Lilly v. People

Citations

• 148 Ill. 467
• 36 N.E. 95
• 1894 Ill. LEXIS 1507

Syllabus

<p>1. Criminal law—insanity as a defense—evidence on the subject— from acts, etc. In. a prosecution of one for an assault with intent to murder, where the defense is insanity, the failure of the People to ask any direct question as to the defendant’s sanity will not defeat a conviction, when the acts and conduct of the defendant prior to and at the time of the assault tend to prove that he was perfectly rational, and that he acted from motives of revenge, and not in obedience to an uncontrollable impulse. So his sanity may be shown by what he may say and do after the offense.</p> <p>2. On the trial of a husband for an assault on his wife with intent to murder her, it appeared that the defendant, shortly after the assault, wrote his wife a letter, expressing sorrow for what he had done and seeking a reconciliation, and intimating danger if she testified, and that she received also two other letters, signed “A Friend,” which sought to deter her from appearing as a witness in the prosecution: Held, that while there was no direct evidence that the defendant wrote the two last letters, the inference was strong that he inspired them. But -whether he did or not, the first showed clearly that he appreciated the criminal character of his act, and was striving to avoid punishment by escaping his wife’s testimony, by intimidation.</p> <p>3. Same—when insanity an excuse for crime. The settled rule in this State is, that when insanity is relied on to excuse an act otherwise criminal, whenever it appears, from the evidence, that at the time of doing the act charged the prisoner was not of sound mind, but affected with insanity, and such affection was the efficient cause of the act, and that he would not have done the act but for that affection, he ought to be acquitted. But this unsoundness of mind must be of such a degree as to create an uncontrollable impulse to do the act charged, by overriding the reason and judgment, and obliterating the sense of right as to the particular a