People v. Sims

• Decision Date: 07 December 1987
• Docket Number: Nos. 84-2337,84-2717,s. 84-2337
• Parties: , 116 Ill.Dec. 706 PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. James SIMS, Defendant-Appellant. PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff- Appellee, v. Sylvester HENDERSON, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois

Page 921

519 N.E.2d 921

166 Ill.App.3d 289, 116 Ill.Dec. 706

PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. James SIMS, Defendant-Appellant. PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff- Appellee, v. Sylvester HENDERSON, Defendant-Appellant.

Nos. 84-2337, 84-2717.

Appellate Court of Illinois First District, First Division.

Dec. 7, 1987.

Rehearing Denied Jan 18 and March 18, 1988.

Public Defender of Cook County, Kendall Hill and James Perlman, Chicago, for James Sims.

Office of the State Appellate Defender, Bruce Mosbacher, Chicago, for Henderson.

State's Atty. of Cook County, Thomas V. Gainer, Rimas F. Cernius, Gregory Plesha, Chicago, for plaintiff-appellee.

Justice O'CONNOR delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendants James Sims and Sylvester Henderson were charged with rape and deviate sexual assault. Simultaneous jury trials were conducted. Sims was found guilty of rape and not guilty of deviate sexual assault. Henderson was found guilty of both offenses. Both defendants were sentenced to natural life terms. Each defendant has appealed separately. Each is represented by an attorney. Each has also filed lengthy pro se briefs. The appeals have been consolidated for decision.

The attorneys for both defendants contend that the State failed to prove an essential element of rape, i.e. penetration, and that the Habitual Criminal Statute is unconstitutional.

Defendant Sims' attorney also contends: the State failed to prove venue; Sims was denied his right to counsel when, after conviction and prior to sentencing and without notice to his attorney, his fingerprints were taken for the purpose of testing; and the natural life sentence was improper because the State failed to prove two prior convictions which contain the elements of a Class X felony.

Henderson's attorney also contends: Henderson is entitled to a new trial because the State improperly sought to link complainant's blood to stains found on pants taken from defendant's apartment; the State failed to tender potentially exculpatory physical evidence specifically sought by defendant's discovery request; and the prosecutor made an improper rebuttal argument.

Sims pro se also contends: his indictment is invalid; the evidence was insufficient as to rape, because he was found not guilty of deviate sexual assault, the verdicts being legally inconsistent; his motion to suppress and quash arrest was improperly denied; there was not probable cause for his arrest; his stop violated Terry v. Ohio; there was an unreasonable search and seizure in violation of the fourth amendment; the suppression of evidence denied him due process and equal protection; the State failed to list exculpatory material in response to his discovery request; the jury was improperly instructed; the State was improperly allowed to introduce evidence of other crimes; admission into evidence of the complainant's Red Cross blood donor's card was error; the admission into evidence of photo copies of his and Henderson's driver's licenses was error; the prosecutor made improper and inflamatory remarks to the jury; there was improper use of peremptory challenges by the State; it was error to refuse to excuse one juror for cause; defendant was deprived in many ways of his sixth amendment right to counsel by destruction of, or failure to preserve, exculpatory evidence and by suppression of exculpatory evidence; a police officer testified falsely; it was error to admit into evidence bloody pants and testimony regarding the blood type of the complainant; his right to obtain the complainant's sexual history was unduly restricted; he was improperly denied his right to represent himself; the simultaneous trials denied him due process and equal protection; and plain error was committed when the arresting officer was allowed to testify that he gave defendant his Miranda rights.

Henderson pro se also contends: the trial court improperly denied his motion to quash his arrest and suppress evidence; his fifth, sixth and fourteenth amendment rights were violated; he was not found guilty beyond a reasonable doubt; the acquittal of his co-defendant on the charge of deviate sexual assault raises a question of reasonable doubt as to his guilt on the same charge; and his constitutional rights were violated by the admission of improper evidence.

Complainant testified that in the early evening of September 21, 1983, she left her apartment on the north side of Chicago intending to walk to a bar on Clark Street to meet friends. She was abducted at knife point by Sims and forced into a car after a struggle during which Sims threatened to slit her throat and struck her face four or five times against the pavement. Her finger was cut during the struggle. In the car another man was present. She identified that man as defendant Henderson.

She testified that she was initially placed in the front seat of the automobile between Henderson and Sims. Her cut finger bled on Henderson's pants.

Complainant testified in detail to her assault by the two offenders over the next several hours. She stated that after driving around for a time the offenders learned that she enjoyed wine and beer. They stopped and Sims went to purchase wine and beer which, complainant stated, was paid for by Henderson. Henderson stayed in the back seat with her. She asked Henderson to "please take me home ... don't hurt me, just take me home ... I won't say anything." Henderson told her, "I can promise you won't be hurt, but that doesn't mean you won't be fucked." Sims returned with beer and wine. After again driving around for some time the car was parked. Sims took complainant into the back seat and tried to force some wine down her throat. He started pulling down her pants and undergarments. She asked to be taken home and not harmed. Sims told her she "would be lucky if she saw the next day." Sims forced her to undress and performed cunnilingus on her and then forced her to perform fellatio on him.

Henderson then came into the back seat while Sims returned to the front seat. Henderson forced her into acts of cunnilingus and fellatio. She testified that the man "raped" her and tried unsuccessfully to penetrate her anus. After a short drive he returned to the front seat. Sims came to the back seat and repeated the deviate sexual activity. Complainant testified that she was raped by Sims. Henderson was driving and at one point stopped and there was a girl who had come up to the car and said something like "are you looking for a date?" She looked in the back seat and just laughed and walked away. Henderson continued driving. He and Sims asked her "if they were driving North on Lake Shore Drive what exit would they take to get to her home?" She told them either North or Fullerton. They did not get off at either exit.

The offenders drove into a parking garage and Henderson got out of the car. Sims again got on top of her. He started talking to her, asking why she screamed and saying "you shouldn't have screamed, if anyone ever tries to attack you again don't scream, it only makes things worse." She said nothing. Complainant then heard a commotion, heard someone yell "get out of the car" and then saw a policeman pulling Sims out of the driver's side of the car. Sims was on top of her when she heard the noise and saw the police. Someone on the passenger side told her to get up and she got out of the car. When she got out, the first thing she saw was a policeman. She saw him, grabbed him and said, "Don't let them hurt me, they just raped me." The police took her to Weiss Hospital. She estimated that the time from when Sims grabbed her off the street to when the police came was four to five hours.

After she was treated at Weiss Hospital she went to the police station and talked to Detective Stone. She gave him a description of the second offender and also told him she had gotten blood on the right pant leg of his pants.

Over objection, she testified that her blood type was AB. Over additional objections a Red Cross blood donor card showing her blood type as AB was admitted into evidence. She testified that she identified defendant Henderson in a photo array presented to her on September 23 by police officer Stone. She stated that her left cheekbone was fractured. She needed four sutures in her cut finger and had cuts and bruises on both her arms and face.

Upon cross-examination she stated that it was dark outside at the time of her abduction. There were working street lights. Henderson's name was not mentioned in the car. There were no lights on in the car except when the doors were open. Henderson looked different in a photo she viewed while she was in the hospital because in that photo he was not wearing a goatee. She also viewed his driver's license photo, in which he had a goatee. In that photo the defendant appeared as he did during the incident.

Officer Lucas testified that about 2 a.m. on September 22, 1983, he responded to a radio call with his partner Officer Dorsch. They went to a parking garage near 4500 Clarendon. They observed a burgundy Buick and saw a male black jumping over a wall into an alley. Dorsch followed the man while Lucas turned his attention to the Buick. He looked in the car and saw a black male with his pants around his ankles lying on top of a white female in the back seat. At this time Officer Dorsch was returning from attempting to catch the man that fled the scene. Officer Janka also arrived on the scene.

Officer Lucas tapped on the window and told the man to pull his pants up and get out of the car. He made an in-court identification of Sims as the man in the car. Defendant Sims exited the car on the driver's side. While Officers Dorsch and Janka stayed on the driver's side, Officer Lucas walked around to the passenger side. The complainant got out of the car and grabbed the officer saying, "Please don't let them hurt me any more." When he asked her what had happened, she told him she had...