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Criminal Law Keyed to Osler
Mayes v. People
Facts
Mayes threw a large beer mug at his wife, hitting and smashing an oil lamp, causing burning oil to ignite her clothes. Mayes did not attempt to put out the fire, and his wife died later that week from the burns inflicted. Mayes was charged with murder.Mayes requested that the jury be instructed that to convict for murder, it must find beyond a reasonable doubt that Mayes acted with the intent to inflict bodily injury on his wife when he threw the mug. The court gave the jury an amended version, essentially instructing the jury that it could convict if it found that Mayes acted with an abandoned and malignant heart. Mayes was convicted of murder and appealed his conviction to the Supreme Court of Illinois.
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