People v. Jones

329 N.E.2d 855, 28 Ill. App. 3d 896, 1975 Ill. App. LEXIS 2349
Appellate Court of Illinois·Decided May 23, 1975·No. 72-336·Published·Cited by 12 cases

Opinion

Mr. JUSTICE GEORGE MORAN

delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendant Ward Jones appeals from a judgment of the circuit court of Jackson County entered after a jury fotmd him guilty of the crime of rape.

The prosecutrix testified that she was a student at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale and resided in Murphysboro. She stated she had gone to church on the evening in question and was walking home at about 7 or 7:30 P.M., when a man in a car stopped and asked her if she wanted a ride. The prosecutrix refused, but he insisted and she eventually relented. She later positively identified the defendant as the man who was in the car. She described him as being in his thirties. The defendant was 54 at the time. When they reached the trailer court where she lived, he drove past and would not stop. He then held a smaU pocket knife to her throat, made her kiss him. The prosecutrix testified that she attempted to make conversation with her assailant to relax him. He said his name was John and that he was a student at Southern Illinois University, taking courses in history and mathematics. On cross-examination, she admitted that after they drove past the trailer court, she invited him to her trailer. Her explanation was that she thought she might be able to get away or calm him down and would be safer in the presence of her roommate.

After driving a considerable distance, he stopped the car in a field. She said that the knife- was no longer in sight. He made sexual advances toward her and she protested. She said he began getting mad. He continued his advances; once again she protested. He became more angry. She said that she was frightened. He told her to he down but before she did, the following exchange took place:

“The Witness: A. So I said, ‘let’s get on with it,’ and he sort of jumped back or moved back and looked at me and he said, ‘What do you mean?’ And I said, Well, take off your pants,’ and he said, ‘No, you take off yours first.’ And I said, ‘No * *

The prosecutrix explained her actions by saying that “I got really scared and I thought maybe if I frightened him he would change his mind. * * * I was really afraid and I was at tire point where I would try anything.” She said she placed a “sanitary napkin of some sort under the car seat.” A paper table napkin was found under the seat of defendant’s car. The napkin was stained with Type A blood, the same type as that of the prosecutrix.

She asked to be taken to her home in Murphysboro, but her assailant insisted on taking her to Carbondale. While stopped at a stop sign in Murphysboro, the prosecutrix grabbed a license plate registration slip bearing the defendant’s name from the car windshield, jumped out of the car and ran toward a house, winch happened to be her boyfriend’s house. She then went to the police, arriving at the station at approximately 8:30 P.M.

Two deputy sheriffs testified that the prosecutrix reported the crime to the sheriff’s office at approximately 8:30. She gave them the license plate registration slip and she was taken to the local hospital. Afterwards the prosecutrix retraced the route to the scene of the alleged crime with one of tire officers. At the hospital she was examined by a doctor. Testifying from a hospital “emergency record,” the doctor stated that vaginal smears proved positive for the presence of seminal fluid containing sperm. A scratch on her neck was discovered. He stated that it could have been caused by a knife. The doctor could not recall and the record did not indicate whether she was menstruating.

The defendant’s landlord testified that he saw the defendant at his residence in Murphysboro between 6 and 6:30 and again between 6:30 and 7:00 on the evening in question. The defendant testified that he loaned one John Allen his car at about 6:30. He said he had known Allen for about a month. He described Allen as somewhat taller and heavier than himself, with long sideburns and a moustache, and “gold in his mouth.” When Allen returned the car at 7:30, the defendant noticed that his license applied for sticker was missing. Jones gave a description of Allen to the police foUowing his arrest, but Allen could not be found. He told them that he believed that Allen had since gone to Chicago. The defendant drove to the home of his girl friend, arriving at about 7:30 and then went out for the evening. She confirmed his testimony with regard to his activities after 7:30. She said she noticed that his sticker was missing when the defendant called this to her attention. The defendant said that he had aUowed his car and residence to be searched and denied committing the offense.

On cross-examination, the assistant State’s attorney asked the defendant whether he had ever been convicted of a felony. The defendant answered affirmatively, and his counsel then objected and asked that the answer be stricken. The objection was overruled. The prosecutor then asked, over defense counsel’s objection, when the defendant had been convicted and for what offense. The defendant responded that he had been convicted of grand theft in 1969. The assistant State’s attorney later introduced into evidence, over defendant’s objection, a “Mittimus For State Penal Institutions” signed by the judge who sentenced the defendant and by the clerk of the circuit court. The defendant moved for a mistrial, but the motion was denied.

The defendant first contends that he was not proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, because the State did not prove that the intercourse occurred by force and against the will of the prosecutrix. While the evidence in a rape prosecution must prove that the act was against the will of the victim, there is no definite standard for determining the amount of resistance required. Such a determination must be made from the fact and circumstances of each case. (People v. Faulisi, 25 Ill.2d 457, 185 N.E.2d 211; People v. Smith, 8 Ill.App.3d 36, 288 N.E. 2d 694.) When the victim retains the power to resist, voluntary submission, no matter how reluctantly yielded, constitutes consent. (People v. Rossilille, 24 Ill.2d 341, 181 N.E.2d 114; People v. Strong, 120 Ill. App.2d 52, 256 N.E.2d 76.) Resistance is not necessary, however, under circumstances where resistance would be futile and would endanger the life of the victim or where the victim is overcome by superior strength or paralyzed by fear. (People v. Clarke, 50 Ill.2d 104, 277 N.E.2d 866; People v. Smith, 32 Ill.2d 88, 203 N.E.2d 879; People v. Faulisi.) Where a victim’s resistance would be useless and could endanger her life, the fact that the victim removes her own clothes and does not resist does not indicate the voluntary submission necessary to constitute consent. (People v. Griggs, 131 Ill.App.2d 257, 266 N.E.2d 398; People v. Strongs; People v. Scott, 82 Ill.App.2d 109, 227 N.E.2d 72

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People v. Jones, 329 N.E.2d 855, 28 Ill. App. 3d 896, 1975 Ill. App. LEXIS 2349 (Ill. Ct. App. 1975).

329 N.E.2d 855 (People v. Jones) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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