People v. Gorney

• Decision Date: 17 July 1985
• Docket Number: No. 59787,59787
• Citation: 89 Ill.Dec. 830,107 Ill.2d 53,481 N.E.2d 673
• Parties: , 89 Ill.Dec. 830, 71 A.L.R.4th 439 The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellant, v. John GORNEY, Jr., Appellee.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

Page 673

481 N.E.2d 673

107 Ill.2d 53, 89 Ill.Dec. 830, 71

A.L.R.4th 439

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellant, v. John GORNEY, Jr., Appellee.

No. 59787.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

July 17, 1985.

Neil F. Hartigan, Atty. Gen., Mark L. Rotert, Marcia L. Friedl, Asst. Attys. Gen., State of Ill., Chicago, John X. Breslin, Deputy Director, Gary F. Gnidovec, Staff Atty., State's Attorneys Appellate Service Com'n, Ottawa, for appellant; Edward F. Petka, State's Atty., Joliet, of counsel.

Robert J. Agostinelli, Deputy Defender, Thomas A. Lilien, Asst. Defender, Office of the State Appellate Defender, Ottawa, for appellee.

WARD, Justice:

John Gorney, Jr., 17 years old, was convicted of home invasion (Ill.Rev.Stat.1979, ch. 38, par. 12-11), attempted rape (Ill.Rev.Stat.1979, ch. 38, pars. 8-4(a), 11-1(a)) and aggravated battery (Ill.Rev.Stat.1979, ch. 38, par. 12-4(b)(2)) following a jury trial in the circuit court of Will County. He was sentenced to concurrent terms of imprisonment of 14 years for home invasion, 5 years for attempted rape and 5 years for aggravated battery. The appellate court reversed and remanded for a new trial. (121 Ill.App.3d 260, 76 Ill.Dec. 710, 459 N.E.2d 347.) We granted the State's petition for leave to appeal under our Rule 315 (87 Ill.2d R. 315(a)).

The victim, age 26, testified that she and the defendant lived in the same neighborhood in Joliet and were acquaintances. On October 16, 1981, she and her four children had just returned from vacation a few days earlier than scheduled. They returned ahead of time at the request of her husband. She put the children to bed and went to her room where, lying face down, she fell asleep around 11:15 p.m. She was awakened by a hand placed across her face and a knee pressed into her back. She testified that she was told not to move or scream or she would be killed. The hand and knee were then removed and she heard the sound of clothes being unzipped. She turned over, hoping to free herself, but her assailant kept her pinned to the bed with his legs. She testified that he had a nylon stocking over his head, which she tore off when he reached to pull down her nightgown. She recognized the defendant, and when she screamed his name he struck her in the face. Her two daughters came to the bedroom door and the victim shouted that they should phone the police. Kimberly, her 10-year-old daughter, corroborated her testimony. Kimberly testified that she and her sister woke up when they heard their mother scream and, when Kimberly reached her bedroom, she saw a man standing over her mother. Following her mother's direction, Kimberly ran to a neighbor's house and asked that the police be called.

The victim's husband testified that on that night he was working the second shift at the Caterpillar Tractor plant, as he had for the preceding two years. He said that the shift ended at 11:30 p.m. and he always returned home between 11:45 and 11:50 p.m. A second-floor light was on as he approached his house around 11:45 p.m. that night and, when he entered the house, he heard his wife screaming on the second floor. As he ran towards the stairs he noticed that the living room window was open and the screen was pulled into the room. Upstairs he found Brandy, his eight-year-old daughter, crying. He looked into the bedroom and saw the defendant standing over the bed with his hand on his wife's throat. The husband rushed at and struggled with the defendant. The struggle continued down the stairs and into the living room, where the husband subdued Gorney and held him until the police arrived.

The testimony of deputy sheriff Nicholas Ficarello and evidence technician David Knutson showed that a screen covering the living room window had been cut and that a nylon stocking, which the complainant testified did not belong to her, was found on the bed. Knutson also stated that the defendant had a razor blade in his jacket's pocket. Ficarello testified that the victim had what was apparently an abrasion on her left cheek. Patrice Reiter, a nurse at Silver Cross Hospital, testified that the victim, who was brought to the hospital by the deputy sheriffs for medical treatment, had a bump on her chin and a reddened area along her arms.

Deputy sheriff Lee Carmichael testified that, at the sheriff's station, the defendant gave an oral statement in which he admitted he entered the victim's house by cutting the screen on a first-floor window. He said that he went to the victim's bedroom and placed a hand over her mouth, telling her not to scream or he would kill her. He testified that his intention was not to rape the victim but only to frighten her because she had complained to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services about members of his family. The defendant admitted to the deputy sheriff that he had a stocking over his head while in the house. At trial, Gorney said he gave the statement to the deputy only to protect the victim because she had told him that earlier her husband had held a gun to her head and accused her of being unfaithful.

The defendant testified that he had sexual relations with the victim on a number of occasions while her husband was at work. He said that Colleen O'Hara was often in the victim's home on these occasions to babysit for the victim. He said that the victim had arranged earlier in the week to meet with him at 10 p.m. on the night of October 16. This was in contradiction to the victim's testimony that she had not planned to return home from her vacation until that afternoon, when her husband asked her to return home. Defendant testified that he arrived at the woman's house later than the arranged time, although he was unable to recall the exact time. He said that when he and she were undressing, with the light off in the bedroom, they heard a car pull into the driveway. As he began to dress, the victim screamed. Gorney then fought with the victim's husband and was subdued in the living room.

Allison Gorney, the defendant's sister, testified that, prior to this incident, the victim had told her that she had sexual intercourse with the defendant. She also testified that she had seen the victim and her brother alone on the victim's porch on a number of occasions in the months preceding her charges against the defendant. James Sparks, a friend of the defendant, testified that he saw Gorney playfully carry the victim from a neighborhood party to her house and kiss her.

Colleen O'Hara testified in rebuttal and denied that she ever saw the defendant with the victim on those occasions which the defendant testified resulted in sexual relations.

The defendant sought to impeach the victim's credibility by introducing evidence of an incident that allegedly occurred five months earlier. Prior to the victim's taking the stand, defense counsel asked for a conference with the court and prosecutor for the purpose of discussing the admissibility of certain evidence that he proposed to introduce. He told the court that he anticipated that the defendant and Judy Carnes, a neighbor, would testify as follows:

"There were a group of people standing on the porch. [The victim] was there, and John Gorney was there, Colleen O'Hara was there, Judy Carnes was there, and there were some speeders coming down the street, and one of the boy's names was Greg Bell (phonetic), and there was a discussion to call the police, and then [the victim] stated that she should call the police and say that the Bell boy tried to rape her in order to get even with him, and then she said that John Gorney could rip her nightgown to make it look authentic."

After argument, the court ruled that the proposed evidence was inadmissible. The intention of defense counsel apparently was to cross-examine the victim and lay a foundation for her possible impeachment...