. So long as the law justifies, he need have no other regret than that which naturally results to every one who may be under the necessity of taking human life.</p>