Overcorrecting Jury Instruction Errors

In November, a state appellate court threw out the first-degree murder conviction of Daniel Belknap, who had been found guilty in the beating death of a young girl in 2006. The Illinois Supreme Court is now deciding whether to hear a challenge to that decision in order to clarify the law on “plain error” review. It should. People v. Belknap is important because, as the state argues, some appellate courts are misapplying plain-error doctrine. Beyond that, the case is significant because it highlights the dubious value of recent Supreme Court case law on how trial courts conduct voir dire. Hidden in this case are lessons for prosecutors, defense attorneys and judges who must live with the new voir dire rules