People v. Dentley
| Decision Date | 04 September 1975 |
| Docket Number | No. 12670,12670 |
| Citation | 31 Ill.App.3d 679,334 N.E.2d 774 |
| Parties | PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Clement DENTLEY, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | United States Appellate Court of Illinois |
Richard J. Wilson, Deputy Defender, Bruce Stratton, Administrative Director, Springfield, for defendant-appellant.
Richard J. Doyle, State's Atty., Danville, G. Michael Prall, Principal Atty., Ill. State's Attys.Ass'n, Statewide Appellate Assistance Service, Bloomington, for plaintiff-appellee; Jacqueline K. Nejmanowski, Staff Atty., Springfield, of counsel.
Clement Dentley and William Logan were indicted for the offenses of rape, deviate sexual assault, and robbery.Logan was acquitted on all counts, while Dentley was acquitted of deviate sexual assault and robbery, but convicted of rape and sentenced to not less than 10 nor more than 30 years in the Illinois State Penitentiary.He appeals, contending that the trial court erred in denying his motion for appointment of a psychiatrist to examine the complaining witness and abused its discretion in imposing a sentence in excess of the statutory minimum.
At trial, Janet Donaldson testified that on July 21, 1973, she attempted to hitch a ride to downtown Champaign with Dentley and Logan, but was taken instead to a rural area of Vermilion County.Donaldson described both defendants in some detail and identified them at trial.When the car came to a stop, she made an attempt to escape, but was intercepted by the defendant, who threw her to the ground, fracturing her shoulder.The defendant displayed a knife and ordered her to perform an act of fellatio; when she hesitated, he angrily pulled her down by the hair and she cooperated.Subsequently, she was ordered into the car and ordered to perform another act of fellatio on the defendant while Logan had vaginal intercourse with her.During this activity, the defendant put his hands around her neck and began to strangle her, leaving scratch marks, and hit her in the face and head with his fist.Finally, he displayed a machete and forced her to have both vaginal and anal intercourse with him.She was at last let out of the car with a warning from defendant that if she told anyone, he would get his gang to burn down her family's home.
Donaldson walked to the highway and flagged down a truck.The driver testified at trial that he had been stopped by a woman standing in the middle of the road who was hysterical and cried, She had no shoes on, no undergarments, and had mud and blood on her.She told the driver her head hurt.A deputy at the Vermilion county jail, where the truck driver brought Donaldson, corroborated the driver's description of her hysteria and physical appearance.He also noted that she was crying and had scratch marks on her neck.A hospital emergency room examination revealed sperm and lacerations of the vaginal wall, as well as a fractured clavicle.
Prior to trial, the State was granted a continuance on the basis of a motion supported by an affidavit stating that the complaining witness was unavailable for trial because of various hospitalizations and out-patient treatment.Included was a letter from her doctor, to the effect that she had been under psychiatric care for about eight years for major psychotic disturbances, and that a trial at that time would be detrimental to her mental state.In response to this motion, defendant filed a motion for appointment of a psychiatrist to examine Donaldson, noting the difficulty of calling her out-of-state doctor and alleging the need for competent local evaluation of her mental...
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...of appellate court cases (see, e.g., People v. Davis, 97 Ill.App.3d 299, 52 Ill.Dec. 780, 422 N.E.2d 989 (1981); People v. Dentley, 31 Ill.App.3d 679, 334 N.E.2d 774 (1975)), the Visgar court relied on it to justify the continued power of a trial court to compel the physical examination of ......
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