People v. Bybee

• Decision Date: 25 September 1956
• Docket Number: No. 33933,33933
• Citation: 137 N.E.2d 251,9 Ill.2d 214
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Defendant in Error, v. Samuel BYBEE, Jr., Plaintiff in Error.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

Page 251

137 N.E.2d 251

9 Ill.2d 214

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Defendant in Error, v. Samuel BYBEE, Jr., Plaintiff in Error.

No. 33933.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Sept. 25, 1956.

Paul E. Thurlow, Joliet, for plaintiff in error.

Latham Castle, Atty. Gen., and William H. Small, State's Atty., Galesburg (Fred G. Leach, Decatur, and Edwin A. Strugala, Chicago, of counsel), for the People.

DAILY, Justice.

Under an indictment returned to the circuit court of Knox County, Samuel Bybee, Jr., hereinafter referred to as the defendant, was charged, in counts I and IV thereof, with the crime of statutory rape, in count II with the crime of rape by force, and in count III with having taken indecent liberties with a minor. At the jury trial which followed on June 23, 1954, a verdict was rendered finding the defendant guilty of statutory rape under the first count of the indictment and fixing his punishment at 40 years in the penitentiary. After the defendant's motions in arrest of judgment and for a new trial were overruled, judgment and sentence were entered in accordance with the jury's determination. Writ of error has now been prosecuted to this court.

The People's evidence indicates that on the morning of November 21, 1953, as the complaining witness was walking to her place of employment, she was approached by the 26-year-old, married defendant, who invited her to ride with him in his automobile to visit a mutual friend. The girl agreed, and, after receiving her employer's permission, she entered the automobile for this purpose, but instead of driving to his promised destination, the defendant drove to a neighboring public park area, known as Lake Storey, where the criminal act was committed.

The fourteen-year-old complaining witness testified that she customarily worked each Saturday at the residence of Dr. Jackson Erffmeyer, in Galesburg, Illinois, and that on the morning in question she left for work at approximately 8:24 A.M., rode a bus to within a short distance of the Erffmeyer residence, and then started walking to her place of employment, when a light blue, four-door automobile honked and pulled to the curb. She stated that Bybee, whom she then knew as Bob Baker, was driving, and that after some conversation he suggested they ride to a nearby drive-in restaurant to see Felicia Hunt, a mutual friend. According to the witness, she looked at her watch and noticed the time was 8:45 A.M., and since she was to be at work not later than 9:00 A.M., she told Bybee she would have to get her employer's permission and thereupon went to the door of the Erffmeyer home and asked Mrs. Erffmeyer if she could be a few minutes late. After receiving consent, she entered the automobile with the defendant and proceeded toward the restaurant, but instead of stopping, the defendant continued until he entered the Lake Storey area. The complaining witness then described how Bybee tried to remove he clothing, how she first resisted, but later submitted to his advances because of threats and exhaustion. Thereafter, she continued, the defendant drove her back to her place of employment where she told Mrs. Erffmeyer what had happened. She also stated that she was later taken by her mother to the office of Dr. Erffmeyer for an examination and to the State's Attorney's office; that she identified the defendant from a police photograph and later from a group of four individuals at police headquarters; and that on the date of the offense, Bybee was wearing levis, engineering boots, a green leather baseball cap, and a brown, fur-collared jacket.

The account was corroborated, at least in part, by the testimony of the employer, Elizabeth Erffmeyer. She stated that on the morning of the alleged attack, the prosecutrix knocked at her door at approximately 8:45 A.M. and received her permission to be late for work in order to meet Felicia, and that she then noticed a blue, four-door automobile, with a noisy muffler, pull away from the curb. According to the witness, prosecutrix returned to the house at approximately 9:25 A.M. and advised her of the preceding events.

Dr. Jackson Erffmeyer then testified that he saw the prosecutrix at his office at 10:45 A.M. on the morning in question and that an examination by him disclosed a vaginal tear, a small amount of bright red blood, and the presence of live spermatozoa. On cross-examination, however, he admitted that it would have been possible for the act of intercourse to have occurred some ten hours prior to the time of the examination.

William Allison, a Galesburg policeman, stated that he saw defendant on November 25, 1953, and that on this occasion, he was wearing heavy-type work shoes, a green leather billed cap, and a fur-collared jacket, and that he was driving a light blue, four-door, 1951 Dodge automobile.

Another police officer, Al Rowe, testified that he had, without success, on prior occasions, shown certain photographs to the complaining witness in order to establish the true identity of the man she knew only as Bob Baker, and that on November 25, she identified Bybee's photograph as that of her assailant. He also told how he and two deputy sheriffs apprehended the defendant on November 27, 1953, and stated that at the time of his arrest, Bybee was wearing levis and three-quarter length shoes, and was driving a blue 1950 or 1951 Dodge four-door sedan. Max Jones, one of the deputy sheriffs referred to by Rowe, recalled that Bybee was wearing a brown, fur-collared jacket and logger boots, and was driving a late model, blue Dodge which had a defective muffler. A similar description was given by Edwin Watkins, the other arresting deputy sheriff.

The last to testify for the People was the mother of the complaining witness. She stated that her daughter left home for work on the morning of November 21, but returned before 10 A.M. and told her of the rape. The mother also testified that on December 9, 1953, the defendant came to her place of business and admitted the rape, but threatened to smear the daughter's name unless the prosecution was dropped, whereupon the mother called the police and had him evicted from the premises.

Bybee's defense was an alibi, and in support thereof, he produced several witnesses who saw him at various times during the morning of November 21. Two witnesses testified that they saw the defendant at a restaurant around 8:15 A.M.; two others placed him at a service station in Knoxville, a neighboring town, at approximately 8:20 A.M., and a Galesburg storekeeper said he was in his place of business between 8:20 A.M. and 8:40 A.M. on the morning in question. Daniel Parrish and his mother both testified that the defendant was at their home sometime between 9:00 A.M. and 9:30 A.M., but on cross-examination they both admitted that they were not sure of the time but were merely basing it on the time of day that various things were customarily done around the household, such as the father leaving for work and the son's eating breakfast.

Max Hillman, an ordained minister and tree surgeon, testified that his hired lady ordinarily came to work at 9:00 A.M. and that soon after she arrived on the morning in question, Bybee telephoned and wanted to borrow some tools. Thereafter, according to Hillman, the defendant came to his home for the tools, arriving between 9:30 A.M. and 9:35 A.M. On cross-examination, the witness admitted that he had talked to a police officer soon after Bybee's arrest but could not remember whether he had then said that the defendant arrived at his home some thirty minutes later than his testimony indicated. Nevertheless, the People's rebuttal witness, William Allison, testified that he talked with Hillman on December 2, 1953, and was told on that occasion that Bybee did not arrive at the Hillman residence until after 10:00 A.M.

Nellie James testified that she also received a telephone call from the defendant on the morning of the assault, in this case between 9:00 A.M. and 9:30 A.M. However, on cross-examination she admitted that she did not remember the exact time but that the call could have been received as late as 10 o'clock. Her husband, Omer James, stated that he saw the defendant at approximately 10:30 A.M. on this particular forenoon.

Samuel Bybee, Jr., then testified in his own behalf that he had met the complaining witness on at least one occasion prior to November 21, 1953, but did not remember whether he then gave her his true name or whether he told her that his name was Bob Baker. Bybee admitted that he owned a blue four-door 1951 Dodge automobile and that on the day of the alleged crime, he wore blue jean overalls, high top boots, a green leather billed cap, and a fur-collared jacket, but emphatically denied that he had either seen the prosecutrix on the day in question, or that he had ever taken indecent liberties or had sexual intercourse with her. According to his testimony, the defendant arrived at the Hobby Grill...