People v. Begay
| Decision Date | 08 March 2013 |
| Docket Number | No. 1-10-2216,1-10-2216 |
| Citation | 2013 IL App (1st) 102216 |
| Parties | THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. SALVADOR BEGAY, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | United States Appellate Court of Illinois |
NOTICE: This order was filed under Supreme Court Rule 23 and may not be cited as precedent by any party except in the limited circumstances allowed under Rule 23(e)(1).
Appeal from the Circuit Court of Cook County.
Honorable John Joseph Hynes, Judge Presiding.
¶ 1 Held: Defendant's claim that trial court erred in granting the State's motion in limine waived for review; evidence sufficient to sustain defendant's conviction of aggravated criminal sexual abuse; judgment affirmed.
¶ 2 Following a jury trial, defendant was found guilty of two counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse, and sentenced to three years' felony probation. On appeal, defendant contends that the trial court erred in granting the State's motion in limine to exclude exculpatory and otherwise admissible testimonial evidence which would have resulted in a different jury verdict. He also contends that the evidence was insufficient to prove him guilty of aggravated criminal sexual abuse beyond a reasonable doubt.
¶ 3 Defendant, who was 41 years of age, was charged with aggravated criminal sexual abuse of 15-year-old victim, Maranda R., on July 6, 2008. Prior to trial, the State filed a motion in limine to prohibit defendant from eliciting testimony or evidence of Maranda's prior sexual activity or sexual reputation. The State noted that pursuant to section 115-7 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963 (Code) (725 ILCS 5/115-7 (West 2008)), a victim's prior sexual activity or sexual reputation are inadmissable except where it is alleged that the victim consented to the sexual conduct. Since defendant did not allege that this is a consent case, the State maintained that any testimony regarding Maranda's prior sexual reputation was irrelevant and inadmissable.
¶ 4 At the proceeding on the State's motion in limine, the court asked defense counsel if he had any objection to being precluded from eliciting testimony from Maranda regarding her sexual activity or reputation. Counsel indicated that he had no objection, but then noted that:
"[I]t wouldn't be something where I was maligning the [victim] or bringing up her prior reputation, but it may come out during the case or during the defense case that there has been an argument about something that was sexual in nature."
The court asked counsel for an offer of proof, and counsel responded that if the mother of Maranda is called to testify she would testify that she had an argument with Maranda about her improper behavior, which was "flirty or risque or coming on to and I may call her and I may not." When the court asked for the State's position on this matter, the State responded that such testimony would be hearsay and irrelevant. The court then stated the following:
Defense counsel responded, "[v]ery well, Judge," and no further mention of the issue was made at the ensuing trial.
¶ 5 At trial, Maranda testified that her mother was Monica Curtis, and that in November 2007, she moved out of the home of her mother's ex-boyfriend in Elgin, and went to live in Bridgeview with defendant, who was dating her mother. Defendant's home had a swimming pool and three bedrooms, which were occupied by several of defendant's relatives. Maranda shared a room with her sister, Isabella, and defendant's daughter, Elizabeth. She looked up to defendant as a father figure, and enjoyed living at his home because he always had food and also had a pool.
¶ 6 On July 5, 2008, Monica left defendant's home and went to the home of Maranda's grandparents in Elgin. Maranda did not leave with her because her uncle Marco was to pick her up the next day, and she wanted to remain at defendant's house. That night she and her sister Isabella went to a nearby park, then to a couple of friends' houses, and at 2 a.m. Maranda left to return to defendant's home. When she arrived, defendant asked who was there, and she said, "me," then went to her bedroom, and shut the door. She was the only one in the room at that time, and she went to sleep in her shorts and tank top.
¶ 7 At 5 a.m. she awoke to find defendant on her bed. He leaned over and started to kiss her by placing his tongue in her mouth. She tried to push him away and keep her mouth closed, but defendant slid his hand under her bra and touched her left breast. Maranda kept pushing defendant away while he continued to touch her breast, and she cried and told him to stop. He did, then told her to "pack your shit I am taking you to your aunt's house first thing in the morning." and walked out of the room.
¶ 8 Maranda locked the bedroom door, and looked at her cellular phone which showed that it was 5:36 a.m. She did not call police because she was in shock and did not know what to do. She tried to fall back to sleep, but could not do so right away. She eventually fell asleep but woke at 8 a.m., and returned to sleep before being reawakened by her sister. Maranda did not tell her sister what happened because she was with a friend, and did not feel comfortable telling her sister about the incident with the friend present. When she eventually got out of bed, she went to the backyard and went swimming in her clothes with her sister and the friend before her uncle Marco arrived to take her to the home of her uncle Brian for a family barbecue. She retrieved her clothing which was stored in defendant's bedroom, and when she entered the room, defendant was there and said, "no hard feelings." He then put his fist up, and Maranda just walked away.
¶ 9 Maranda did not tell her uncle Marco what happened because she felt uncomfortable doing so, and also did not relate the incident to anyone at her uncle Brian's home. Maranda further testified that she was to stay at her uncle Brian's home until Friday, before going to the home of her aunt, Celeste Romero, whom she considered a mother figure. She had spoken to her aunt over the phone, but did not tell her what happened because she wanted to tell her in person, and asked her aunt if she was still coming over to her house that week because she needed to talk to her. On July 11, 2008, she went to her aunt's home, and while talking to her aunt and sister there, she began to cry, and told them what happened with defendant. At that point, they went to the police station.
¶ 10 Celeste Romero testified that she is very close to Maranda who was a happy, normal, vibrant child. On July 11, 2008, Maranda came to her home with her sister, and Romero noticed that she was very quiet and not her usual self. When they started to talk, Maranda began to cry, and it was difficult to understand her at first because she was sobbing uncontrollably. She eventually told Romero what happened and she then took Maranda to the police station.
¶ 11 Defendant testified that he lives at his home with his son and daughter, a niece and her boyfriend, and his two godchildren, and has worked as a chief engineer at the same job for 23 years. Defendant testified that he has known Monica Curtis since she was three years old, that she had four children, and that they started dating in 2007. She came to live with him after residing in Elgin with her then boyfriend, Maranda and her other daughter, Isabella. While they lived with defendant, he paid for their medical care, clothing, entertainment and other basic necessities. Defendant recalled a prior incident when Maranda had snuck out of his home at 3:30 a.m. and was brought back by police.
¶ 12 Curtis and her girls lived with him until May 28, 2008, when Isabella graduated from eighth grade. After he and Curtis broke up, he told them that they had to leave, and they did so on May 28, 2008. Two weeks later, Curtis came to his home to try and work things out, but that proved unsuccessful. However, two of her daughters came to his house on July 5, 2008, and he asked them who gave them permission to come back to his house after they had been gone for almost three weeks. In the early morning hours of July 6, 2008, he heard someone enter his house, and when he asked who it was, Maranda said it was her, and he told her to call her mother. Defendant denied touching or kissing Maranda or holding his fist up to her for her to punch it. Maranda left his house that day with her uncle Brian after she and her sister, Isabella, hugged and kissed him goodbye. Defendant further stated that Maranda and Isabella did not want to stay with their grandparents who lived in Morton Grove or their aunt Celeste.
¶ 13 Following defendant's testimony, the defense rested. During jury deliberations, the jury sent the trial court the following questions: whether defendant had the option to call character witnesses and if he had a criminal record or whether that was not allowed to be disclosed. The judge responded to the jury that they had all the evidence, testimony and instructions, and to continue to deliberate. The jury then sent out several more questions, including, inter alia, whatwere they to do if they could not reach a unanimous decision and if there was a time limit for deliberations. Defendant asked for a mistrial maintaining that the question regarding whether they had to reach a unanimous decision suggested deadlock. The court replied, however, that they had only been deliberating for two and a half hours, and that they had just posed a question and did not state that they were deadlocked. The court then instructed the jury to continue to...
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