People v. Simpson

270 Ill. 540
CourtIllinois Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 22, 1915
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 270 Ill. 540 (People v. Simpson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Illinois Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Simpson, 270 Ill. 540 (Ill. 1915).

Opinion

' Mr. Justice Cartwright

delivered the opinion of the court:

The plaintiff in error, Samuel Simpson, was indicted and tried in the criminal court of Cook county for the murder of Louis Buchanan and was convicted of manslaughter. He has brought the record by writ of error to this court for review.

At the trial defendant admitted killing Louis Buchanan between five and six o’clock in the afternoon of Monday, May 12, 1913, by shooting him with a 38-calibre revolver, but claimed that he killed him in self-defense. The defendant and Buchanan were negroes, and at the time of the homicide Buchanan was walking west from State street on the north side of Thirty-third street, and, having crossed toward the south side of the street, continued west along the middle of the street. The defendant' came north on Dearborn street,—the next street west of State street,— carrying a suit-case, overcoat, rain-coat and umbrella. He came into Thirty-third street and crossed to the north side of the street, going east toward State street. When he and Buchanan were about twenty or twenty-five feet apart, near the alley running north and south between State and Dear-born streets, the shooting occurred. There was one witness of what then happened, who testified for the People. He appeared to be free from' any bias or partiality, and if he had any prejudice it was against Buchanan, who was a gambler and confidence man, and who, the witness said, had cheated him out of $30 by shooting craps with loaded dice. That witness testified that he was going to a saloon for beer and went into the side entrance of the saloon; that when he first saw the defendant he had a-revolver in his right hand and was in a bending position, setting his suitcase down and motioning with his left hand toward Buchanan as if to keep him back. The witness turned to go down the alley, when he heard two shots, and looking back he saw the defendant shooting and walking toward Buchanan, who was standing still, with his right hand up and his left hand in the region of his abdomen. The first two shots were followed in quick succession by three others, and Buchanan walked over to the south side of the street and sat on the steps. Buchanan was taken to a hospital and died the next day. There were two shots in each arm and the fatal shot was in the right side. It entered at the ninth rib and took a downward course through the liver, above the kidney, and finally lodged near the femoral artery on the left side of the body.

The defendant and two others testified for the defense concerning the occurrence. One witness said that he was standing at the northwest corner of Thirty-third and Dear-born streets when he saw a man with a suit-case coming north on the east side of Dearborn street; that the man turned and went east on Thirty-third street, and a heavyset, dark-skinned man was coming west on that street and told the man with the suit-case to wait a minute,—that he wanted to see him; that the man with the suit-case told the other to stay off of him, and the other man called him a vile name and said he was going to kill him, and made for his belt; that the man with the suit-case dropped it and knelt down and commenced shooting, and the heavy-set man threw his hand out and staggered and then sat down on the steps. The other witness, an undertaker, who was at the inquest upon the body of Buchanan and who did not reveal anything that he knew at that time or until the trial, said that Buchanan went along Thirty-third street, and when he got to the alley went down the middle of the' street; that the defendant came around the corner from Dearborn street and started east, with a suit-case in his hand and an overcoat on his arm; that Buchanan said to the • defendant he wanted to see him, and the defendant said to get back and leave him alone; that the defendant stopped and squatted down and d°rew his revolver; that Buchanan called the defendant a vile name and said he was going to kill him, and Buchanan had his hand down in front of him, and when he made that motion the defendant fired; that Buchanan had his right hand up and did not stop going toward the defendant until the third shot was fired, when he turned and went to the south sidewalk.

The defendant, testifying in his own behalf, told of a difficulty between Buchanan and himself on the mqrning of the day of the homicide. The defendant was a married man, having a wife and five children, but had been rooming at 3323 South Dearborn street in a house occupied by Mr. and Mrs. Johnson, Cora Marshall and Lydia Dorsey. Cora Marshall had for years been a notorious character in the neighborhood and went by the name of Big Sis, and Lydia Dorsey lived with her and passed as her daughter, although she was not, in fact, her daughter. The defendant testified that Buchanan had been in Dayton, Ohio, at the time of a flood, and on that Monday morning came to the defendant’s bed-room, where he was in bed, and said that the defendant had got the woman and that he ought to kill him and her too; that the defendant had bought'strawberries and chicken for her and she had given them to him; that she brought him a dinner and he threw it out and broke the dish. The defendant protested against the charges and denied having the woman, and they talked about a wager with reference to something that Buchanan charged the defendant with having told a lieutenant. The defendant said that Buchanan told him that he should not stay there, and if he was there when he came back he would kill him. After Buchanan left, the defendant got up and left the house, but said that he had to wait until the woman came back in the afternoon, between five and six o’clock, as he had no key, and he then packed-up and explained things to her. He said that he had arranged for another room at Twenty-second street, and took his suit-case, overcoat, raincoat and umbrella and left the house, putting the revolver, which was in the suit-case, in his overcoat pocket. His account of the homicide was, that when he turned from Dear-born street into Thirty-third street he saw Buchanan coming along the street toward him; that Buchanan said he wanted to speak to him, and he told Buchanan to stay back and waved his hand at him; that Buchanan called 'him a vile name and said he would kill him and started toward him, putting his hand down his trousers in front, under his vest, as if to get something; that the defendant dropped the suit-case, got his revolver out of his overcoat pocket and shot.

No witness saw any revolver or weapon of any kind in the possession of Buchanan and there was none on his person after he was killed. One witness for the defense testified that he saw a tall,, brown-skinned man grab something from Buchanan and run north. Another witness said that he saw a brown-slcinned fellow run up the alley with a shiny gun, but he admitted that he had no knowledge where the brown-skinned man got the gun. This evidence was introduced to raise an inference that Buchánan had a revolver which was taken from his person by the brown-skinned man after the shooting, but a witness for the defendant who said he was the first one to reach Buchanan' after the shooting did not see anything of a brown-skinned man taking a weapon from him. The jury would not' be likely to .pay any attention to the story of. the mythical brown-skinned man running up the street with a shiny revolver and who was never heard of again. All the witnesses, including the defendant himself, were agreed that at least after the third shot Buchanan had his right hand up, and it is certain that he had no weapon in either hand.

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270 Ill. 540, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-simpson-ill-1915.