The PEOPLE v. Hall

275 N.E.2d 196, 1 Ill. App. 3d 949, 1971 Ill. App. LEXIS 2023
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedSeptember 21, 1971
Docket54375
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 275 N.E.2d 196 (The PEOPLE v. Hall) 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
The PEOPLE v. Hall, 275 N.E.2d 196, 1 Ill. App. 3d 949, 1971 Ill. App. LEXIS 2023 (Ill. Ct. App. 1971).

Opinion

Mr. JUSTICE LYONS

delivered the opinion of the court:

The defendant, Robert Hall, was charged with the offenses of aggravated kidnapping and rape in violation of Ill. Rev. Stat. 1967, ch. 38, pars. 10—2, 11—1. Following a trial by jury, the defendant was found guilty of rape and was sentenced to a term of not less than ten nor more than fifteen years in the Illinois State Penitentiary.

On appeal, the defendant raises the following issues:

1) Did the trial court err by admitting into evidence certain statements made by defendants?
2) Did the trial court err by failing to conduct a preliminary hearing to determine the admissibility of an oral statement made by defendant and later introduced by the prosecution at trial?
3) Did the trial court err by failing to conduct a preliminary hearing concerning the competency of a twelve-year-old child to testify?
4) Did the trial court err by denying defendant’s motion to suppress certain physical evidence?
5) Was the defendant denied a fair trial when in closing argument the prosecutor told the jury that raider the law a fifteen-year-old could not consent to intercourse?
Did the trial corat err by refusing to give defendant’s instruction concerning consent in rape cases? 6)
Was the defendant denied a fair trial where the prosecutor stated during closing argument that a police officer had testified to a conversation with defendant and the officer’s testimony concerning that conversation was uncontradicted? 7)
Was the defendant denied a fair trial when the prosecutor, after direct examination of a police officer and a crime lab technician, showed them their respective case reports in the presence of the jury and asked if they recognized and authored the reports? 8)
Did the State prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the sexual intercourse was by force and against the will of the complaining witness? 9)

The facts of this case, when reduced to a minimum, disclose that Deborah Miller, age 15, visited the home of her aunt on October 26,1967. About 7:00 P.M. on the next day, Miss Miller, intending to return to her own home, left her aunt’s home and walked to a nearby bus stop at the corner of 59th and Halsted Streets, Chicago. Miss Miller’s two cousins, Sharene Miller and James Green, accompanied her to the bus stop. A group of boys were standing on the corner as Miss Miller and her cousins approached and one of these boys, the defendant, reached out and grabbed Miss Miller by the arm. She pulled away but the defendant quickly regained his hold on her arm. Another boy came up and said something to the defendant whereupon the defendant, who was trying to kiss the struggling young lady, said: “You better do what he say because he has a gun.” Miss Miller’s two young cousins had, at this time, proceeded across the street and were shouting for her to hurry across the street because a bus was coming. Miss Miller struggled to free herself from the defendant’s grasp but was unable to do so. The other boy then grabbed her other arm and she was pulled toward a nearby alley. Miss Miller was told to “go on up in the alley” and, with the defendant holding her arm, she walked through the alley for about two blocks. Miss Miller was then taken across a street, through a gangway and up a stairway to a porch. Each of the boys had sexual intercourse with her on the porch. The defendant then told her that she could not leave and he took her through a back door into his apartment. There were several people in the apartment and the defendant introduced Miss Miller as his girl friend. Miss Miller sat in a kitchen chair and began crying. Shortly thereafter, the defendant’s mother came into the kitchen and said that the pohce were looking for a girl named Deborah Miller. The defendant then grabbed Miss Miller’s hand and tried to pull her out the back door. While being pulled through the doorway, she struck her head and was knocked unconscious. She was found lying on the floor between the kitchen and the rear porch by a pohce officer who was investigating the case and was taken to the Englewood Hospital for treatment. Subsequently, the defendant was arrested and charged with aggravated kidnapping and rape.

Defendant’s first point concerns the admissibility of certain statements made by defendant to a pohce officer prior to arrest and introduced at trial during the officer’s testimony. Specifically, Patrolman John Marusich testified in part as follows:

“Q. What else, if anything, did you see as you walked through that apartment?
A. I saw a young girl lying on the floor. She appeared to be unconscious. Her eyes were closed.
# # #
She was lying on the floor between the kitchen and the rear porch.
Q. Do you now know the name of that girl?
A. Yes.
Q. What is her name?
A. Deborah Miller.
Q. Was there any conversation had by you or any of those persons in that apartment with respect to the condition of that girl?
A. Yes.
Q. With whom or how many persons was that conversation had?
A. With one person, Robert Hall.
Q. What, if anything, was said by Robert Hall, and, or you with respect to that girl which you described lying on the floor?
A. I pointed to the girl lying on the floor—
# # #
and I said to Robert Hall, What happened to her?’ He replied, ‘She fainted when she saw you,’ referring to me. I then asked him, ‘How did she get into this apartment?’ He replied, ‘She came in by herself.’ [Emphasis added.]”

Defendant argues that these statements made by him were erroneously admitted into evidence because of an alleged prior agreement by the prosecutor that no statements of defendant would be introduced at trial. Defendant relies heavily upon People v. Mwathery (1968), 103 Ill.App.2d 114, 243 N.E.2d 429 in support of his argument. In Mwathery, the defendant, prior to trial, moved to suppress a statement of one Francis Gaines. At the pretrial hearing on the motion to suppress, the prosecutor advised the court and defense counsel that the statement of Francis Gaines would not be used for any purpose whatsoever.

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Bluebook (online)
275 N.E.2d 196, 1 Ill. App. 3d 949, 1971 Ill. App. LEXIS 2023, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/the-people-v-hall-illappct-1971.