People v. Evans

• Decision Date: 15 July 1988
• Docket Number: No. 86-1079,86-1079
• Citation: People v. Evans, 527 N.E.2d 448, 173 Ill.App.3d 186, 122 Ill.Dec. 950 (Ill. App. 1988)
• Parties: , 122 Ill.Dec. 950 The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Edwin EVANS, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: Appellate Court of Illinois

Page 448

527 N.E.2d 448

173 Ill.App.3d 186, 122 Ill.Dec. 950

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v.Edwin EVANS, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 86-1079.

Appellate Court of Illinois First District, Fifth Division.

July 15, 1988.

[173 Ill.App.3d 189][122 Ill.Dec. 952] Sherman C. Magidson, Chicago, for defendant-appellant.

Richard M. Daley, State's Atty., Cook County(Kenneth T. McCurry, Patricia Y. Brown, Laura J. Diamant, Asst. State's Attys., of counsel), for plaintiff-appellee.

Justice SULLIVANdelivered the opinion of the court:

Following a jury trial, defendant was convicted of aggravated criminal sexual assault, criminal sexual conduct and unlawful restraint and sentenced to concurrent terms of 15 years for aggravated criminal sexual assault and 3 years for unlawful restraint.On appeal, he contends that he was denied a fair trial by (1) the admission of hearsay testimony concerning statements allegedly made by the complainant after the incident; (2) improper and prejudicial cross-examination of his expert witness; and (3) prejudicial and inflammatory remarks and misstatements of the evidence by the prosecutors in their closing arguments.

At trial, the 16-year-old complainant, G.B., testified that the events at issue occurred on July 5, 1986, when she was 14 years old.On that date, she and her friend, Charlene Williams, left her house near 109th and Green Streets in Chicago at about 5:30 p.m. and, on the request of her mother, walked to the home of an acquaintance who had died to find out the new telephone number of the deceased's family.They were walking back toward G.B.'s house when defendant's brother, Edward, called out to Charlene from the porch of his home on the corner of 111th and Green Streets and invited her to look at some pictures taken on his recent graduation from elementary school.As they approached the house, defendant arose from where he been sitting on the curb on 111th Street with Frank Tolbert, grabbed her arm, said he wanted to speak with her and asked her to come to the porch.While Edward and Charlene were looking at the photographs, defendant asked her if he could speak to her for a moment and, initially, she agreed; but when he said that he wanted to speak to her privately inside the house she refused.Defendant then grabbed her wrists, pulled her inside the front door and locked it.He asked her to accompany him upstairs to help him bring out some empty beer bottles he had left in his room.At first, she declined; but when he said that after helping him she could leave she agreed.When they reached the top of the stairs, he unlocked his bedroom door and after they entered, he relocked it behind them.After picking up several beer bottles, she began walking toward the door, but he jumped in front of her and asked where she was going, to which she responded that she was leaving.He replied "no you're not" and knocked the bottles from her arms and then placed his hands on her thighs.She pushed him away but did not say anything.He then attempted to pull off her shorts and when she resisted, he said that he had a gun in the closet and threatened to "blow [her] brains out."When he began walking toward the closet, she became afraid and told him to stop whereupon he returned to where she was standing, pulled off her shorts and underwear and pushed her onto the bed.She kicked and screamed, but he told her that she could scream all she wanted because no one would hear her.He then grabbed her arms, pinned her down and raped her.Afterward, she arose from the bed and picked up her clothes, but he grabbed them from her, threw them across the room, and told her that he wasn't "finished with [her] yet."He sat in a chair near the door and ordered her to her knees.When she refused, he repeated his threat to kill her and began walking toward the closet.Once again, she told him to stop.He then sat down, grabbed her by the hair and forced her to perform oral sex.When she raised her head slightly, she saw him ejaculate on his legs and the chair.He ordered her to continue, threatening to get the gun if she refused, but when he heard a noise outside the room he went to the door, unlocked it, looked out, relocked it and then pushed her to the floor and raped her again.He then threw her shorts at her and, before allowing her to leave, said, "I don't expect nobody to hear about this, right?" to which she responded only by shaking her head.As she came down the stairs, she could hear Charlene outside of the front door screaming to be let in the house.Edward was standing near the front door laughing and as he unlocked it, defendant asked, "Hey, man, you want to go a couple of rounds?" but Edward shook his head.When she exited the house, Charlene, who was on the porch with Jones and Tolbert, asked, "What's wrong with you," to which defendant replied, "Ain't nothing wrong with her."Except for Tolbert, who was sitting on the step with his head between his legs, the young men all laughed as she and Charlene descended the stairs.Before they left, defendant swung Charlene around, threw her to the ground and then pulled G.B. by the hand, warning her "If you ever tell anybody, I will blow your house up, you and your whole family."On the way back to her house, Charlene repeatedly asked: "What is wrong?What is wrong?I know something is wrong.What is wrong?You can't tell me nothing is wrong.Did he do something to you?Did he hurt you or something?"She then responded, "Yes, he took advantage of me."When Charlene said, "You've got to tell somebody,"she answered, "No, I can't tell anybody, because if I tell anybody, he said he is going to blow my house up."Her mother was at home when they arrived there, at about 6:30 p.m., but she did not tell her what had happened because she"was afraid [and] didn't want [her family] to get hurt."She used the bathroom and also washed her hands and face and brushed her teeth.She and Charlene then walked to Charlene's house where they discussed what she should do about the incident.

She explained again to Charlene that she was afraid to tell her parents because she didn't want anyone to be hurt.They left Charlene's house and walked about five blocks to the home of another friend, Steven Bonds, who lived with his sister, Evelyn Reed.When they arrived there she was still very upset and nervous and her eyes were red from crying.After Charlene left a few minutes later, Bonds asked her what was wrong, whereupon she explained what had occurred.After her conversation with Bonds, she encountered Reed in the kitchen.Observing that she was crying and upset, Reed also asked her what was wrong, to which she responded, "He took advantage of me."Reed then asked, "Who, who?" and began to cry.When she responded, "Edwin," Reed inquired, "Who is Edwin?" and then said, "Oh baby, you've got to tell your mama; let's go."Reed drove her home where she had a conversation with her mother, who then called the police.After speaking briefly to the responding officer, she was transported to the hospital.She arrived there at about 8:30 p.m. and was examined by the emergency room doctor between 11 p.m. and midnight.

On cross-examination, G.B. stated that she had known defendant most of her life and that she had never seen him carrying a gun nor had he ever threatened her.She had never met Tolbert before and was able to tell the police his first name only because she heard Edward introduce him to Charlene.When defendant pulled her inside the house, Tolbert was still seated on the curb and she did not see him again until she exited the house at which time he was sitting on the porch.She did not know anyone named "Jackie Foggie" and denied seeing anyone else in the house while she was inside with defendant.Defendant did not ejaculate during either of the two times he had intercourse with her.When she returned home, at about 6:30, her mother noticed that she had been crying and asked her if she was upset by the death of the family acquaintance, who had been G.B.'s former babysitter.She answered, "no."Her mother then asked "was it that bad down there?" to which G.B. also responded, "no, it wasn't that bad."She and Charlene left her house about 20 minutes later and it was approximately 7:45 when Reed drove her home and she told her mother what had happened earlier.She acknowledged that she did not tell the police that the zipper on her shorts ripped as defendant tried to pull them off, and she did not recall whether she told the responding officer that defendant had forced her to perform oral sex.

Charlene Williams' testimony was essentially the same as G.B.'s regarding the events leading to their arrival at the Evans' home.She further testified that at the time Edward called to her to come over to look at the graduation photographs, defendant was sitting on the curb with a friend and they were both drinking.As they walked toward the porch, defendant approached G.B. and asked her to come over and see him.When she declined, he said that he wanted to talk to her, grabbed her by her wrist and walked her across the street to the house.Edward introduced her (Charlene) to Frank Tolbert, who walked from the curb, sat down on the bottom step of the porch and put his head between his legs and his hands on his ears.When Edward came out with the pictures, defendant told G.B. he wished to speak to her privately, inside the house.G.B. said "no" and she(Charlene) also advised her not to go inside.Defendant said "Come on girl," adding "I'm not going to do anything to her, Charlene."He then grabbed G.B. by her wrist, took her inside and closed the door.She(Charlene) remained outside with Edward, Eugene Jones and Tolbert.While they were looking at the pictures, Tolbert went to the side of the house, vomited and then returned to his earlier position on the step.Jones explained that Tolbert, who did not move or say anything thereafter, was...