People v. Defyn

584 N.E.2d 220, 222 Ill. App. 3d 504, 165 Ill. Dec. 41, 1991 Ill. App. LEXIS 1975
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedNovember 22, 1991
Docket1-88-0308
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 584 N.E.2d 220 (People v. Defyn) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Defyn, 584 N.E.2d 220, 222 Ill. App. 3d 504, 165 Ill. Dec. 41, 1991 Ill. App. LEXIS 1975 (Ill. Ct. App. 1991).

Opinion

JUSTICE McNULTY

delivered the opinion of the court:

After a jury trial, defendant Thomas Defyn was found guilty of criminal sexual assault and unlawful restraint and sentenced to 14 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections. We consider: (1) whether the prosecutor made improper comments in closing and rebuttal arguments; (2) whether the trial court erred in preventing the defendant’s cross-examination of the victim about her refusal to talk to a defense investigator; (3) whether the trial court coerced a guilty verdict by permitting the jurors to deliberate after they were informed that they would be sequestered; and (4) whether defendant was properly convicted of both criminal sexual assault and unlawful restraint.

At trial, the victim, J.M., testified that on April 7, 1987, while in Chicago on a business trip, she went to Bootleggers, a bar in the Rush Street area. It was there that she met the defendant. After conversing with defendant for approximately 45 minutes, defendant invited J.M. to come back to his apartment. While J.M. hesitated at first, after “making sure that there wasn’t anything else defendant was looking for” she accompanied defendant to his apartment.

J.M. testified that once inside defendant’s apartment, she took a seat on a small couch, while defendant sat on a larger couch and made some telephone calls. While still on the telephone, defendant motioned for J.M. to come over by him so that he could show her how his calculator worked. Defendant then asked J.M. to give him a kiss, she refused and told him “we already discussed this. You’re making me uncomfortable. I’m going to get up and leave.” As J.M. attempted to get up from the couch, defendant jumped her, pulled her hair and pushed her back on the couch. Defendant slapped J.M. across the face with his open hand and got on top of her. Defendant then grabbed J.M.’s hand and placed it on his penis. J.M. tried to push defendant off of her but defendant told her to “go ahead keep on fighting.” Defendant then looked at J.M. and said, “Yeah, that’s right. This is rape.” J.M. testified that she continued to fight the defendant, telling him “no.”

The defendant then grabbed hold of J.M.’s hair, unzipped his pants, took out his penis and demanded that she perform oral sex. J.M. continued to fight against him as defendant forced her down on his penis. Defendant told her if she did not cooperate, he would strike her. Defendant then put his penis in J.M.’s mouth and shook her head up and down until he ejaculated.

J.M. testified that defendant then demanded that J.M. pull up her skirt and take off her nylons. As she began removing her nylons, defendant pulled them off, and inserted his penis in her vagina from behind. J.M. told defendant again that she wanted to leave but defendant again forced her to perform oral sex. When J.M. resisted, defendant threatened, “I’m going to cold cock you if you don’t do this.” J.M. complied and defendant then instructed her to insert her fingers into his anus. J.M. complied after again being threatened by defendant.

Defendant paused for a moment and then threw J.M. back on the couch and laid on top of her. J.M. again told defendant that she wanted to leave to which he replied, “No, your [sic] either going to satisfy me during the next two hours or your [sic] going to be here for two more days.” Defendant again inserted his penis into J.M.’s vagina while yelling at her to “tell me you know your [sic] being raped. Tell me what it feels like to have your body mean nothing.” Defendant then got off of J.M. and insisted that she once again insert her fingers into his anus. Defendant then put his mouth on J.M.’s vagina.

J.M. told defendant that she had to go because she had a meeting in the morning. She attempted to get off the couch but defendant forced her to face the wall and he again inserted his penis into her vagina from behind. Defendant then pinned J.M. to the couch. J.M. told defendant that she had a meeting and people were expecting her. Defendant finally let J.M. stand up, put her nylons on and walk to the door.

Defendant followed J.M. out into the hallway and then into the elevator and out the front door onto the street. J.M. yelled for a cab, and when one stopped, defendant followed J.M. to the cab. J.M. told defendant not to do this to another person. Defendant offered J.M. money for the cab, and when she refused, he took the money out of his pocket and threw it at the cab driver. Once the door was shut, J.M. instructed the cab driver to go around the block so that she could get the address of where she came from because she had just been raped. She then went looking for her cousin, David. After leaving a message for David, she went to her hotel and telephoned the police. The police brought J.M. to Resurrection Hospital around midnight where she was examined by Dr. Meyers. The next day, J.M. identified defendant from a lineup.

On cross-examination, J.M. denied that she had used cocaine that evening or had any substance with her. She denied that she was affectionate with defendant in the bar or that they left arm in arm. She denied that she was reading an issue of Playboy magazine while defendant was on the telephone. J.M. conceded that she never screamed for help or looked for a weapon in the apartment. She denied threatening to cry rape because she had been cheated out of cocaine.

Juan Jimenez, the cab driver who picked up J.M. after the incident, testified that on April 7, 1987, he stopped at 1300 North Dearborn, where a man instructed him to take a woman to the airport and handed him $13. Jimenez testified that as he began to drive away, the woman told him to go around the block and get the address of where she came from because she had just been raped. He described J.M. as “very upset” and “in an emotional state.” During cross-examination, Jimenez admitted that J.M. never asked to be taken to a police station or hospital.

Detective Catherine Fitzgibbon testified that on April 8, 1987, she took defendant into custody. While at the police station, defendant stated that he did not understand why J.M. would say he raped her. Fitzgibbon further testified that while interviewing defendant, he never mentioned that J.M. came over to his apartment to get cocaine.

Assistant State’s Attorney Woloshin testified that on April 8, 1987, she spoke with defendant at his request. She testified that defendant told her that he met J.M. in a bar and after about 30 minutes they went back to his apartment. After making some phone calls he began kissing J.M. Defendant admitted to Woloshin that he could tell J.M. was not interested in fooling around and that he told the victim that he wanted her to be his sex slave for a week. Defendant stated that he told the victim “this is date rape, I’ll tell you what I want you to do.” The defendant told her to take her clothes off and she told him that she had just tested positive for AIDS. Defendant told Woloshin that although he now realized that J.M. was saying “do not touch me” at the time he told J.M. that “like the cowboys, I’ll die with my boots on.” Defendant admitted that he put his penis inside J.M.’s mouth although he could tell that she was not interested in having oral sex with him. Defendant then told Woloshin that J.M. told him that he was terrorizing her. He then took her outside and put her in a cab and she told him not to do this to another girl.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
584 N.E.2d 220, 222 Ill. App. 3d 504, 165 Ill. Dec. 41, 1991 Ill. App. LEXIS 1975, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-defyn-illappct-1991.