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posted on 8/27/17

The parking lot at a busy Schaumburg pharmacy was the scene of a brutal slaying, but 37-year-old Oliver Rhone’s lawyer is confident that prosecutors cannot establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

37-year-old Quentin Tillison had been making violent threats against her client for years, prompting him to buy a gun and register for concealed handgun classes, according to Rhone’s lawyer. In fact, the circumstances in the case amount to “the most compelling facts for a self-defense case that I have ever seen,” she told the judge. Not surprisingly, prosecutors weaved together a different narrative. They point out that Mr. Rhone laid in wait for Mr. Tillerson outside the store, shot the victim as he turned to flee, pursued him across the parking lot, then attempted to flee. Moreover, eyewitnesses and the victim’s dying declaration pegged Mr. Rhone as the assailant.

The judge ordered Mr. Rhone, who voluntarily surrendered to authorities, held without bail.

Self-Defense in Criminal Cases

Typically, we view self-defense as applicable only when persons are directly confronted with the threat of force, and most jurors will say the same thing if asked. So, especially in self-defense cases that involve no such direct violence, it is important for jurors to understand that, legally, self-defense is much broader because threats are not just limited to someone pointing a gun in your face.

This idea may have first entered the national conscience in 1984’s The Burning Bed, when Farrah Fawcett played battered housewife Francine Hughes. In 1977, Ms. Hughes, after years of alleged abuse, set her husband’s bed ablaze. At trial, her attorneys successfully argued that she suffered from battered women’s syndrome. Essentially, experts testified, the long term abuse had warped her mind and rendered her incapable of making rational decisions. Francine Hughes Wilson just passed away earlier this year at age 69 due to complications from pneumonia.

Temporary insanity cases are almost impossible to win in Illinois, since the defendant must be suffering from a mental disease or defect that has been diagnosed and somehow comes and goes.

However, this type of case may provide the defendant a self-defense claim, due to the statutory elements of this argument:

  • Imminent threat or danger,
  • Unlawful threat,
  • Reasonable belief of such imminent threat, and
  • Proportional use of defensive force.

So, there is no requirement of a physical altercation. However, the defendant must have a reasonable belief that, unless he or she uses force, the other party will cause physical harm. Furthermore, the defendant’s use of force must be proportional to the perceived threat of force.

The “reasonable belief” prong is mostly subjective because the jury, after hearing the evidence, can sympathize with the defendant. For example, if a person with a history of violence sticks his finger out of his pocket like it is a hidden gun barrel, it is reasonable for the defendant to believe that the other party has a gun.

Somewhat similarly, the “proportional threat” element does not necessarily mean that if the defendant pulls a gun when the victim pulls a knife, that there is no self-defense. If the defendant needed a gun to ward off the assailant, perhaps because the assailant is physically larger than the defendant, such a use of force may be appropriate.

Reach Out to Aggressive Lawyers

Self-defense has many different facets. For a confidential consultation with an experienced criminal law attorney in Schaumburg, contact Glasgow & Olsson.

(image courtesy of Kai Oberhauser)