People v. Siguenza-Brito

• Decision Date: 19 November 2009
• Docket Number: No. 106068.,106068.
• Citation: 235 Ill.2d 213,920 N.E.2d 233
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellant, v. Ricardo SIGUENZA-BRITO, Appellee.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

920 N.E.2d 233

235 Ill.2d 213

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellant, v. Ricardo SIGUENZA-BRITO, Appellee.

No. 106068.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

November 19, 2009.

Lisa Madigan, Attorney General, Springfield, Richard A. Devine and Anita Alvarez, State's Attorneys, Chicago (James E. Fitzgerald, Alan J. Spellberg, Anastasia Nowacki Harper and Matthew Connors, Assistant State's Attorneys, of counsel), for the People.

Michael J. Pelletier, State Appellate Defender, Patricia Unsinn, Deputy Defender, and Manuel S. Serritos, Assistant Appellate Defender, of the Office of the State Appellate Defender, of Chicago, for appellee.

OPINION

Justice FREEMAN delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion.

Following a bench trial in the circuit court of Cook County, defendant, Ricardo Siguenza-Brito, was found guilty of multiple offenses relating to kidnapping and criminal sexual assault. The court entered judgment on one count of aggravated kidnapping (720 ILCS 5/10-2(a)(3) (West 2004)) and one count of aggravated criminal sexual assault (720 ILCS 5/12-14(a)(4) (West 2004)), and sentenced defendant to two consecutive six-year prison terms. The appellate court affirmed the aggravated criminal sexual assault conviction, reduced the aggravated kidnapping conviction to kidnapping, and remanded the cause to the circuit court for resentencing. No. 1-06-0632 (unpublished order under Supreme Court Rule 23). We allowed the State's petition for leave to appeal. 210 Ill.2d R. 315(a). We now affirm the judgment of the appellate court in part and reverse in part, and affirm the judgment of the circuit court, as modified.

BACKGROUND

Because defendant challenges the sufficiency of the evidence against him, a complete recitation of the facts adduced at trial is necessary. At approximately 9:30 a.m. on June 14, 2004, the victim, T.C., then 21 years old, was walking to work at a telemarketing business that was located at 3209 West 62nd Place. She was proceeding west on 62nd Street toward Kedzie Avenue. A dark blue or black four-door sports utility vehicle (SUV) stopped beside her on its passenger side. The driver called out to her, and T.C. initially mistook him for a friend. T.C. walked around the rear of the vehicle and approached the driver's window. She recognized neither the driver nor the front seat passenger, and told the driver that she thought he was someone else. T.C. subsequently identified the front seat passenger as defendant. As T.C. walked around the back of the vehicle to return to the sidewalk, defendant exited the vehicle with a third man from the driver's side rear seat. Defendant and the third man grabbed T.C. and pushed her into the vehicle through the rear passenger side door. Although T.C. did not scream, she did not willingly enter the SUV and made it "difficult" for them to put her in the vehicle.

T.C. was forced to lie on her side in the backseat between defendant and the third man. She twice attempted to look up, but each time defendant hit her on the neck to keep her head down. Fearing that she would be struck again, T.C. stopped attempting to sit up, and remained in the prone position as she was transported in the SUV. She was driven for four to five minutes. The three men were Hispanic and spoke to each other in Spanish.

The SUV stopped in an alley in front of a two-car garage. Defendant exited the vehicle, entered the garage through a side door, and raised the overhead door. The SUV backed halfway into the garage. Defendant opened the rear driver's side door. Pushing T.C., the third man followed her out of the vehicle. Defendant took T.C. to a Geo Tracker that was inside the garage. The SUV drove out of the garage and the overhead door closed. A garage light was on. At this time, T.C. was in the garage with defendant and the third man from the SUV. The men opened the driver's door of the Geo and positioned T.C. in front of the opening. Defendant stood in front of T.C., who was flanked by the car door and the third man. Defendant attempted to push her head down toward his penis to force her to perform oral sex, but she resisted.

By this time, the driver of the SUV had returned. Defendant then grabbed T.C., turned her around to face the Geo, and pulled her pants down to her knees. Defendant then forced T.C. to bend over into the Geo, with her upper torso over the driver's seat. Defendant then touched her vagina with his hand, and inserted his penis into her vagina without her consent. The car door was on T.C.'s left side, defendant was directly behind her, the driver was leaning over the car door, and the third man stood on her right side.

The distance from the Geo to the garage floor was no more than two feet. T.C. was able to reach down and pick up a metal tool that was lying on the garage floor. Holding the tool in her left hand, she swung her arm backwards and hit the driver in the head with the tool. Defendant removed his penis from T.C.'s vagina to ascertain the driver's condition. As defendant and the third man tended to the driver, T.C. ran out of the garage side door, which was ajar. Once out of the garage, T.C. pulled up her pants and ran down the alley without looking back.

T.C. ran to Kedzie Avenue and from there to her place of employment. The garage was only one block from T.C.'s workplace, and T.C. ran there in approximately two minutes. She reported what had happened to a coworker and then to her supervisor. They telephoned the police.

When the police arrived, T.C. led them back to the garage. A woman came out of the house in front of the garage and spoke with police. She opened the overhead door and the Geo was still there. T.C. and the police drove to the front of the house to ascertain its address. While she was sitting in the squad car, T.C. saw defendant walking across the street. T.C. alerted police that defendant was one of the men who attacked her. After speaking with defendant, the police arrested him.

Defendant was tried on four counts of aggravated kidnapping (720 ILCS 5/10-2(a)(3) (West 2004)), which alleged kidnapping under both asportation and confinement theories, enhanced by the additional offenses of criminal sexual assault and aggravated criminal sexual assault. Defendant was also tried on one count of aggravated criminal sexual assault (720 ILCS 5/12-14(a)(4) (West 2004)), which alleged criminal sexual assault during the course of a kidnapping.¹

At trial, T.C. testified to the events recited above. She additionally testified that after defendant was arrested, she was brought to the police station, and then taken to Holy Cross Hospital. At the hospital, both a medical examination and a sexual assault kit were performed. T.C. testified that she had scrapes and a neck ache, and defendant's arrest report also indicated that T.C. received "Scrapes/Bruises." T.C. testified that she received a prescription for Tylenol. The parties stipulated that defendant consented to an oral swab for DNA analysis, and that semen recovered from T.C. matched defendant's DNA profile.

The parties also stipulated that defendant initially denied knowing T.C. at all. If called to testify, Chicago police officer Gladys Garza would state that on June 14, 2004, at approximately 5:48 p.m., defendant was informed of his Miranda rights, waived them, and gave a statement to two Chicago police detectives and a Cook County assistant State's Attorney. Defendant spoke in Spanish and Officer Garza translated. Defendant stated that he was at home until approximately 8:15 a.m., when he walked to a local convenience store. Defendant then walked to the garage of his friend's home to work on a car. Defendant volunteered the first name of his friend, but did not know his friend's last name. Defendant was alone in his friend's garage; he obtained a key to the garage from under a doormat. Defendant was in his friend's garage all morning until he saw police at his home. Defendant let the police into his garage with his own key. Defendant denied riding in a vehicle with other people that morning and denied picking up a woman. Defendant stated that he had never before seen T.C.

The parties additionally stipulated that defendant was arrested on June 14, 2004, and was released the next day. On January 5, 2005, an arrest warrant was issued and, on February 9, 2005, defendant turned himself in pursuant to the warrant.

At trial, defendant's theory of the case, as indicated by his trial counsel's opening statement and closing argument, was that defendant gave T.C. money in exchange for consensual sex. Further, when T.C. failed to extract more money from defendant, she sought revenge by falsely accusing defendant of these offenses. Defendant testified through an interpreter as follows. At approximately 9:15 a.m. on June 14, 2004, defendant went to a dollar store located at 62nd Place and Kedzie Avenue. Defendant purchased a $3 phone card with a $20 bill and received 17 one-dollar bills. Defendant already had eight one-dollar bills. T.C. was standing outside of the store as defendant came out counting his 25 one-dollar bills. T.C. made hand gestures toward her mouth, which defendant understood as an offer for sex. Defendant initially testified that he said "25" and T.C. replied "okay," but under further questioning testified that T.C. said "$25" and he replied "okay."

Defendant instructed T.C. to "come on." Defendant walked down an alley to his garage and T.C. walked approximately three steps behind him. They passed several houses on the block on the way to defendant's garage. When they reached defendant's garage, defendant entered the side door, raised the overhead door, and told T.C. to "come on." T.C. then entered the garage and defendant lowered the overhead door. No one else was in the garage. T.C. then performed oral sex on defendant. T.C. then undressed, and defendant opened the door to the Geo. T.C. then leaned into the car and they had vaginal sex. Defendant then gave $25 to T.C., but she...