Ill. Pattern Jury Instr. (Criminal) 2.00

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

The instructions in this chapter deal with the indictment, information or complaint,

burden of proof, and the presumption of innocence. One of the 2.01 et seq. instructions,

Instruction 2.02, and one of the 2.03 et seq. instructions must be given in all cases. Instruction

2.04 should be given only at the defendant's request, and then it must be given.

The Committee is aware of instances where a confused jury has returned logically or

legally inconsistent verdicts. (For examples of problems the Committee is seeking to avoid, see

People v. Hoffer, 106 Ill.2d 186, 478 N.E.2d 335, 88 Ill.Dec. 20 (1985), cert. denied 474 U.S.

847, 106 S.Ct. 139, 88 L.Ed.2d 114 (1985) (guilty of murder, voluntary manslaughter, and

involuntary manslaughter), People v. Spears, 130 Ill.App.3d 1006, 475 N.E.2d 8, 86 Ill.Dec . 202

(3d Dist.1985), judgment affirmed 112 Ill.2d 396, 493 N.E.2d 1030, 98 Ill.Dec. 9 (1986) (guilty

of attempt murder, armed violence, and reckless conduct), and People v. Coleman, 131

Ill.App.3d 76, 475 N.E.2d 565, 86 Ill.Dec. 351 (1st Dist.1985) (guilty of attempt murder and

reckless conduct).) To avoid such confusion in future cases, the Committee has expanded the

concluding instructions (Instruction 26.01 et seq. ) to be given to the jury and has made those

instructions more specific depending upon the particular charges to be considered by the jury and

the relationship of those charges to each other.

As part of the Committee's plan to avoid jury confusion, the Committee has similarly

expanded Chapter 2.00. Thus the form of the 2.01 charging instruction should always correlate to

the form of the 26.01 concluding instruction. [Example: if Instruction 2.01E is given, then

Instruction 26.01E must be given as well.]

The Committee is aware that choosing among the 2.01 et seq. instructions at first may

seem confusing and difficult. However, the Committee decided that having these options

available to cover as many fact situations as possible would ultimately prove to be of great

benefit to the bench and bar. Were these options not available, counsel and the court would be

required in an appropriate case to concoct modifications of those instructions in IPI -Criminal

closest to the case at hand. Devising instructions in the midst of a complex, perhaps hard- fought

trial is not a desirable course of action. It is far preferable to permit the court and counsel to

choose from among the detailed instructions provided by the Committee to meet almost any fact

situation that might arise.

In the 28 instructions that comprise the 2.01 series, the Committee has attempted to

provide a particular charging instruction to meet any factual variation present when the jury is to

be instructed about one or more of the following areas: second degree murder, involuntary

manslaughter, lesser included offenses, the guilty but mentally ill verdict, and the insanity

defense.

Only one instruction of the 2.01 series (and its corresponding partner from the 26.01

series) should be appropriate to any given set of facts. The Committee has attempted to anticipate

and include all potential factual situations. If, however, the court determines that the Committee

has failed to provide an instruction in the 2.01 series that is appropriate to the factual situation of

the case on trial, the court should then utilize Instruction 2.01 and modify it as may be needed.

In People v. Reddick, 123 Ill.2d 184, 526 N.E.2d 141, 122 Ill.Dec. 1 (1988), the Illinois

Supreme Court changed how a jury should be instructed when it is to consider both murder and

voluntary manslaughter as those offenses were defined prior to P.A. 84- 1450, which created the

offense of second degree murder. (See Committee Note to Instruction 7.02A.) The Committee

believes that the instructions contained in parts II and III of the 2.01 series, dealing with first and

second degree murder and involuntary manslaughter in various combinations, are fully

applicable to murder-voluntary manslaughter cases being tried under the statutes in effect before

amendments contained in P.A. 84- 1450, with only two slight modifications: (1) any reference in

a 2.01 instruction to first degree murder should be changed to murder, and (2) any reference to

second degree murder should be changed to voluntary manslaughter.

Guidelines for Choosing Among the 2.01 series Instructions

The 2.01 series has been divided into five parts to reduce the difficulty of finding the

appropriate instruction for use in any given factual setting.

PART I.

GENERAL CHARGING INSTRUCTION

Introductory Note

Instruction 2.01 is the general instruction concerning the charge against the defendant

(with some modifications) that previously appeared in earlier editions of IPI -Criminal. It should

be used when none of the 27 other, more specific, instructions from the 2.01 series is applicable.