People v. Maloney

558 N.E.2d 1277, 201 Ill. App. 3d 599, 146 Ill. Dec. 943, 1990 Ill. App. LEXIS 1050
Appellate Court of Illinois·Decided July 18, 1990·No. 1-88-2603·Published·Cited by 27 cases

Opinion

JUSTICE FREEMAN

delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendant, James Michael Maloney, was charged with nine counts of criminal sexual assault. The trial court granted defendant’s motion for a directed verdict on three counts alleging that the assault was accomplished by force or the threat of force. Thereafter, defendant was convicted by a jury of the remaining counts. The trial court sentenced defendant to five years’ imprisonment. He appeals his convictions.

The State’s witnesses testified as follows.

THE VICTIM’S MOTHER

The victim’s mother (hereinafter C.M.) and the victim, a then 15-year-old “multiple handicapped” and severely “learning disabled” male (hereinafter S.M.), went to a laundromat at 2861 North Clybourn in Chicago in the early afternoon of August 20, 1987. C.M. and S.M. were sitting in the laundromat waiting for their washing to be done. Defendant sat next to S.M. At that time, S.M. was showing defendant a “Bugs Bunny” book and talking to him. After approximately 20 minutes, C.M. got up to remove her laundry from the washer. When C.M. turned around, after removing all of her clothes, and realized that S.M. “wasn’t there,” she called out for him. “[T]he people there said he went to the washroom with that man.” C.M. then yelled for S.M. again. As C.M. started going toward the bathroom, S.M. came running out and said, “[Mjommie, that man sucked my prick, I mean my dick.” At that time, defendant emerged from the bathroom, saying that he had not done anything to S.M. He then went to the washing machines, removed all of his wet clothes, “took the cart and ran across the street.”

C.M. called the police. She had to calm S.M. down because he was hysterical and then took him outside. The police arrived within 10 minutes. C.M. and S.M. then went around the block with the police looking for the assailant but did not find him. Upon returning to the laundromat, C.M. spoke with a young Spanish girl. After their conversation, C.M., S.M. and the police officers went to 2848 North Clybourn. C.M. and S.M. waited downstairs while the police went to the third floor. After a few minutes, the police descended to get the building manager. When the police found the manager, they, C.M. and S.M. went to the third floor. Thereafter, the manager “unlocked the door and [defendant] was in the apartment sitting there with his wig on.” C.M. recognized defendant but said, “[H]e is wearing a wig.” C.M. “knew he had a wig on but [she] didn’t forget his face.” S.M. did not identify defendant. C.M. thought S.M. was afraid. She described defendant as wearing a green and white shirt, beige pants and hat in the laundromat. C.M. had never seen defendant before August 20, 1987.

On August 25, C.M. and S.M. were taken to the police station by Detectives Kurth and Gavin. The detectives had called C.M. and told her that they were going to arrest “the preacher — the man, the defendant.”

On cross-examination, C.M. reiterated that she identified defendant to the police on August 20 upon seeing him in his apartment. She denied telling the detectives that she was unable to identify the man in the laundromat. She also denied, and stated she could not remember telling the detectives, that she had seen only the back of the head of the man in the laundromat. She further denied that she was not asked to view the lineup containing defendant because she had told the detectives she could not identify S.M.’s assailant. C.M. admitted that the police did not find any wet clothing in the apartment or a hat, green shirt or beige pants.

THE VICTIM

While in the laundromat on August 20 with C.M., S.M. was showing defendant, who was seated next to him, his “Bugs Bunny” book and asking him about his family, i.e., whether he had a “grandma” and whether she was alive or dead. After C.M. got up to fold the laundry, defendant asked S.M., “[Y]ou want to suck my penis[?]” and S.M. “went along” and said he did not want to, after which defendant told S.M., “[C]ome with me anyways.” S.M. then got up and followed defendant into the bathroom. Upon entering the bathroom, defendant pulled down S.M.’s shorts and sucked his penis. Defendant then inserted a finger in S.M.’s anus. Thereafter, S.M. put his mouth on defendant’s penis then pushed away from it, went out and screamed, “[Mjommie.” Upon observing defendant in his apartment after the arrival of the police, S.M. did not recognize him because, “[H]e looked different, he looked ugly.” Defendant had worn green pants, a green shirt and a green cap in the laundromat.

On cross-examination, S.M. admitted telling the police that he did not recognize defendant upon seeing him in his apartment but maintained that his mother had done so. He also admitted that, before viewing the lineup on the 25th, the detectives told him to pick out the man who did “it” to him, as a result of which S.M. knew that somebody in the lineup was the man who had been in the bathroom with him. Finally, S.M. admitted telling the detectives that he had not put his mouth on his assailant’s penis.

PENNY WILCOX

She was in the laundromat on Clybourn in the afternoon of August 20, 1987, along with a friend named Katherine, S.M., C.M. and defendant. Defendant was sitting next to S.M., who was sitting next to C.M. Defendant got up and S.M. followed him into the bathroom. Five minutes after defendant and S.M. entered the bathroom, C.M., who had been tending to her laundry, realized S.M. was gone and began calling out for him. Thereafter, S.M. emerged from the bathroom, “pulling up his shorts,” and defendant emerged, “zipping his pants.” C.M. then asked S.M. what defendant had done to him. S.M. answered that “he sucked my thing and I did his” and asked if he had done anything wrong. Defendant stated that he had done nothing to S.M. He then ran to a washing machine, removed his clothes, put them in a clothes basket and “ran off across Clybourn.”

Wilcox had seen defendant prior to August 20 walking around the neighborhood passing out flags, fliers and candy to the children. Wilcox knew defendant prior to August 20 only as the “Preacher Man.” Defendant dressed like a preacher and wore a hat and a wig. However, on the 20th, defendant wore a pair of beige pants, and a “flowery shirt with green in it.” He also wore a cap but no wig. Wilcox did not stay at the laundromat until the police arrived on August 20. Rather, she spoke to detectives Gavin and Kurth on the 25th between 10 and 10:30 p.m., outside of 2828 N. Clybourn. Later that evening, at about 12:30 a.m., the detectives returned to Clybourn and asked Wilcox if she was willing to go the police station and “pick the man out of the lineup.” At the police station, Wilcox, who viewed the lineup after the victim, identified defendant. Finally, none of Wilcox’ direct testimony was in any way contradicted or impeached by her testimony under cross-examination.

KATHERINE RILEY

She was in the laundromat on Clybourn on August 20. A person named Penny, S.M. and defendant were also in the laundromat. The latter two were reading a “Bugs Bunny” book. Although she did not then know defendant’s name, she had seen him around the neighborhood, “by the bus stop,” “walking the streets” and “by the school sometimes.” Prior to the 20th, Riley had seen defendant “several” and about “five to ten” times.

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People v. Maloney, 558 N.E.2d 1277, 201 Ill. App. 3d 599, 146 Ill. Dec. 943, 1990 Ill. App. LEXIS 1050 (Ill. Ct. App. 1990).

558 N.E.2d 1277 (People v. Maloney) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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