Chief Justice Flush's legal opinion is circling the drain.
Robbery is defined by Illinois law as taking property from another person by either using force or threatening to use force.
If, during the commission of the robbery, the defendant is carrying a firearm, that is aggravated robbery.
Sec. 18-2. Armed robbery.
(720 ILCS 5/18-2)
(a) A person commits armed robbery when he or she violates Section 18-1; and
(1) he or she carries on or about his or her person or is otherwise armed with a dangerous weapon other than a firearm; or
(2) he or she carries on or about his or her person or is otherwise armed with a firearm
In 1961, Illinois adopted the American Law Institute's Model Penal Code, which specifies that deadly force can be used if the person against whom the force is used is attempting to commit or consummate arson, burglary, robbery or other felonious theft or property destruction and either:
[a] has employed or threatened deadly force against or in the presence of the actor; or
the use of nondeadly force to prevent the commission or the consummation of the crime would expose the actor or another in his presence to substantial danger of serious bodily injury.
