DeLeon v. State
Annotate this CaseDefendant was convicted of felony murder, reckless conduct, aggravated battery, tampering with evidence, and possession of a firearm. Defendant raised several issues on appeal. The court held that the evidence presented at trial was sufficient to authorize a rational jury to reject defendant's justification defense and find him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the crimes for which he was convicted. The court held, however, that the trial court erred when it sentenced defendant for felony tampering with evidence. Inasmuch as the evidence showed defendant threw the murder weapon away, thereby tampering with evidence in his own case and not that of another, he could not be convicted of a felony, but only convicted of a misdemeanor. Accordingly, it was erroneous for the trial court to impose a five-year probated sentence for the tampering with evidence conviction. The court also held that defendant's claim that the trial court erred when it allowed two witnesses to testify on cross-examination that they did not take seriously the threats made by the victim was without merit; and the charges given on justification, provocation, and voluntary manslaughter did not preclude the jury from considering defendant's claim of self-defense. The court further held that the trial court did not commit reversible error when it did not charge the jury on the issue of lack of a duty to retreat when a person acted in self-defense; when it recharged the jury on malice murder, felony murder, and voluntary manslaughter; and when it refused to give defendant's requested charge on transferred justification. The court finally held that the judgment of conviction and the sentence for reckless conduct must be vacated where the reckless conduct charge should have merged into the aggravated battery charge as a matter of fact. The court rejected defendant's remaining claims of error.
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