People v. Rolfe

• Decision Date: 05 October 2004
• Docket Number: No. 5-02-0760.,5-02-0760.
• Citation: 289 Ill.Dec. 692,820 N.E.2d 468,353 Ill. App.3d 1005
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. John H. ROLFE, III, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois

820 N.E.2d 468

353 Ill. App.3d 1005

289 Ill.Dec. 692

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. John H. ROLFE, III, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 5-02-0760.

Appellate Court of Illinois, Fifth District.

Rule 23 Order Filed September 20, 2004.

Motion to Publish Granted October 5, 2004.

Opinion Filed October 5, 2004.

Daniel M. Kirwan, Deputy Defender, Michelle Zalisko, Assistant Defender, Office of the State Appellate Defender, Mt. Vernon, for Appellant.

Kim Koester, State's Attorney, Newton; Norbert J. Goetten, Director, Stephen E. Norris, Deputy Director, Trent M. Marshall, Staff Attorney, Office of the State's Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor, Mt. Vernon, for Appellee.

Justice WELCH delivered the opinion of the court:

John H. Rolfe, III, the defendant, was convicted by a Jasper County jury of one count of home invasion, three counts of attempted first-degree murder, and one count of aggravated battery. He was ultimately sentenced to serve 22 years' imprisonment for the home invasion conviction, 7 years' imprisonment each for two of the attempted first-degree murder convictions, 9 years' imprisonment for the third attempted first-degree murder conviction, and 30 months' probation for the aggravated battery conviction. The court found that it was mandatory that the sentences be served consecutively, under section 5-8-4(a)(i) of the Unified Code of Corrections (Unified Code) (730 ILCS 5/5-8-4(a)(i) (West 2002)). The court ordered the defendant to serve 85% of his sentence.

On appeal, the defendant asserts that the trial court erroneously ordered the sentences to be served consecutively, because "severe bodily injury" was inherent in the offenses as charged, and that, thus, the use of the infliction of severe bodily injury to impose consecutive sentences constituted an improper double enhancement of his sentence. He also claims that the trial court abused its discretion by giving a nonpattern jury instruction that improperly emphasized the State's theory of the case. He seeks the reversal of his conviction and a remand of the case to the circuit court for a retrial.

BACKGROUND

The record on appeal, which is viewed in the light most favorable to the prosecution in order to preserve the role of the jury as the weigher of the evidence (see People v. Taylor, 349 Ill.App.3d 839, 844, 285 Ill.Dec. 939, 812 N.E.2d 759, 764 (2004)), discloses the following information.

On November 8, 2001, the defendant armed himself with a claw hammer and a knife and went in the early hours of the morning to the home of his mother-in-law, Robyn Spicer. He was motivated to do so because he correctly suspected that his estranged wife, Shana Rolfe, was having an affair with her coworker, Steve Stout. The defendant saw Stout's vehicle parked outside the darkened Spicer residence, surmised that Stout was inside the home with Rolfe, and entered the front door. Having gained entry to the darkened dwelling, the defendant stood in the kitchen with his back pressed against the wall in an attempt to conceal his presence from Spicer, who had risen to use the bathroom. Spicer noticed him, walked into the kitchen, and asked what he was doing in her house. The defendant retorted that Spicer knew what he was doing, and Spicer turned to retreat to her bedroom. As she walked into her bedroom, Spicer saw the defendant's arm rising behind her head, prompting her to put her hand up defensively to deflect the blow struck by the defendant. Spicer's memory of the events that immediately followed the initial blow was obliterated by her injuries, but she did recall regaining consciousness in her bloody bedroom, drenched in blood and in great pain. She was conscious on intake at the hospital and told the emergency room physician that she had sustained multiple hammer blows to the head, as well as blows to the hands and left forearm.

The record substantiates that Spicer had sustained a broken hand, with "two puncture wounds that looked like the claw marks of a hammer," and a large bruise on her palm, bruises to her left forearm, a large laceration on her forehead, and head injuries. She had a depressed skull fracture that was consistent with being struck with a rounded object like a hammer head. It was so severe that bone fragments pressed into her brain and created a pneumocephalus, meaning that outside air entered the brain through the fracture. Spicer was airlifted to the Carle Clinic, where a part of her brain was removed and five steel plates and 18 screws were inserted in her skull to repair the damage caused by the defendant's attack. Spicer developed balance problems, expressive aphasia, pain, and increased fatigue, and she sustained permanent facial scarring as a result of the attack. She also has the potential to develop seizures in the future due to her brain injury.

After he attacked Spicer, the defendant entered the bedroom where Steve Stout and Shana Rolfe were sleeping, and he attacked the couple. The emergency room physician who treated Stout when he arrived at the emergency room testified at the sentencing hearing that Stout was conscious when he was admitted and told the personnel that he had been attacked with a hammer and that he had been stabbed in the face. He sustained hammer and stab wounds that required his evacuation by airlift to the Carle Clinic. Once there, he endured surgery, an 8-day stay in the intensive care unit, and an additional 14 days in the rehabilitation unit. He had multiple facial bone fractures over his upper jaw that extended into his sinuses, a depressed skull fracture with bone fragments and air penetrating the brain, stab wounds to his face and hands, and a through-and-through stab wound in his upper left thigh. After surgery and physical therapy, Stout was left with multiple permanent scars, many of which were on his face, and he had memory loss and permanent damage to his leg, arm, and hand, which left him with a limp and the inability to write well with his dominant hand. Stout was no longer able to work in the restaurant industry as a result of his injuries, and he had no assurance that all his muscle tone would ever return.

Shana Rolfe woke to find the defendant in her bedroom yelling as he reached over her and struck Stout with a hammer. She fled the room and went to her mother's bedroom, where she found her mother lying on the floor, breathing oddly. Rolfe grabbed a portable telephone and ran out of the house to summon aid from the neighbors. The defendant caught up with her and attacked her with the hammer and his fists, striking the top of her head. The neighbor intervened when he got up to investigate who was screaming outside his bedroom window and saw the defendant beating Rolfe. He chased the defendant away from Rolfe, the defendant ran back into Spicer's home, and the neighbor returned to help Rolfe. The neighbor called the authorities, and Rolfe was transported to the hospital at the same time that her mother and Stout were taken there. The emergency room doctor testified at the sentencing hearing that Rolfe was able to tell hospital personnel that she had been struck with a hammer on her face, head, and right hand and that she possibly had been stabbed. The emergency room physician testified that the injuries to her lower jaw and cheekbones were consistent with being struck with a hammer or some other weapon and were inconsistent with being struck with a fist.

Rolfe was found to have multiple lacerations over her scalp, pain and swelling over her cheekbones and her entire lower jaw, and pain over her left forearm, wrist, and hand, as well as scattered areas of bruising and swelling over her right lower leg and right buttock. She sustained permanent damage to her right hand and her face. She had two hand surgeries, which resulted in the installation of a plate in her hand, held by five screws, and two maxillofacial surgeries to implant a plate in her jaw, which had multiple fractures. The injuries to Rolfe's head resulted in permanent scarring, and she had lessened utility of her hand as a result of the injuries to her hand.

The doctor who performed triage on all three of the victims when they were brought to the hospital was of the opinion that all three victims sustained "great bodily harm," a term that he believed to be synonymous with "severe bodily injury." He assessed the injuries to Spicer and Stout as "life-threatening" depressed skull fractures and stressed that Rolfe's facial injuries resulted in marked disfigurement and a threat to her health.

The defendant returned to Spicer's home after his attack on Rolfe had been interrupted by the neighbor. Once there, he slashed his wrists and throat. He was later taken to the hospital for treatment.

The defendant's trial testimony was somewhat convoluted and was clearly intended to minimize the ferocity and severity of the attacks on the victims. He exhibited selective amnesia about various aspects of his assaults on his victims. He claimed not to even remember seeing Spicer and asserted that his attack on Stout was mutual combat during which he "probably" had the hammer in his possession. This claim was belied by his recorded statement to the police, in which he stated as follows: "I was beating Steve with a hammer that I'd grabbed from my car[,] mind you[,] like[,] two or three times [sic]. He got up out of bed. He was defending himself pretty good." The defendant maintained that he had pursued his terrified wife from the house because he "just wanted to converse with her" and that he struck Rolfe with his hand once or twice. He testified that he only intended to "scare the hell" out of his wife and Stout and that he had conceived the idea of going to his mother-in-law's house to place a knife between his unfaithful wife and her lover after seeing a "medieval" television show that depicted such a scene.

At the final instructions conference, the trial court informed the parties that it would give the State's instruction...