People v. Mitchell

558 N.E.2d 559, 200 Ill. App. 3d 969, 146 Ill. Dec. 596, 1990 Ill. App. LEXIS 1059
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJuly 19, 1990
Docket5-88-0473
StatusPublished
Cited by25 cases

This text of 558 N.E.2d 559 (People v. Mitchell) 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. Mitchell, 558 N.E.2d 559, 200 Ill. App. 3d 969, 146 Ill. Dec. 596, 1990 Ill. App. LEXIS 1059 (Ill. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinion

JUSTICE CHAPMAN

delivered the opinion of the court:

The defendant, Curtis B. Mitchell, was charged with aggravated criminal sexual assault and armed robbery. After a jury trial the defendant was found guilty of aggravated criminal sexual assault and not guilty of armed robbery. On appeal the defendant contends that he was denied a fair trial by the admission of certain hearsay statements, by improper questioning by the State’s Attorney, and by misstatements by the prosecutor during closing arguments. The defendant also argues that certain aspects of the aggravated criminal sexual assault statute violate due process. We affirm.

Since the defendant does not challenge the sufficiency of the evidence, we will relate only those portions of the evidence adduced at trial that are necessary to understanding and resolving defendant’s claims of error. The victim, D.G., testified that she knew the defendant as a neighbor, and that he and another man, Winford Brown, had come by her apartment on March 17, 1988, to introduce themselves. The following afternoon the defendant and Brown returned to her apartment and fixed the antenna wire on her stereo. Around 4 p.m. D.G. asked her visitors to leave because she was going to her brother’s apartment next door, where she remained until 9:45 p.m. At 9:30 that evening the defendant came to D.G.’s brother’s apartment and asked her to go to a nightclub with him, but she refused. D.G. further testified that shortly after 10 p.m. the defendant returned to her apartment, wanting to talk. She allowed him to enter, and he stayed until about 10:30 p.m., when she asked him to leave because she was tired. At approximately 11:40 p.m. the defendant knocked on D.G.’s door and asked for a tape he had left in her apartment. D.G. asked the defendant to wait at the door, but he followed her inside, brandished a knife, threatened the lives of her and her children, and sexually assaulted her. D.G. also stated that defendant scratched her face with the knife and that the fingers of her left hand were cut when she tried to grab the knife. After the assault, the defendant made the victim give him the money she had in her purse.

The defendant testified that he and Winford Brown went to D.G.'s apartment on March 17 and he attempted to repair the antenna wire on her stereo. As the defendant and Brown were leaving the apartment, D.G. told him to come back later. The defendant stated that he went back to D.G.’s apartment shortly after 1:30 a.m., March 18, and she and he engaged in consensual sexual intercourse. According to the defendant, later that day, when he returned to fix her stereo, D.G. asked the defendant for $150. He told her that he did not have the money. The defendant further testified that about 6:30 p.m. on March 18 he went to the home of Patty Telford to help move a piano. At approximately 9 p.m., the defendant drove with Telford, Mark Macon, and a man he knew as “Beau” to store the piano. They then returned to Telford’s house, where the defendant stayed until approximately midnight. The defendant then dropped Mark Macon off and arrived home at 12:30 a.m., March 19. The defendant denied assaulting D.G. on the evening of March 18.

Lisa Davis, whom the defendant lived with, testified that she woke up between 10 and 10:30 p.m. on March 18 and the defendant was not home. The defendant came home around 10:45 p.m. and left shortly thereafter. Defendant returned around 11:30 or 11:45 p.m. and told Davis to tell anyone who came for him that he had been home all evening.

Mark Macon testified that he was with the defendant and some other people on March 18 when they helped to move the piano. He and the defendant went to Patty Telford’s house while it was still light outside. They waited for a while for more help to arrive and then moved the piano to a storage shed in Highland, Illinois. After-wards, Macon, “Beau” and the defendant got a 12-pack of beer and rode around in the country for a while. After finishing the beer, they drove back to Greenville, dropped “Beau” off at Telford’s house, and then the defendant dropped Macon off at his house. During the course of the direct examination, Macon was repeatedly asked about the times of the events of that evening. He stated that he didn’t know what time he and the defendant arrived at Telford’s house, nor when they arrived in Highland, nor when they finished moving the piano into the storage shed, nor when they arrived back in Highland. Macon also testified that he didn’t know what time the defendant dropped him off at home, although it was late. Defense counsel then asked:

“Q. You don’t know any specific time, Mark?
A. Yeah, I don’t know a specific time. It was somewhere between 12:00 and quarter-after, twenty-after. Because everybody at my house was sleeping and they usually go to sleep.
Q. What time do they usually go to sleep?
A. 10:30,11:00 o’clock, 12:00 o’clock, just different hours.”

Richard Koonce testified that he also helped move the piano, along with the defendant, Mark Macon, and others. He testified on direct examination that they arrived in Highland around 9 p.m., although later, he stated that they were finished moving the piano by 9 p.m. Koonce testified that he arrived back at Telford’s house around 10 p.m. and stayed there until 11 p.m. The defendant and Macon got to Telford’s shortly after he did and left 5 or 10 minutes later. On cross-examination Koonce agreed that he could have arrived back in Greenville by 9:15 or 9:30 p.m, but that he really didn’t know.

John (“Beau”) Gillin testified that he had helped move the piano and that he rode back to Greenville with the defendant and Macon. He stated that he didn’t know what time he got back to Greenville. On cross-examination, Gillin agreed that he could have arrived in Greenville between 8:30 and 9 p.m., but he did not know.

Sergeant Paul Omelson of the Greenville police department testified that at approximately 12:41 a.m. on March 19, 1988, he was dispatched to investigate a possible armed robbery. He was informed that the suspect, possibly named Curtis, had left the scene on foot. Upon arriving at the scene, Omelson met J.R., the victim’s brother, who told him that a short black man he knew only as Curtis had raped, robbed and cut his sister. J.R. pointed out the apartment in which he believed the defendant lived. Defense counsel’s hearsay objection to J.R.’s statements was overruled.

Dr. Thomas Dawdy testified that he examined the victim after she was brought to the hospital emergency room. Dawdy testified over objection that D.G. told him that a man came to her apartment and told her that if she wouldn’t go out with him, he would take what he wanted. The man forced her at knife-point to have oral and vaginal sex and threatened to kill her if she told anyone. He then demanded money from her and left the apartment. Dawdy further testified that his examination of the victim revealed scratches on her forehead and chin, an abrasion on her lip, and two cuts on her left hand which required suturing.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
558 N.E.2d 559, 200 Ill. App. 3d 969, 146 Ill. Dec. 596, 1990 Ill. App. LEXIS 1059, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-mitchell-illappct-1990.