Defendant was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder for the death of his eight-year-old son and was sentenced to 100 years in prison on one count and life in prison on the second count. On appeal, defendant argue that the trial court abused its discretion when it allowed a co-defendant to invoke her fifth amendment rights despite her agreement to testify at defendant’s trial as a condition of her guilty plea, that trial counsel was ineffective for failure to move for a continuance and by failing to request a jury instruction on a lesser included offense, and that one of defendant’s convictions must be vacated under the one-act, one-crime doctrine. The appellate court affirmed, but modified the judgment by vacating the conviction on the first count, which was the less serious first-degree murder count, on the basis that it violated the one-act, one-crime doctrine. (VANCIL and CAVANAGH, concurring)
Illinois Appellate Court
Criminal Court
One-Act-One-Crime Doctrine