People v. Porrata

613 N.E.2d 1212, 244 Ill. App. 3d 529, 184 Ill. Dec. 620, 1993 Ill. App. LEXIS 331
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedMarch 16, 1993
DocketNo. 1—91—0196
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 613 N.E.2d 1212 (People v. Porrata) 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. Porrata, 613 N.E.2d 1212, 244 Ill. App. 3d 529, 184 Ill. Dec. 620, 1993 Ill. App. LEXIS 331 (Ill. Ct. App. 1993).

Opinion

PRESIDING JUSTICE McCORMICK

delivered the opinion of the court:

A jury found defendant guilty of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, aggravated criminal sexual assault, attempted aggravated criminal sexual assault and aggravated battery. Defendant was sentenced to consecutive terms totaling 33 years’ imprisonment. Defendant appeals from his conviction and sentence.

On appeal, defendant contends that (1) the State failed to prove him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of the criminal charges; (2) the trial court erred by allowing testimony on the out-of-court identification of defendant; (3) the trial court erred in denying his motion to strike the testimony of the serologist; (4) the trial court erred by allowing cross-examination on his post-arrest silence; (5) the trial court erred by allowing testimony that the victim did not identify another person as the assailant; (6) the prosecutor’s comments during rebuttal closing argument prejudiced him; (7) he did not receive effective assistance of counsel; and (8) the trial court erred in sentencing him to four consecutive terms.

On November 28, 1989, at approximately 10:30 p.m., as the victim walked towards the apartment building where she lived, she noticed a man standing on a nearby parkway. The man charged the victim, and while grabbing her hair and covering her mouth, he told her to “shut up.” Attempting to resist the attack, the victim pulled the man’s hand from her mouth and screamed for help. The man punched the victim in the face with his fist and knee. The man threw the victim down and slammed her head against the ground. He dragged the victim into the apartment building. As the victim attempted to break away, he grabbed and punched her in the face. The victim attempted to talk the man into leaving by telling him that she lived with her mother. The victim bled from her mouth and nose.

The man stuck his hand up the victim’s blouse and grabbed her breast. He turned the hallway light off, sat down on the stairs above the landing, unfastened his pants and exposed his genitals to the victim. A transparent cloth covering the window at the base of the stairwell illuminated the hallway by permitting the outside light to shine through. The man grabbed the victim’s hair, pulled her hand to his body and demanded that she perform oral sex on him. The victim told him that she could not because he had injured her mouth. He ordered her to masturbate him. The man masturbated himself and ordered the victim to insert her finger in his anus. He ejaculated. He told her not to scream and he ran from the hallway to the outside.

The victim ran to her neighbor’s apartment and called the police. They arrived immediately. The victim described her assailant as a man in his early thirties with a receding hairline, heavyset, wearing dark clothing and shorter than herself. Within a few minutes, the police returned with a man for the victim to view. The victim told the police that this man was not her attacker.

Shortly thereafter, the police drove the victim one-half block from her house to a house on Erie Street. She saw a man standing on a porch in a bathrobe. She identified the man on the porch as her attacker. The police instructed the victim to get out of the car and get closer so that she could be sure that the identified man was the right one. The victim complied, and after moving closer to the man, told the officers that she was “a thousand percent sure” that he was the one. Defendant, Edward Porrata, is the man the victim identified as her attacker.

At trial, the victim testified that she tried to bite defendant’s finger, but that it did not bleed. She testified that defendant was not wearing underwear at the time of the attack. The victim stated that while inside and outside the building where the attack occurred, there was ample light for her to see defendant’s face.

Officer Matthew Pilolli testified that he was near the scene of the crime when the call came through. He saw a man fitting the alleged perpetrator’s description and stopped him. Officer Pilolli took the man to the victim for identification, but she told him that he had the wrong man. Officer Pilolli had a conversation with the man he had stopped and thereafter went to defendant’s house. Other officers had already arrived. Pilolli testified that he heard the victim say that she was “a thousand percent sure” that defendant was the man who attacked her.

Officer Charles Toussas testified that on the night of the crime, he spoke with the victim and the first suspect. After talking to the first suspect, Officer Toussas went to defendant’s house. He asked for defendant and defendant’s wife directed him to the rear bedroom. There, he found defendant nude and sweating. Officer Toussas advised defendant of the allegations against him and asked him to dress. Defendant complied. The officer further testified that he saw jeans, gym shoes and a pair of undershorts on the floor. The jeans and gym shoes had what appeared to be blood on them. He picked up the items and wrapped them. As they proceeded to the front door, defendant began pushing and shoving the officers, so they handcuffed him. Officer Toussas testified that they took defendant to the front porch. The victim identified defendant as being her attacker in Officer Toussas’ presence.

Denise Troche, a serologist with the Chicago police department, testified that she received and examined a pair of jeans, a pair of undershorts and a pair of gym shoes under inventory No. 701209. She tested the items for the presence of blood. She identified human blood on the shoes and both the outside and the inside of the jeans. She could not determine the blood type. There was no blood or semen on the underwear.

Mrs. Petrillo, defendant’s mother-in-law, testified on defendant’s behalf. She stated that she resides with the Porratas, and on the night of the attack, defendant arrived home at approximately 10 p.m. The police officers later arrived at the Porrata home somewhere between 10:30 p.m. and 11 p.m.

Susan Porrata also testified on her husband’s behalf. She stated that police officers arrived at their home on the night of the crime at approximately 11:20 p.m. They asked for defendant. She went back to the bedroom, woke defendant up and informed him that police officers were at the door. Defendant went to the door, and the officers asked him for some type of identification. Defendant went back into his bedroom. As defendant returned to the living room after getting his driver’s license, the officers entered the house. Mrs. Porrata testified that the officers asked defendant to step outside. When defendant came back into the house, he was handcuffed. Defendant was taken to the police station. Later, a few police officers reentered her home. The officers searched the home and recovered defendant’s clothing, which they took with them. She also testified that defendant was at home on the night and at the time the victim was attacked.

Defendant testified that he was handcuffed on the porch and pushed back into the house. He was not present when the officers recovered his clothing from his home. He got the blood on his clothes the night before the attack in an incident involving one of his dogs. Defendant stated that he arrived home at approximately 10 p.m. on the night that the crime was committed.

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Related

People v. Calderon
2022 IL App (2d) 200029-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2022)
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2018 IL App (1st) 152413 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2018)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
613 N.E.2d 1212, 244 Ill. App. 3d 529, 184 Ill. Dec. 620, 1993 Ill. App. LEXIS 331, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-porrata-illappct-1993.