People v. Makovicki

• Decision Date: 24 April 1925
• Docket Number: No. 16551.,16551.
• Citation: 147 N.E. 393,316 Ill. 407
• Parties: PEOPLE v. MAKOVICKI.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

316 Ill. 407

147 N.E. 393

PEOPLE

v.MAKOVICKI.

No. 16551.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

April 24, 1925.

Error to Criminal Court, Cook County; Marcus Kavanagh, Judge.

Paul Makovicki was convicted of assault with intent to rape, and he brings error.

Affirmed.

O'Brien, Prystalski & Owen, of Chicago, for plaintiff in error.

Oscar E. Carlstrom, Atty. Gen., Robert E. Crowe, State's Atty., of Chicago, and James B. Searcy, of Springfield (Edward E. Wilson and Clarence E. Nelson, both of Chicago, of counsel), for the People.

THOMPSON, J.

Plaintiff in error was convicted in the criminal court of Cook county of the crime of assault with intent to rape. He prosecutes this writ of error to reverse the judgment on the ground that the evidence does not show, beyond a reasonable doubt, that he entertained the intent to commit rape at the time he made the assault, and that the court erred in giving too many instructions defining reasonable doubt.

Plaintiff in error came to the door of the apartment building at 2426 South Troy street, Chicago, and inquired about the renting of an apartment. The landlady was not at home at the time he called and he talked with Tillie Rada, a girl who roomed in the building. She told him that he would have to see the landlady and that she would not be home for two hours. He left the building, was gone about ten minutes, and then again appeared at the door. He asked Miss Rada to see the landlady, and she told him that she had informed him ten minutes before that the landlady would not return for two hours and that he had better come again the next day. After some further conversation he told her that he had walked a long distance, that he was not feelong well, and that he would like to have a drink of water. She unhooked the screen door and permitted him to step into the kitchen to get a drink. After he had drunk the water, he expressed a desire to look through the apartment; but Miss Rada refused to show him through and told him he would have to come back when the landlady was at home. At this he seized her and started to carry her toward the bedroom. She struggled with him and they fell to the floor. There they fought for a time and then he finally pulled her into the bedroom. He tried to get her onto the bed, but she continued to struggle, and they fell on the floor of the bedroom. She screamed for help and he put his hand over her mouth to stifle her cries. She bit his finger, and after some further struggle he left her and ran out of the house. She raised a window and shouted to the neighbors to catch the man. Several of them saw him running across lots in his effort to get away, and a storekeeper down the street caught him and brought him back to the apartment building. Miss Rada immediately identified him as the man who had assaulted her. One of his fingers was bleeding, and he accounted for its condition by stating that Miss Rada had slammed the door in his face and his finger was caught in the door. Several witnesses testified that her face was scratched, her lips swollen, and her arms bruised; that her hair was disheveled and her clothing was disarranged and torn. The small rugs in the kitchen and the bedroom were disarranged and pushed into a pile.

In prosecutions of this character the specific intent charged is the gist of the...