People v. Yeargan

593 N.E.2d 699, 229 Ill. App. 3d 219, 170 Ill. Dec. 810, 1992 Ill. App. LEXIS 616
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedApril 20, 1992
Docket1—88—2820, 1—88—2821 cons.
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 593 N.E.2d 699 (People v. Yeargan) 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. Yeargan, 593 N.E.2d 699, 229 Ill. App. 3d 219, 170 Ill. Dec. 810, 1992 Ill. App. LEXIS 616 (Ill. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

PRESIDING JUSTICE BUCKLEY

delivered the opinion of the court:

Following a bench trial, defendant Jeffrey Yeargan was found guilty of five counts of criminal sexual assault (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 38, par. 12 — 13(a)(1)) and one count of unlawful restraint (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 38, par. 10 — 3(a)) and sentenced on two counts of criminal sexual assault to concurrent terms of seven years’ incarceration. Pursuant to the same proceeding, codefendant Gregory Thompson was found guilty of four counts of criminal sexual assault and one count of unlawful restraint and sentenced to five years’ incarceration. Defendants appeal contending that they were not proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Yeargan raises the additional issue of whether he was impermissibly convicted under the criminal sexual assault statute for an act the statute does not proscribe. We reverse.

At trial, complainant, age 27, testified that she was born with mostly female organs, but also had a male sex organ, a scrotum. In April 1987, she did not have a vaginal opening but had an urethra coming from her bladder, which enabled her to urinate. Complainant has no children and is divorced.

On April 18, 1987, at approximately midnight or shortly thereafter, she left her sister’s home on Kildare, north of Fullerton Avenue in Chicago, with her dog, a four- to five-year-old “collie-shepherd,” to go to her home. On the way, she stopped at a nearby 7-Eleven store to purchase dog food and groceries.

While walking home on Fullerton from the 7-Eleven Store, complainant encountered two men in a 1972, light-blue, two-door car parked at the curb. The person seated in the passenger seat called her over to the car. She identified that person as defendant Yeargan; she also identified defendant Thompson as “looking like” the other man seated in the driver’s seat. She testified that both men asked her for a “head job.” When she declined, they asked again. She again refused.

After this encounter, she continued towards home. She walked about one-half block when she noticed that the two men were following her. She started walking faster and headed towards a corner gas station. She cut through the gas station and entered a “T” formed by the alley that runs behind her house and the gas station. There, she was grabbed by the defendants on her arms. She asked defendants to let her go but they would not. Defendants forced her to walk half-way down the alley and into an open garage containing a parked car on one side.

Inside the garage, Yeargan asked her to remove her jacket and she complied. After she refused to remove her shirt and bra, Yeargan forced it off, stating they would hurt her if she did not do what they told her. Both defendants removed her pants, and Yeargan then told her to get on her hands and knees. She complied.

Yeargan then got in front of her, pulled her head up by her hair and put his penis in her mouth. Meanwhile, Thompson was behind her attempting to put his penis in her “bladder” (her urethra), the opening she has where a vagina would normally be. He then put his penis in her anus, which hurt her. Yeargan ejaculated in her mouth and she spit out the seminal fluid.

After Yeargan ejaculated, defendants switched places. Thompson pulled her hair up and put his penis in her mouth while Yeargan put his penis in her “bladder” and rectum. Thompson ejaculated and she spit it out. Yeargan then returned to her front and placed his penis back in her mouth. At this time, Thompson put on his pants and left the garage. Yeargan ejaculated in her mouth and she again spit it out. Yeargan then unsuccessfully attempted to place his penis in her rectum. Yeargan next proceeded to put his penis in her “bladder,” ejaculating “some inside and some outside.”

After Yeargan removed his penis from her “bladder” he stated, “Did that feel good, bitch?” He then dressed, exited the garage, and walked back towards the bar. She testified that she hurriedly dressed and secretly followed Yeargan from a short distance. As defendants were about to drive away, she wrote on her hand, from a one-half block distance, the license number of the car from which defendants had exited earlier. She also noticed that her blue lighter was missing. She identified in court a photograph depicting her hand, various photographs depicting the scene of the alleged assault, and a lighter which she claimed was the one taken from her.

After defendants drove away, she returned to get her dog and then went to the nearby gas station where she called the police. When the police arrived, she told them what happened, showed them her hand, and gave them a description of defendants’ car. While not remembering the exact order of occurrence, she testified that she showed the officers the garage where the assault occurred and also took her dog and groceries to her home. At home, she told her aunt that she was going to the hospital. On the way to the hospital, she saw the defendants and identified them for the officers.

Counsel for Thompson and Yeargan both cross-examined complainant. During Thompson’s cross-examination, complainant testified that there was a tavern where the defendants’ car was parked. Although she was scared when they started to follow her, she did not go into it or the nearby gas station or telephone the police. Rather, she went home the way she always went, by way of the alley. At the “T,” defendants grabbed her by her arms, which were bent at the elbows against her body, and walked her one-half block to the open garage.

Complainant admitted that when she was grabbed, she did not scream, shout, fight back, drop her groceries or let go of the dog’s leash. However, she did tell her dog without success to attack defendants. Complainant explained that her dog was a friendly dog which had never bitten anybody and which liked to be “petted a lot.” Before entering the garage, complainant complied with defendants’ request that she tie up the dog outside.

Complainant testified she was 5 feet 8 inches tall and weighed 180 pounds. Neither defendant had a weapon, nor did any defendant strike her, push her to the ground or physically harm her. Complainant testified she suffered no bruises or lacerations although she was threatened with physical abuse.

During cross-examination, Thompson questioned complainant about the number of ejaculations. Complainant testified:

“Q. Tracey, isn’t it true that you testified that Mr. Thompson ejaculated in your mouth twice?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. Isn’t true that your testified that Mr. Yeargan ejaculated in your mouth four times?
A. Three and I didn’t say—
Q. Three times? Did anyone ever — Isn’t it true that you testified that they ejaculated in your anus?
A. Yes.
Q. And isn’t true that you also testified that one of the defendant’s ejaculated in your urethra?
A. Yes. And also had a rubber on.
Q. Now who had the rubber on?

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

Related

People v. Cobb
2025 IL App (5th) 220762-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2025)
People v. Arbo
2024 IL App (1st) 220147-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2024)
People v. Rosales
2023 IL App (2d) 220201-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2023)
People v. Dzierzanowski
2023 IL App (2d) 210565-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2023)
People v. Parker
2016 IL App (1st) 141597 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2016)
People v. Herman
945 N.E.2d 54 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2011)
People v. Hogan
904 N.E.2d 1036 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2009)
People v. Vasquez
599 N.E.2d 523 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1992)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
593 N.E.2d 699, 229 Ill. App. 3d 219, 170 Ill. Dec. 810, 1992 Ill. App. LEXIS 616, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-yeargan-illappct-1992.