People v. Porter

217 N.E.2d 350, 70 Ill. App. 2d 438, 1966 Ill. App. LEXIS 779
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedMay 13, 1966
DocketGen. No. 50,265
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 217 N.E.2d 350 (People v. Porter) 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. Porter, 217 N.E.2d 350, 70 Ill. App. 2d 438, 1966 Ill. App. LEXIS 779 (Ill. Ct. App. 1966).

Opinion

MR. PRESIDING JUSTICE DRUCKER

delivered the opinion of the court.

The defendant, Clarence Porter, was found guilty of rape after a bench trial and was sentenced to the penitentiary for a term of not less than five nor more than twelve years. In this appeal defendant contends that the element of force was not established and that his identification was not sufficiently positive.

The complaining witness, Della Beasley, testified and stated that she was nine years old and that on the evening of May 13, 1964, she was babysitting in the apartment of Minnie Harris where the alleged rape took place. The remainder of her testimony in relevant part is as follows:

Miss Minnie left the basement apartment with Joe and Clarence Porter. I see Clarence Porter here in court. After they left, Clarence Porter came back. Clarence Porter came back, one of Minnie’s children opened the door. He took me in the bathroom and laid me on the floor. He told me if I don’t shut up he’d choke me. He got on top of me. Then I told him to get off and he wouldn’t get off. Then he took me in Miss Minnie’s room. He laid me on the bed. Then I told him to get up and he wouldn’t get up. Then he pee’d on me. When I went to Minnie’s apartment I did not have any underclothes on. He put his stick in me and I told him to get off and he wouldn’t get off. Then I heard somebody knocking. The little girl said, “Who is it?” And he said, “Shut up.” Then he got up and ran out the back door. I went in the kitchen and locked the door. Then I came back and then I told Miss Minnie what happened. She called the police. I went to the hospital. I never saw Clarence Porter before that night The man who came back was the man who walked out with Minnie and Joe, and that is the same man that’s in the courtroom. I had blood on me that day. It was not on my clothes. The night I was babysitting, there was blood on me after Clarence Porter came back. There was no blood on my clothing that night. My dress was up.

On cross-examination she stated that:

All three of those people left the apartment about two hours after I arrived. It was dark when I arrived at the apartment. While I was in the apartment I was playing in the bedroom with Minnie’s children. The three adults stayed in the front room. I did not enter the front room at all. When I first entered the apartment, I went in the front room and remained for a minute. Then Minnie told me to take care of the children. I left the room. I did not return to the front room again.
I had never seen him [defendant] before that day. I took a real good look at him that day. I don’t know what he had on; what kind of clothes. He had a mustache.

The witness offered no response to questions on cross-examination as to the reason she was sure that it was the defendant who committed the alleged rape and after repeated questioning finally stated that it could have been a man other than Clarence Porter. However, on redirect examination the witness again identified Clarence Porter as the assailant.

Minnie Harris testified and stated that:

On May 13, 1964 I lived at 708 South Central Park. In my home with me at that time were Joe Andrews, and a boy named Clarence Porter. Also, Della Beasley, and my other children. Della Beasley arrived after Clarence Porter arrived. Clarence Porter had on black pants, white shirt, green sweater, and a brown coat. He did not take his sweater off while I was there. I went to the store while Clarence Porter and Joe Andrews were in my apartment with my children. I returned from the store and later left again with Joe Andrews and Clarence Porter. When we left together, Clarence Porter had the green sweater on. I saw the sweater again wrapped up in the blanket. And there was some blood in the bed and the bed was wet, and I found her slip [referring to Della] halfway up in the bed mattress and it was wet and had some blood on it.
Earlier that evening, I left the apartment [at approximately 9:30 p. m.] with Porter and Andrews. I went over to a friend of mine to pick up a dress. We went up to the corner, like a store and a tavern together, so we made a phone call to call a cab and so Clarence and Joe Andrews went on with me to pick up the dress, so Clarence stayed on the corner.
'When I returned home, I saw Della Beasley. All my kids were on top of her, she was wet and I took her in the bedroom and looked to see if there was anything wrong with her; I looked at my little girl, nothing was wrong with her; then I looked at her and seen she was wet and her panties was bloody. I called the police.

The witness also stated that she and Joe Andrews left the defendant at about 9:40 p. m. and that they returned home at approximately 10:00 p. m.

Joe Andrews testified and identified the sweater described by Minnie Harris as belonging to the defendant. He also stated that defendant was wearing the sweater at the home of Minnie Harris and that he never saw him take it. off. Andrews testified that he, Minnie Harris and defendant left the apartment of Minnie Harris at about 8:00 p. m. but did not know at what hour they returned thereto.

Ethel Beasley, mother of Della, testified that on the date in question Della requested that she be allowed to babysit for Minnie Harris and that she took Della to Cook County Hospital later that evening.

Dr. Ozeilek Gorkmen testified that he is employed at the Cook County Hospital and that:

I examined the child, I put a speculum in her vagina. I found a small laceration on the hymen at four— and there is a small erosion in the anterious wall of the vagina.
This laceration was on the hymen, it was a small one, and to my opinion, anything inserted in the vagina can cause this laceration.

Detective John Cioe testified that he placed Clarence Porter under arrest on May 14, 1964, at approximately 6:30 a. m. He further stated that:

. Then I asked him again what he had done to the girl and he wouldn’t say. I asked him if he had intercourse with her and at this time he said, “I don’t know why I did this.” He said, “Send me back, send me back to the hospital.” I asked him, “Which hospital?” He said, “Chicago State.” I asked him if he would give me a written statement as to what went on and he said he would. We started the statement but we never got through with it, he began fumbling about the room, fell down, he said he was having an attack, to get him to a doctor, so, we did. That ended our interview.

On cross-examination Detective Cioe testified that:

I was in the interrogation room with the defendant, I would say, between a half hour and forty-five minutes. During this period no one else was in the room that would hear Clarence Porter’s statement. During the interrogation he admitted having committed this rape. I interrogated the defendant about five minutes I’d say before he admitted it. In other words, he admitted to it pretty quickly. I did not call for a court reporter or a stenographer at that time. That is the usual procedure; to reduce this to writing, but it would be done by me. I would take the statement myself.

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Related

People v. Pointer
285 N.E.2d 171 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1972)

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Bluebook (online)
217 N.E.2d 350, 70 Ill. App. 2d 438, 1966 Ill. App. LEXIS 779, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-porter-illappct-1966.