People v. Harmon

(Court opinion corrected 1/25/16.) Defendant, age 18 at time of offense, was convicted, after bench trial, of first degree murder and sentenced to 65 years. Defendant shot victim in alleged self-defense or defense of others after the victim punched one of his friends while on a public way. State proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Defendant was not acting in self-defense or defense of others from death or great bodily harm.  Defendant's use of deadly force was not justified to prevent commission of a forcible felony. Defendant failed to show mitigating factors for reduction of conviction. Court erred in not allowing any questioning of a prosecution witness as to potential bias from hope of deal with State for pending charges, but error was harmless as testimony of other witnesses corroborated his testimony.  Court properly sustained objections to defense counsel's questions as to what Defendant thought would happen during incident, and Defendant otherwise testified extensively to his state of mind.  Sentence not in error, as court considered all relevant mitigating and aggravating factors. (FITZGERALD SMITH, concurring; MASON, specially concurring.)