People v. Ritchie

• Decision Date: 01 December 1966
• Docket Number: No. 39870,39870
• Citation: 36 Ill.2d 392,222 N.E.2d 479
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee, v. James D. RITCHIE, Appellant.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

Page 479

222 N.E.2d 479

36 Ill.2d 392

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee, v. James D. RITCHIE, Appellant.

No. 39870.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

Dec. 1, 1966.

Rehearing Denied Jan. 17, 1967.

McCoy, Ming & Black, Chicago (Ellis E. Reid, Chicago, of counsel), for appellant.

John J. Bresee, State's Atty., Urbana, for appellee.

SOLFISBURG, Justice.

In a bench trial in the circuit court of Champaign County the defendant, James D. Ritchie, was found guilty on a two-count indictment charging rape and burglary with intention to commit rape. Sentences of 15 years to life were imposed, to be served concurrently. On appeal, the Appellate Court for the Fourth District affirmed the judgment on the rape count and reversed the judgment on the burglary count. We have granted defendant's petition for leave to appeal.

The complaining witness, a 23-year-old unmarried woman, was employed as a waitress at Chanute Air Force Base and lived alone in a three-room trailer in an adjacent trailer park in Rantoul, Illinois. Defendant was an enlisted man stationed at Chanute. Neither party was acquainted with the other. At about 3:00 A.M. on July 10, 1964, the girl was awakened by a noise at her bedroom window. Shortly thereafter the front door was forced open and she was confronted by a man who grabbed her, threatened to kill her if she screamed, informed her of his intentions, and proceeded to fulfill them though not to a sexual climax, for in the ensuing struggle she managed to free herself and, as she screamed for help, he departed. She immediately called the police station, informed them that a man had broken into her trailer, and, upon the arrival of a policeman a few minutes later, told him she had been raped and showed him a wallet she had found on the floor containing defendant's air force identification card and picture. At the officer's suggestion, she immediately left the trailer and reported for a medical examination which proved negative as to any bruises or physical evidence of a completed act of intercourse.

The officer examined the trailer, observed the disarray of the bedroom, the forced front door and a number of indentations or prints beneath the bedroom window measuring 2.3 by 2.7 inches, pictures of which were admitted into evidence.

At 5:10 A.M. the same morning defendant was picked up near the Base entrance. His right leg was encased in a walking cast up to his knee with a small rubber heel on the bottom. He was arrested, and, as he testified at the trial, denied he had committed the crime, had ever seen the complaining witness before, or been to the trailer. He stated he had been drinking, had attended a party at a house near the trailer, had left there about 3:00 A.M., had been just walking around since, and hadn't missed his wallet until the officer had asked him if he had it.

The complaining witness, prior to defendant's arrest, described him as about six feet tall with blonde hair, and stated that he was wearing dark trousers and a light shirt, and that he walked with a limp. She also picked his picture out of a group of 18 pictures shown to her. On defendant's arrest and at the trial she positively identified him as her assailant.

Defendant questions the sufficiency of the proof not only to establish his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, but also to establish such penetration as is necessary to prove an act of sexual intercourse. He argues that the picture on his I.D. card could have led to her identification of him and of his picture from other pictures shown to her; that she did not mention his plaster cast nor was there any evidence of plaster particles shown to have been found about the premises, nor any of defendant's fingerprints; that his short was blue striped and not just light colored; that her first complaint was one of burglary and not rape; and that her testimony of penetration was wholly refuted by the doctor's inability to confirm the fact by his physical examination.

To reverse a conviction on the evidence only, thereby substituting our judgment for that of the trial judge sitting without a jury, it is necessary that we find a clearly reasonable and well-founded doubt of the guilt of the accused. (People v. Cox, 20 Ill.2d 458, 170 N.E.2d 531.) This we cannot do. Here all the inferences from the evidence point toward defendant's guilt. His positive identification by the complaining witness is corroborated by the otherwise unexplained presence of his wallet found beside her bed and by the small, tell-tale marks found outside her bedroom window fitting the description of the heel of his walking cast. In the light of such evidence defendant's complaints as to variance in the description of the color of his shirt, and absence of evidence of plaster particles and fingerprints become minor. As to proof of penetration, the testimony of the complaining witness, which was detailed, is not in any way refuted or lessened in quality by the failure of the doctor's testimony to confirm, for as the doctor stated, his examination would neither prove nor disprove a recent rape. Nor can we say that the failure to mention rape on her first telephone report to the police is of any probative value, for on the arrival of the officer within a few minutes thereafter she made a full report and agreed to an immediate medical...