Lyons v. People

Citations

• 137 Ill. 602
• 27 N.E. 677
• 1891 Ill. LEXIS 1069

Syllabus

<p>1. Criminal evidence—res gesta. Where a number of persons act together or in concert to chastise or beat certain other persons, and one of the persons attacked is killed, expressions and statements made by some of the assailants are properly admitted in evidence on the trial of one of them for murder, as characterizing the mission on which he was engaged at the time they were made.</p> <p>2. Same—proof of another and distinct offense—when admissible. The general rule is, that proof of a distinct, substantive offense can not be admitted in support of a prosecution for another offense. The rule does not apply, however, when the evidence of another offense tends in some way to prove the accused guilty of the crime for which he is on trial, nor when there appears to have been a connection between the two acts in the mind of the actor, linking them together for some purpose he intended to accomplish, nor when there is such a logical connection between the two that the one tends to establish the other, nor when the two acts form but one transaction. Such testimony is also sometimes admissible to show motive or to refute an anticipated defense.</p> <p>3. Same — self-defense — reasonable fear—evidence admissible. To justify the taking of human life in self-defense, it must appear that the circumstances were sufficient to excite the fears of a reasonable person, and that the party killing really acted under the influence of those fears, and not in a spirit of revenge. The circumstances calculated to •excite fear will include not only the fact that the deceased attacked the defendant, but also the relative size and strength of the deceased as compared with that of the defendant.</p> <p>4. 'Where three are being tried for murder, and evidence of remarks made by two of the defendants in the difficulty, or matters leading up to the homicide, are properly admitted against them, the court, on discharging .such two defendants, may, by instruction to the jury, take away any injur