People v. Johnson

Defendant was convicted, after jury trial, of 1st degree murder and aggravated discharge of a firearm. Court did not err by admitting into evidence a recording of a phone call Defendant made from jail. Court committed plain error by failing to instruct jury on limited purpose for which court admitted the call into evidence: to prove that Defendant was conscious of his guilt. The erroneous instruction permitted jury to infer that Defendant committed murder from evidence that he committed another offense of attempting to prevent a witness from testifying. Evidence was closely balanced and the erroneous instructions challenged integrity of judicial process. Reversed and remanded for new trial. (HYMAN, concurring; COGHLAN, dissenting.)