People v. Frampton

618 N.E.2d 541, 248 Ill. App. 3d 238, 187 Ill. Dec. 950, 1993 Ill. App. LEXIS 827
Appellate Court of Illinois·Decided June 8, 1993·No. No. 1 — 92—1767·Published

Opinion

JUSTICE HARTMAN

delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendant was convicted by a jury of two counts of aggravated criminal sexual assault (Ill. Rev. Stat. 199-1, ch. 38, par. 12 — 14 (now 720 ILCS 5/12 — 14 (West 1992))), and one count of aggravated kidnapping (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1991, ch. 38, par. 10 — 2 (now 720 ILCS 5/10 — 2 (West 1992))). He was sentenced to concurrent seven- and five-year sentences. Defendant appeals raising as issues whether (1) by limiting cross-examination, his right of confrontation and to a fair trial were denied; (2) the circuit court improperly denied him the introduction of certain evidence; (3) the court improperly allowed prosecutorial argument; and (4) due process was violated by the court’s ruling on jury instructions. We affirm, for reasons which follow.

At trial, the victim testified that she was living with her parents since one month prior to the incident at issue. She first met defendant in March of 1989, when she was 14 and defendant was 16 years of age. They married on March 6, 1991, two months following the birth of their son. At the end of May 1991, they separated. The victim moved out of the residence she shared with defendant’s family and moved to her mother’s home.

On July 2, 1991, while working the night shift at a restaurant, the victim received a call from defendant. She refused to speak to him because she was afraid of him. Defendant said that he was going away, he wanted to say good-bye to her and their son, and then he would leave them alone. She agreed to meet him, with friends, across the street from the restaurant at 10 p.m. •

At about 10:15 p.m., the victim noticed that defendant had parked his car across the street. She asked a friend, Travis Tarant, who had just brought her child to her at work, and Tim Bambulas, the cook, to go outside with her while she talked to defendant, being afraid to meet him alone. The three exited the store. The victim approached defendant’s automobile; Tarant stopped 10 to 15 feet from the car; and Bambulas waited just outside the store. When defendant alighted from his car and asked the whereabouts of their son and said that he wanted to say good-bye to him, the victim yelled for Bambulas to bring the boy-outside.

After Bambulas went inside, defendant lifted up the side of his shirt and showed the victim a gun, telling her it was a loaded .22 and, if she did not go with him, he would kill her and everybody else. Bambulas was just bringing their son out of the. restaurant. The victim yelled for him to bring the child back inside, which he did.

Defendant grabbed the victim’s wrist, pulled her around to the passenger side of the car and pushed her inside, and he entered the driver’s side of the car. As defendant started to drive away, Tarant came up to the car and "asked defendant , if everything was “okay and to be cool.” The victim mouthed to Tarant that defendant had' a gun and extended her finger and thumb to resemble a gun. Tarant told defendant not to do anything stupid. Defendant drove off with the victim in the car.

Defendant drove to the forest preserve and repeatedly told the victim that he loved her and would change for her. Defendant parked the car in the forest preserve area and, holding the handgun, pulled her out of the car into the woods, to a nearby picnic table, where he sat and put the gun on the bench. The victim began pacing three feet away. Defendant came over to her, pushed her down, pulled down her pants and underwear and began sticking his fingers into her vagina. The gun was next to defendant. Defendant undid his pants, pulled them down and began having intercourse, saying that he “had to make love to [her] one last time.” The victim kept saying, “Please stop. Do not do this to me.” Defendant would not stop. He undid her shirt and slid his hand under her bra. Defendant started having oral sex. The victim kicked him a couple times, and he then started having intercourse again. When the victim started screaming, defendant put his hands over her mouth and said that he would kill her if she continued. She was crying. Defendant ejaculated, stood up, pulled up his pants and picked up the gun. The victim put on her pants, took off her bra and left it there so someone would believe her. Defendant, saying that he was sorry and that he had to do it, told her to walk back to the car.

After arriving at the car, defendant told her that if she did not want to see him leave, she should leave. The victim started running away, but defendant ordered her to stop or he would shoot. When she stopped and turned around, she saw defendant pointing the gun at her. The victim walked back to defendant, who shoved her back inside the passenger side of the car and drove to his stepfather’s house. Defendant told her he wanted to make a fresh start and that he wanted to pick up his son so he could go away. The victim responded that he could not pick up their son until he dropped off the gun, to which defendant agreed.

At the stepfather’s house, the two exited the car and defendant again tucked the gun inside his waistband and then knocked on the door. When his stepfather answered, defendant asked for money so that he and the victim could go away and make a fresh start. The victim agreed to go with him to avoid being hurt again.

A police car passed and came back. Defendant gave the gun to his stepfather and asked him to put it in the house so that he would not get into trouble. The victim and defendant walked to the police car. The victim yelled that defendant raped her. Defendant fled and the officer caught him. The officer retrieved the gun from the house. The victim identified the gun in court.

On cross-examination, the victim testified that she divorced defendant about two weeks prior to trial. In addition to telling her that he was going to kill her while in the forest preserve, defendant threatened to kill himself. The victim denied saying one word to defendant while riding from the forest preserve to defendant’s stepfather’s house or when defendant asked the stepfather for money. Defense counsel sought to introduce into evidence, through cross-examination of the victim, the alleged fact that three months following the incidents which were the subject of this trial, and while defendant was awaiting trial, the victim had sought to obtain a gun in order to harm defendant. The State objected and defense counsel then requested a sidebar. Immediately upon resuming trial, defense counsel withdrew the question.

Tarant testified and corroborated the victim’s testimony.

Sergeant Mike Pulec testified that on July 2, 1991, while on patrol, he received a report of the abduction with defendant identified as the offender. Pulec proceeded to defendant’s stepfather’s house. There, he observed defendant’s car in the driveway, which he radioed in, and drove past the house. When he saw defendant and the victim on the porch, he parked and asked defendant to approach the car. The victim yelled “he raped me.” Defendant ran and Pulec apprehended him.

The officer spoke with the victim and asked the stepfather for the gun. The stepfather gave him a .22-caliber long rifle target pistol. The officer identified the gun in court.

The State rested.

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People v. Frampton, 618 N.E.2d 541, 248 Ill. App. 3d 238, 187 Ill. Dec. 950, 1993 Ill. App. LEXIS 827 (Ill. Ct. App. 1993).

618 N.E.2d 541 (People v. Frampton) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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