People v. Thongjareon

2024 IL App (2d) 230342-U
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedAugust 13, 2024
Docket2-23-0342
StatusUnpublished

This text of 2024 IL App (2d) 230342-U (People v. Thongjareon) 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. Thongjareon, 2024 IL App (2d) 230342-U (Ill. Ct. App. 2024).

Opinion

2024 IL App (2d) 230342-U No. 2-23-0342 Order filed August 13, 2024

NOTICE: This order was filed under Supreme Court Rule 23(b) and is not precedent except in the limited circumstances allowed under Rule 23(e)(1). ______________________________________________________________________________

IN THE

APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS

SECOND DISTRICT ______________________________________________________________________________

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE ) Appeal from the Circuit Court OF ILLINOIS, ) of Kane County. ) Plaintiff-Appellee, ) ) v. ) No. 21-CF-1694 ) SUWIT THONGJAREON, ) Honorable ) Elizabeth K. Flood, Defendant-Appellant. ) Judge, Presiding. ______________________________________________________________________________

JUSTICE SCHOSTOK delivered the judgment of the court. Presiding Justice McLaren and Justice Mullen concurred in the judgment.

ORDER

¶1 Held: (1) Defendant’s unlawful restraint and domestic battery convictions did not violate the one-act, one-crime rule, where a separate physical act supported each conviction, and neither offense was a lesser included offense of the other. (2) Defendant’s convictions did not violate the principle of juror unanimity; there was only one possible basis for the unlawful restraint conviction, and although there were several possible bases for the domestic battery conviction, the jury returned a general verdict of guilty of domestic battery and it was immaterial whether they agreed on which acts constituted domestic battery.

¶2 After a jury trial, defendant, Suwit Thongjareon, was convicted of unlawful restraint (720

ILCS 5/10-3(a) (West 2020)) and domestic battery (id. § 12-3.2(a)(2)) and sentenced to 24 months’

probation. On appeal, he contends that the domestic battery conviction must be vacated because 2024 IL App (2d) 230342-U

it was based on the same physical act as the unlawful restraint conviction. He also argues that his

right to a unanimous jury verdict was violated. We affirm.

¶3 I. BACKGROUND

¶4 In the two-count indictment against defendant, count I, for unlawful restraint, alleged that

he “knowingly and without legal authority detained Elizabeth Rose, in that [he] prevented [Rose]

from leaving by grabbing, pulling, and/or using his body to keep [Rose] in place.” Count II, for

domestic battery, alleged that he “knowingly made physical contact of an insulting or provoking

nature with [Rose], a family or household member ***, in that [he] grabbed and/or pulled [Rose]

about the head and/or body.”

¶5 In its opening statement, the State told the jury:

“In August of 2021, [Rose] was married to this defendant and they share[d] a child

in common.

In August of 2021, this defendant went back to their shared apartment to retrieve

something and when he went back there, he grabbed [Rose] by the arm and pulls her inside

the apartment complex.

[Rose] is in the hallway with the defendant and tries to leave and he grabs her again,

pulled her, pushes her up against the apartment door, uses his arm to block her as he unlocks

the apartment door, shoves her inside the apartment door so that she’s not free to leave.

You’re not just going to hear about this but you are going to see this. There is a

surveillance video that you are going to have the opportunity to see today.

And at the end of the day today, *** I’m going to ask that you find the defendant

guilty of both unlawful restraint and domestic battery.”

-2- 2024 IL App (2d) 230342-U

¶6 Defendant responded that the videos showed physical contact between him and Rose but

no criminal act.

¶7 Rose testified as follows. In August 2021, she and defendant were married with two

children. On August 9, 2021, they went to their apartment building. Rose identified People’s

exhibit No. 1 (video 1) as a surveillance video recorded outside the building. She had watched the

video before trial.

¶8 The video, which is silent, was published to the jury. The camera is positioned above the

apartment building’s entrance. The entrance itself is not visible from the camera angle. At 3:08:38

p.m., defendant, Rose, and their infant son Jaden appear. Defendant and Rose are walking on the

grass toward the building’s rear entrance. Defendant is clutching Rose by her left wrist as she

holds Jaden in her right arm. They approach the rear door of the building. At 3:08:41 p.m.,

defendant pulls Rose and Jaden onto the walkway. As he releases his grip on Rose, she shakes her

arm in pain. She appears upset. Defendant then briefly takes Rose by the left wrist again. Either

she pulls away from his grip, or he releases it. He then takes the keys from her. At 03:08:59 p.m.,

he enters the building and disappears from camera view. Rose and Jaden then appear to be pulled

inside, but the video does not show by what or whom.

¶9 After the video was played, Rose testified that she was “scared” during the depicted

incident. She acknowledged that the video did not show who pulled her inside the building, but

she affirmed that defendant did so.

¶ 10 Rose testified that she had watched People’s exhibit No. 2, another surveillance video

(video 2), which was recorded in the hallway inside the apartment building. Video 2 shows events

occurring immediately after those shown in video 1.

-3- 2024 IL App (2d) 230342-U

¶ 11 Video 2, which also is silent, was published to the jury. At 3:09:16 p.m., defendant, Rose,

and Jaden appear. Defendant is gripping Rose by her left wrist and approaches the apartment door.

Rose is carrying Jaden and is visibly upset. Defendant pulls on Rose’s arm, propelling her toward

the apartment door, then releases her while he prepares to open the door. As defendant takes out

his key to the apartment, he turns and speaks to Rose. She starts to walk toward the building’s

rear door. At 3:09:23 p.m., defendant reaches out, places his left hand on Rose’s back, pulls her

toward him, and then pushes her and Jaden between himself and the apartment door. As he unlocks

the door, defendant holds Rose in place by pressing two fingers of his left hand (which is also

gripping a bag) against her upper arm. They exchange words. She tries to pull away. He moves

his left hand, still gripping the bag, behind her neck, evidently for greater leverage. She places her

hand flat against the door frame as if to resist being forced into the apartment. At 3:09:37 p.m.,

defendant opens the door, pushes Rose and Jaden inside, follows them in, and closes the door.

¶ 12 Asked about the incident portrayed in video 2, Rose testified, “I feel terrified and scared at

the same time in that moment because I don’t know what’s going on in his mind.” She entered the

apartment only because defendant pushed her in. He did not punch, bruise, or cut Rose.

¶ 13 Alexandra Martyn, a police detective, testified that, on August 17, 2021, she spoke to Rose,

who was crying about the incidents. Martyn saw no injuries to Rose. Two days later, Martyn

obtained the surveillance videos from the apartment building.

¶ 14 Both parties rested.

¶ 15 In closing argument, the State told the jury:

“So let’s talk about unlawful restraint.

As we told you at the beginning of the trial, the defendant is charged with unlawful

restraint against Ms. Rose. You heard her testify. You heard her tell you that she was

-4- 2024 IL App (2d) 230342-U

scared in the moments that you saw on that video. You saw the defendant pull her at the

door and not let her leave.

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2024 IL App (2d) 230342-U, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-thongjareon-illappct-2024.