People v. Maffioli

• Court: Illinois Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: WILSON
• Citation: People v. Maffioli, 406 Ill. 315, 94 N.E.2d 191 (Ill. 1950)
• Decision Date: 18 May 1950
• Docket Number: No. 31449,31449
• Parties: PEOPLE v. MAFFIOLI.

Page 191

94 N.E.2d 191

406 Ill. 315

PEOPLE v. MAFFIOLI.

No. 31449.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

May 18, 1950.

As Modified on Denial of Rehearing Sept. 18, 1950.

Max A. Weston and Donald M. Keenan, both of Rockford, for plaintiff in error.

Ivan A. Elliott, Attorney General, and Robert R. Canfield, Rockford (Dale F. Conde and H. Emmett Folgate, Rockford, and Harry L. Pate, Tuscola, of counsel), for the People.

WILSON, Justice.

In a trial before a jury in the circuit court of Winnebago County, the defendant, John Peter Maffioli, was found guilty of burglary with intent to commit rape and sentenced to imprisonment in the penitentiary for a term of from two to ten years. Seeking a reversal, defendant prosecutes this writ of error.

The following facts are disclosed by the record. On the night of August 9, 1949, the complaining witness, Franceen Conrad, a married woman thirty-seven years of age, was at home alone, her husband being away on business, and went to sleep in a bedroom at the front of their one-story house in Rockford. Awakened by a noise about two o'clock in the morning, she turned on a light in the front yard, investigated, saw nothing unusual, and had just returned to bed when she heard a voice say, 'I am coming in. Don't move or call the police or I will shoot.' Thereupon, she rushed through the den into the living room where she dialed the operator and asked her to notify the police. In the bright moonlight and artificial illumination from a night light in the den she saw a tall, slender stranger, with a grown out bush haircut and a limp or unnatural gait, dressed in a white T-shirt and light tan trousers, with a towel over the lower part of his face, follow her into the living room. The intruder grabbed her with his left hand, unbuttoned his trousers with his other hand, indicated a davenport and said, 'Lie down, senorita,' asking in almost the same breath, 'Did you call the police?' Mrs. Conrad broke away from her assailant and, screaming for help, ran out on the terrace in front of the house, where she met Mrs. Ruth Keeler, her next door neighbor to the south. A few moments later, her assailant, now unmasked, followed her out the front door. Mrs. Conrad did not turn around to look at him as he ran across the lighted front yard, stopped to look back, and then ran slowly past the front and down the side of the adjoining corner house to the north, where he entered a dark-colored sedan or coupe and drove away.

Although the window in Mrs. Conrad's bedroom was only three feet from the ground, an investigation revealed that a log had been placed beneath the window. Entrance had been gained by tearing away the screen on the open window.

In addition to Mrs. Keeler, Mrs. Susan Griggs, who lived in the first house north of the complaining witness, and John Lightcap, who resided directly across the street, also witnessed the escape. Mrs. Conrad identified defendant as her assailant and Mrs. Keeler testified he was the same man who rushed past her across the lawn and stopped to look back before continuing his flight. Both these witnesses related they originally identified defendant on August 30, 1949, first from police photographs, and then in person in a courtroom. The photographs were admitted in evidence over defendant's objection. Mrs. Conrad stated defendant had the same peculiar gait as her assailant, but admitted she revisited the police station, once, to view other suspects.

Mrs. Griggs agreed with Mrs. Keeler that the man in question ran slowly and, although able to describe him as being about five feet, ten inches tall, very slender, without glasses, dressed in a white T-shirt and khaki trousers, said she did not see him well enough to identify him. Lightcap, a former police officer and the only eyewitness appearing for defendant, stated that the man ran fairly rapidly but did not appear to be in much of a hurry, that he could not tell whether the person running was lame, and that he could not say for sure that defendant was the man he saw. No witness reported seeing a gun and it was generally agreed that the assailant was not wearning glasses.

The evidence for defendant discloses that he lived with his parents in a house about ten blocks from the scene of the crime, was twenty-seven years of age, and attended a local business college. As a result of an operation in May, 1948, on his left hip, deformed from birth, he has no motion in the hip and only limited flexation in his left knee. According to defendant and his parents, he is unable to get in or out of a bath tub or to put on his shoes, socks and trousers without assistance. He stated that he could only enter an automobile by pushing himself in backwards with his good leg but that he was able to drive and frequently used his father's dark green 1938 Chevrolet coupe, to which he carried a set of keys. Dr. Samuel Behr, the operating surgeon, testified that defendant does not have a marked limp, that he could run but would have a marked hitch and be slower than most persons, and that it would be difficult for him to climb into a window three feet from the ground. According to defendant, he hever ran in his life. In addition, he and his parents stated that he had worn glasses all the time for many years and could not see without them.

From the testimony of a minister and two neighbors, all of whom had known him a long time, it appears that defendant bore a good reputation as a law-abiding person and attended church regularly.

The principal defense consisted of a denial of the offense charged, coupled with an alibi. Defendant testified that, on August 9, 1949, he wore a white T-shirt and yellow corduroy trousers and his hair was cut in the manner shown in the police photographs (about two inches long and standing straight up); that, after returning home from a hayride, he was sent to a drugstore, just before ten o'clock, for oil of cloves for his father, who was suffering from a very severe toothache; that he helped his mother can corn and tried to make his father more comfortable until eleven o'clock when he changed into his pajamas and went to bed; that he could not sleep and arose about one-thirty and, again, at two-thirty, to see how his father was; that his mother finished canning corn about two-thirty; that he last saw his father about a quarter to four when they all fell asleep, and that he did not leave the house from ten o'clock in the evening until he left for school the following morning.

Defendant's purchase of oil of cloves for his father was corroborated by the druggist who served him. In addition, both his parents stated that defendant was always very upset when either one of them was sick, that he was up frequently until about three-thirty; that they would have seen him if he left the house; that they did not hear either of the family cars start during the night, and that their son did not leave the house after ten o'clock and was at home all night. Although Mrs. Maffioli testified defendant talked to her about every twenty minutes while she was canning corn in the kitchen and was in bed when she retired shortly after two-thirty and her husband related that, being unable to sleep because of his toothache, he spent most of the night sitting up in the dining room, and that not only did he see defendant out of bed frequently, but defendant would have to pass through the dining room in order to leave the house, neither testified to seeing defendant at any specific time, except at two-thirty, and, in particular,...