People v. Nere

Taylor's family gathered at her mother’s Wheaton apartment to celebrate Taylor’s release from prison. Taylor’s girlfriend, Walker, joined the party. Taylor later called Defendant to arrange a ride home for Walker. When Defendant arrived, Taylor and Walker went to Defendant’s car. Defendant gave Taylor heroin, crack cocaine, a syringe, and a crack pipe (wrapped in a dirty sock that had blood on it). Taylor returned to the apartment, told her children that she was going to take a shower and went into the bathroom, Walker began calling repeatedly. Based on what Walker told him, Taylor’s son alerted family members, who tried to enter the locked bathroom and called 911. Officers arrived, forced the door open, and performed CPR. Paramedics transported Taylor to the hospital, where she was pronounced dead. A jury convicted Defendant of drug-induced homicide, 720 ILCS 5/9-3.3(a). The appellate and Illinois Supreme Courts affirmed, rejecting arguments that the trial court erred in refusing Defendant’s proposed jury instructions on causation and that she was not proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The court declined to abandon the “contributing cause” standard in favor of a “but for” standard. The instruction should be modified in cases of drug-induced homicide where the defendant delivers multiple controlled substances to the victim but is charged with only one of the deliveries; in this case, the failure to do so was harmless error. View "People v. Nere" on Justia Law