People v. Satterfield

552 N.E.2d 1382, 195 Ill. App. 3d 1087, 142 Ill. Dec. 641, 1990 Ill. App. LEXIS 507
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedApril 12, 1990
Docket2-88-0189
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 552 N.E.2d 1382 (People v. Satterfield) 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. Satterfield, 552 N.E.2d 1382, 195 Ill. App. 3d 1087, 142 Ill. Dec. 641, 1990 Ill. App. LEXIS 507 (Ill. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinion

PRESIDING JUSTICE UNVERZAGT

delivered the opinion of the court:

The defendant, Gary Satterfield, was charged by an amended information in the circuit court of Ogle County with the offense of criminal sexual abuse (enhanced to a Class 2 felony due to a prior conviction of the sexual assault offense of rape) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 38, par. 12—15(a)(1)) and with the offense of aggravated battery (battery occurred in a “public place of accommodation”) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1985, ch. 38, par. 12—4(b)(8)). He was convicted of both offenses after a jury trial and was sentenced to the Department of Corrections for two five-year concurrent terms of imprisonment.

As to his aggravated battery conviction, he contends on appeal that the prosecution failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that his conscious objective or purpose was to accomplish insulting or provoking physical contact with the victim. As to his criminal sexual abuse conviction, he contends the prosecution failed to prove the essential elements of force, intent, and his prior felony conviction and, further, there was a fatal variance between the charging instrument and the proof at trial.

The evidence presented at trial showed that about 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday, July 28, 1987, the defendant arrived at the home of his friend, Carl Beightol. According to Beightol, the defendant had an open can of beer with him and, in Beightol’s opinion, the defendant “wasn’t feeling no [sic] pain at all.” The defendant wanted to go to the Polo Veterinary Clinic to find out what to do for a dog he had seen that morning in the yard of a home. The dog was tethered by a leash and its neck was rubbed raw. Beightol had some things to do at the house, so they did not drive to the clinic until afternoon.

Beightol parked his pickup truck in the veterinary parking lot. The defendant got out and walked toward the clinic door. Beightol then saw the defendant walk to the passenger side of another car, which was parked one space away and to the right of Beightol’s car. There were two women in the car, an older woman (Ester Nichols), the driver, and a younger woman (the complainant), to whom the defendant was talking. According to Beightol, the defendant had opened the passenger side door and was talking to the complainant. Beightol testified the defendant “leaned over and he grabbed her [the complainant], put his hand under her jaw like this, and shook her head.” Beightol estimated the defendant shook the complainant’s head three or four times.

Beightol stated it was raining, and with the windows rolled up, he did not hear any part of the defendant’s conversation with the complainant. The defendant then got back into Beightol’s truck and advised him he wanted to go to Mick’s, a bar in Polo. On cross-examination, Beightol affirmed that he saw no conduct other than the defendant hold the complainant’s head under her chin and shake her head.

Ester Nichols, the complainant’s foster mother, testified she took the complainant, age 15, to the Polo Veterinary Clinic to get treatment for the complainant’s dog, which had been struck by a moving vehicle. Nichols described her daughter as “crying really hard.” Nichols testified her daughter left the car to see if the clinic was open; as she returned to the car, the defendant followed her.

According to Nichols, the defendant

“leaned in the car and put his left arm around [the complainant’s] shoulders and he shook her neck real hard with his right hand, and then he said, well, I’m sorry I did that but I could have done this, so then he touched her breasts with his hand three or four times with his fingers.”

Nichols proceeded to start the car and tried to back away “but it didn’t seem like he would get away, because he still had the door part open.” Eventually, the defendant backed away, and the complainant rolled up the window and locked the door.

On cross-examination, Nichols reiterated that the defendant seized the complainant by the throat and shook her, and, with three fingers, he “poked” or “jabbed” complainant’s left breast three or four times. Nichols related that she had seen the defendant before but did not recognize him until he mentioned his name. She knew his name; he had been to her house to visit one of her sons.

The complainant described the incident as follows:

“I got out of the car and I went up to the door to go and see if the vet was there, but nobody was in there, and I was crying because my dog had gotten hit, and so I turned around and I went towards the car, and the man got out of the truck, and he come [sic] like I was — I had gotten back in the car when I noticed he was standing at the door, and he was mumbling and I couldn’t make out what he was mumbling, and he comes [sic] toward the car and he kept on talking, and then he like opens the door, and he put his arm around me, his left arm around my shoulders and he was looking at the dog and he was saying things like, well, your dog has no soul, and don’t worry about it. Just go home and give it some pain killers and he’ll be okay, and I was like really scared, and that, then he said, well, just don’t worry about it, and he took his right arm and he grabbed like the skin of my neck and he shook it like this, and I was really scared, and he says, don’t cry, just don’t worry about it, and he says, he says, well, I could have done this, and then he poked my breast right here, somewhere, it was down lower.”

The complainant testified the defendant used two or three fingertips of his right hand in touching her breast. She related that she was very frightened while he was poking her: “I couldn’t do anything. He was in the door and I had a dog on my lap and my mom was sitting next to me.”

On cross-examination, the complainant testified she was frightened “because my dog was bleeding and because I had never seen this man before, and I didn’t know what to do.” When the defendant asked what happened to her “little doggie,” she told him her dog had been struck by a van, and he put his arm around her shoulder. She did not say anything to him about that because she was frightened and did not know what to do. She stated she thought “what he was meaning to do is to comfort me by putting his arm around my shoulder.” Complainant demonstrated her lack of approval toward defendant’s gesture by “tightening up” because there was no place to which she could move. She stated the defendant grabbed the skin underneath her chin with his fingers and thumb of his right hand and shook it three or four times “just enough to — he was, I think, I believe, he was trying to, you know, like when you try to slap somebody when they are crying for something.” Complainant testified further that “[a]t that moment, I was not sure what he was trying to do. I had thought that maybe he was trying to help me after that, days after that.”

The complainant estimated that the entire incident lasted five or six minutes. She did not tell the defendant to go away but instead advised him, “[wje’re leaving now, excuse me, good bye.” The mother started the car and pulled away; the defendant made no effort to hold her.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

People v. Drake
2024 IL App (1st) 210482-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2024)
People v. Woldenkidan
2021 IL App (2d) 190683-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2021)
People v. Hill
2020 IL App (4th) 170441-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2020)
People v. Balle
2019 IL App (1st) 172006-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2019)
People v. Gonzalez
2019 IL App (1st) 152760 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2019)
People v. Robinson
Appellate Court of Illinois, 2008
People v. Garth
817 N.E.2d 1085 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2004)
People v. Harvey
813 N.E.2d 181 (Illinois Supreme Court, 2004)
People v. Bowman
583 N.E.2d 114 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1991)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
552 N.E.2d 1382, 195 Ill. App. 3d 1087, 142 Ill. Dec. 641, 1990 Ill. App. LEXIS 507, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-satterfield-illappct-1990.