People v. Yeast

601 N.E.2d 1367, 236 Ill. App. 3d 84, 176 Ill. Dec. 669, 1992 Ill. App. LEXIS 1673
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedOctober 15, 1992
Docket4-91-0705
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 601 N.E.2d 1367 (People v. Yeast) 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. Yeast, 601 N.E.2d 1367, 236 Ill. App. 3d 84, 176 Ill. Dec. 669, 1992 Ill. App. LEXIS 1673 (Ill. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

JUSTICE COOK

delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendant Richard L. Yeast was found guilty by a jury of unlawful restraint, a Class 4 felony, and criminal sexual abuse, a Class A misdemeanor. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 38, pars. 10 — 3, 12 — 15.) Defendant received a sentence of two years of imprisonment for unlawful restraint and a concurrent sentence of 364 days of imprisonment for criminal sexual abuse. Defendant appeals. We affirm in part, and vacate in part.

A.P. testified that on March 4, 1989, she attended a party at an apartment on the first floor of her building. A.P. testified she left the party at about 2 a.m., went upstairs to her apartment, and went to sleep on the couch in her living room. When she awoke, she found a man lying on top of her. The man had his hands under A.P.’s nightshirt, and was fondling her breasts and kissing her mouth and neck. A.P. believed that the man may have been a friend, but she wanted him to leave so she pushed him off of her, with some difficulty, and went into her bedroom. She tried to push him off probably five times before she was successful. The man followed her and started to get into the bed with her. A.P. left her bedroom and went across the hallway to another apartment to get help. A.P. woke one of her roommates, L.C., who was sleeping across the hall, and the two of them returned to their apartment. They did not find anyone in the living room or in the bedroom they shared, but they noticed that the door to the other bedroom was closed and locked. The other bedroom was shared by A.P.’s sister, M.P., and another woman. Because it was unusual for this door to be locked, A.P. and L.C. knocked on the door. Eventually the door was opened by a man whom A.P. and L.C. later identified as defendant. L.C. asked the man who he was and what he was doing in the apartment. The man responded that he was with one of the girls that lived in the apartment. Neither A.P. nor L.C. had ever seen the man before that evening, and they did not know why he was in their apartment. After A.P. told the man to leave the apartment, he picked up his blue-jean jacket from a chair in the living room and left. A.P. ran back across the hall and asked the men in that apartment to call the police. M.P. testified that on March 5, 1989, she awakened to hear her sister outside the door saying, “Leave her alone. That is my sister in there.” M.P. did not hear any other statements. She did not see anyone in the room, did not get out of bed, and returned to sleep. M.P. did not know defendant prior to March 5.

Approximately a month later, on April 1, 1989, A.P. attended another party at the same first-floor apartment. A.P. saw defendant walk into the room and immediately recognized him as the man who had been in her apartment the previous month. She quickly left the party with her friend, C.F. They went to A.P.’s apartment and told someone to call the police. C.F. returned to the party with two neighbors to try to detain defendant until the police arrived. A.P. then went downstairs and confirmed that defendant was the same man. Soon thereafter defendant looked at C.F. and said, “I thought you knew.” C.F. asked defendant what he meant, and he responded, “Forget it.” C.F. testified that she had never seen defendant prior to the party.

Defendant’s first contention is that he was not proved guilty of either offense beyond a reasonable doubt. Defendant claims no evidence was presented that the man seen leaving M.P.’s room was the man who had fondled A.P. on the couch a few minutes earlier. Defendant also claims that the separate identifications of him by A.P. and L.C., as the man leaving M.P.’s room, were not reliable since they were made under circumstances which created a substantial likelihood of an inaccurate identification. When the identification of the accused is in question the State may meet its burden of proof by offering a positive identification by a single witness who had ample opportunity to observe defendant. (People v. Tate (1981), 87 Ill. 2d 134, 148, 429 N.E.2d 470, 477-78; People v. Novotny (1968), 41 Ill. 2d 401, 411-12, 244 N.E.2d 182, 188.) After resolving the factual disputes and assessing the credibility of the witnesses (People v. Williams (1982), 93 Ill. 2d 309, 315, 444 N.E.2d 136, 138), the jury then determines whether the State has met this burden. (People v. McDonald (1975), 62 Ill. 2d 448, 456, 343 N.E.2d 489, 493.) The judgment of the trial court will not be substituted unless the evidence is so improbable as to raise a reasonable doubt of defendant’s guilt. People v. Carlson (1980), 79 Ill. 2d 564, 583, 404 N.E.2d 233, 241.

Two positive and credible in-court identifications were made in this case. At trial, A.P. made an in-court identification of defendant as the man who laid on top of her, and as the man who was locked in M.P.’s room. Although A.P. had consumed several glasses of beer at a party earlier, she had slept about four hours before the incident occurred and did not feel that she was under the influence of alcohol when she viewed defendant. L.C. also made an in-court identification of defendant as the man in M.P.’s room after A.P. called her for help. Both A.P. and L.C. testified that the sun was coming up that morning and they were able to see defendant’s face fully when he was standing in front of M.P.’s door. Describing the viewing, A.P. testified, “It didn’t happen quickly. I got a very good look at him. Very good. And I don’t forget faces very good. I am pretty good with faces.” Regarding her identification of defendant at the party on April 1, A.P. testified during the jury proceedings that, “It was him. I know him. I cannot forget his face.” Both A.P. and L.C. testified that defendant was the same man who was in their apartment on March 5. Finally, A.P. testified that before leaving their apartment on March 5, defendant picked up a blue-jean jacket from a chair in the living room. Defendant was also wearing a blue jacket when he was arrested at the party on or about April 1.

Although A.P. may not have been certain who the man in her apartment was when she went for help, the evidence was sufficient for the jury to conclude beyond a reasonable doubt that defendant was the man who held A.P. down on the couch while he fondled her, and the same man who then locked himself in M.P.’s room. Considering the in-court identifications of defendant made by A.P. and L.C., we cannot say, after construing all the evidence in the light most favorable to the State, that no rational trier of fact could find defendant guilty of criminal sexual abuse beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia (1979), 443 U.S. 307, 319, 61 L. Ed. 2d 560, 573, 99 S. Ct. 2781, 2789; People v. Collins (1985), 106 Ill. 2d 237, 261, 478 N.E.2d 267, 277.

Defendant contends that the conviction for criminal sexual abuse must be vacated because that conviction was based upon the same act as was the conviction for unlawful restraint. (People v. King (1977), 66 Ill. 2d 551, 566, 363 N.E.2d 838, 844; People v.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
601 N.E.2d 1367, 236 Ill. App. 3d 84, 176 Ill. Dec. 669, 1992 Ill. App. LEXIS 1673, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-yeast-illappct-1992.