People v. Keane

262 N.E.2d 364, 127 Ill. App. 2d 383, 1970 Ill. App. LEXIS 1691
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJuly 22, 1970
DocketGen. 53,966
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 262 N.E.2d 364 (People v. Keane) 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. Keane, 262 N.E.2d 364, 127 Ill. App. 2d 383, 1970 Ill. App. LEXIS 1691 (Ill. Ct. App. 1970).

Opinion

MR. JUSTICE DRUCKER

delivered the opinion of the court.

Defendant was indicted for the offenses of deviate sexual assault (Ill Rev Stats 1967, c 38, § 11-3) and indecent liberties with a child (Ill Rev Stats 1967, c 38, § 11-4). A jury found defendant guilty of indecent liberties with a child and not guilty of deviate sexual assault. Judgment was entered and defendant was sentenced to a term of fifteen to twenty years. Defendant raises three points on appeal: (1) his pretrial motion to suppress identification testimony should have been sustained; (2) he was not proven guilty of the crime of indecent liberties beyond a reasonable doubt; and (3) prejudicial arguments of the prosecutor denied him a fair trial.

Testimony of James Van Vechten, called by the State:

He lives at 5501 South Cornell. He is a graduate student and research assistant in theoretical solid state physics at the James Frank Institute, University of Chicago. On November 14, 1966, at approximately 4:15 p. m., he went to take some trash out to the garbage cans located on the fire escape of his building. When he opened the door, he saw a man standing behind four window screens. In court, he pointed to defendant as this man.

On the date of the occurrence defendant had on a green, loose shirt, like a “Pendleton,” with a white shirt under it. Because of the screens he could not see below the middle ribs of defendant. He did not see the trousers. There was light coming through the glass Window from the fire escape door and there was a light bulb overhead which was on.

When he first saw the defendant, defendant had his back to the wall and was fumbling with something with his hands which were below the screens. When he approached, defendant exited out the fire escape door. He looked down behind the screens and saw complainant lying on a coat and some other clothing. She was completely naked. He asked her if she was all right and she opened her eyes and said, “Someone has been doing something to me.”

He called his wife and she took care of the girl and called the police. He ran out onto the fire escape but could not see the man. He saw a boy named Des Jardians and asked him which way the man had gone. The boy told him the man had gone north down the alley on 55th Street.

When he returned to the hallway he picked up the coat complainant had been lying on. Inside the flap pocket of the coat were some keys. He gave the coat and the keys to the two police officers who responded to his wife’s call. He then identified a coat shown to him by the prosecutor as being similar to the one that he had found. He also identified two keys as the ones he found in the right flap pocket of the coat.

The afternoon of December 8, 1966, two police officers came to his home and asked him to view some photographs. He picked out the photograph of defendant. During the evening hours of the same day he viewed a lineup. When the men in the lineup turned around, he recognized the defendant but he was not certain. “I didn’t want to say I was certain until I was. The man was standing quite erect, Mr. Keane. And the man I had observed was in a slouched position with his back against the wall and his hands down below the window screens. So, I couldn’t see what he was doing.” He viewed the lineup for a total of four minutes. He became absolutely positive in his identification of defendant as the assailant approximately two and one-half minutes after the lineup began.

In the hallway at the time of the offense he saw a three-quarter view of defendant’s face. He saw the right side of his face, not the left side. He did not notice a scar on defendant’s face, since it is located on the left side of his face.

On cross-examination, he testified that he was about eighteen feet away when he first saw defendant in the hall and as he approached him he was about eight feet from him. When he went to the police station for the lineup, he was told that they had a suspect.

Testimony of James DesJardians, called by the State:

He lives at 5512 Hyde Park Boulevard. He is eleven years old and is in the sixth grade at the Bret Harte School. He knows the difference between the truth and a lie. He had talked with an Assistant State’s Attorney before the trial. He was told to tell the truth.

On November 14, 1966, at approximately 4:15 p. m., he was in the alley behind 5501 South Cornell waiting for his mother to come home from the store. He saw a man run down the fire escape stairs out to the north of the alley. The man was wearing a green shirt, like a turtleneck, and dark pants. He thought he could point out this man in court. He indicated who this man was by placing his hand on defendant’s shoulder.

After he saw the man run down the alley another man (James Van Vechten) came up to him and asked if he had just seen a man run down the fire escape. He stated, “Yes, I just saw a man.” He did not pay much attention to the man as he ran by.

Testimony of complainant, called by the State:

She was bom in 1960 and is now seven years old. She attends a private school and is in the second grade. She lives at 5511 South Cornell in an apartment building with her mother and sister. She understands the difference between the truth and a lie.

On November 14, 1966, she was walking home from school when a man asked her if she would like to cross the street. She said yes. The man held her hand as they crossed the street. Once across the street the man took her inside a building and took off his coat and put it on the floor. He told her to take off her clothes which she did. The man asked her to suck his penis, and he put his penis in her vagina. The man then ran out the door. She understands the meaning of the words penis and vagina.

She remembered the police coming over to her house but she did not remember seeing any photographs. She was shown a black topcoat which she said looked similar to the one the man took off and put on the floor.

At trial she could not identify anyone in the courtroom as her assailant.

Testimony of Dr. Gerald Sigman, called by the State:

There was a stipulation as to his qualifications. On November 14, 1966, he examined the complainant’s genital area. There was an abrasion at the area of the fourchet (posterior area of the vagina between the vagina and the rectum). The hymenal ring appeared intact. No sperm was visualized.

Testimony of James McGreal, called by the State:

He has been a police officer for the City of Chicago for almost nine years. In his investigation he found that defendant resided at 7920 South Honoré and arrested him on December 8, 1966. The two keys found inside the coat recovered by James Van Vechten were taken by him to defendant’s residence. One key fit defendant’s vestibule door. He did not test the other key since somebody was home and he did not want to bother them.

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Bluebook (online)
262 N.E.2d 364, 127 Ill. App. 2d 383, 1970 Ill. App. LEXIS 1691, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-keane-illappct-1970.