People v. Spicer

• Decision Date: 10 December 2007
• Docket Number: No. 1-05-3358.,1-05-3358.
• Citation: 884 N.E.2d 675,379 Ill.App.3d 441
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Charles SPICER, Defendant-Appellant
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois

884 N.E.2d 675

379 Ill.App.3d 441

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Charles SPICER, Defendant-Appellant

No. 1-05-3358.

Appellate Court of Illinois, First District, First Division.

December 10, 2007.

As Modified Upon Denial of Rehearing February 25, 2008.

Office of the State Appellate Defender, Michael J. Pelletier, Deputy Defender, Lisa Southerland, Assistant Appellate Defender, Chicago, IL, for Appellant.

Richard A. Devine, State's Attorney, Chicago, IL (James E. Fitzgerald, Veronica Calderon-Malavia, Tasha Marie Kelly, Shannan McFadden, of counsel), for Appellee.

MODIFIED OPINION UPON DENIAL OF PETITION FOR REHEARING

Justice ROBERT E. GORDON delivered the Modified Opinion of the court:

Defendant Charles Spicer was convicted after a jury trial of aggravated sexual assault and forgery and sentenced to consecutive terms of 30 years and 5 years of imprisonment, respectively. On appeal, he alleges errors at both trial and sentencing. For the reasons stated below, we affirm.

BACKGROUND

The State, claims that on August 8, 2001, the defendant sexually assaulted and wrongfully forced Juanita Cartman, age 75 or 76, to draw a check on her checking account, in her apartment on South Calumet Avenue in Chicago. The defendant attempted to cash the check later that day and was arrested.

At trial, Officer Sheila Jackson testified that on August 8, 2001, at approximately 11 a.m., Officer Jackson responded to a call concerning an elderly robbery victim. She met with the victim in her apartment, where she observed a dining room chair with duct tape on the arm and legs, as well as redness around the victim's wrists and on both arms. The victim provided a description of the offender, which Officer Jackson relayed over the radio.

Pier Thomaston testified that on August 8, 2001, at shortly before noon, she was working as a teller at the Bank One at 6700 South Stony Island when the defendant presented her with a check drawn on the victim's account. She noticed that the name of the payee was not written in the same handwriting as the rest of the check. After seeing an alert for this account on the signature verification screen on her computer, she left the defendant and went to speak with her supervisor. A bank security guard approached the defendant, who then shoved the guard and ran out the front door, with the guard giving chase.

The teller testified that while looking through the bank windows, she saw the defendant go over a fence at a construction site and then lost sight of him. Approximately 10 minutes later, she identified a person in the back of a police squad car as the customer who had just presented her with the victim's check. Terrence McCullough, the security guard, also identified the defendant as the man at the teller's window whom he chased before police arrived and whom he identified in the back of the police vehicle.

Officer Harlan Hasbrough testified that on August 8, 2001, he responded to a radio call shortly after noon and went to 1523 East 68th Street to look for a suspect who had run from the bank. He found the defendant under the porch of an apartment at that address.

Detective Raymond Doherty¹ testified that he and his partner, Detective Gillespie, were assigned to a robbery investigation on August 8, 2001, and met with Officer Jackson and the victim in the victim's apartment. After hearing a call on the radio, he went to the bank, where he saw the defendant in the back of a police vehicle that was parked near the bank, and recovered a check from the teller who said the defendant had tried to cash it. He then returned to the victim's apartment and took the victim to the police station where the defendant was also taken.

Detective Doherty testified that at approximately 1 p.m. on August 8 he and his partner interviewed the victim, and at 1:30 p.m. they interviewed the defendant. Defendant told them that he had received a telephone call from a friend named John Thomas that morning; that when he later met Thomas, Thomas gave defendant a check to cash; and that a security guard at the bank tried to detain him. Detective Doherty testified that the defendant provided a vague description of John Thomas, whom Detective Doherty was unable to locate.

Detective Doherty testified that he and his partner interviewed defendant again at 5:30 p.m. on August 8. Defendant then admitted going to the victim's apartment with Thomas and stated that the victim owed him money and that both he and Thomas left after a short conversation. Detective Doherty testified that the defendant then told him that Thomas gave the defendant some money that Thomas had taken from the victim's home and a check. The defendant also admitted to duct taping the victim to the chair after she signed the check.

Detective Doherty then interviewed the victim again at approximately 6 p.m. When she became upset, he decided to take her to a hospital. The victim had previously refused medical attention. Before leaving for the hospital, Detective Doherty called for an evidence technician to take a buccal swab of the defendant. Then he transported the victim to the hospital and remained while she was there, transporting her home at approximately 3 a.m. the following morning. He had an evidence technician meet him at the victim's home to collect her bedding.

Detective Doherty testified that he returned to work at approximately 9 a.m. on August 9 and spoke to the defendant several times that day. The first interview occurred at approximately 1 p.m. The detective testified that he told the defendant that he did not believe him. The defendant then told him that he was in the apartment with the victim, that he told her to sign the check and that if she did not, he would "shove the pen up her ass." Approximately three hours later that day, Detective Doherty had another interview with the defendant in which the detective told the defendant that he did not believe the defendant's "story" and that he thought the defendant was "holding back some information." Then the defendant gave essentially the same statement that he later repeated in front of Assistant State's Attorney (ASA) James Lynch.

Detective Doherty testified that at approximately 4:30 p.m., ASA Lynch interviewed the defendant with Detective Doherty and his partner present. The statement was written down by hand by ASA Lynch, and reviewed and signed by defendant.

ASA Lynch testified that he went to the police station at approximately 1:15 p.m. and questioned the defendant twice that afternoon. At approximately 2:30 p.m., defendant gave a statement in which "he was denying the essentials of any sexual crimes against" the victim. At approximately 4:30 p.m., ASA Lynch took an oral statement from the defendant, which was consistent with the statement that Lynch later wrote down. At 5:15 p.m., ASA Lynch began writing the statement down by hand, with the defendant sitting next to him and using a question and answer format. The written statement was signed by ASA Lynch, Detective Doherty and the defendant. ASA Lynch read the statement to the jury.

In the statement, the defendant stated that he was 41 years old and that he had cleaned up the victim's basement and around her house several times. On August 8, 2001, he went to the victim's apartment with his friend John Thomas to speak to her about money which he felt that she owed him for the work. He followed her into her bedroom, stating that he wanted his money. Then he went into the kitchen, where his friend John Thomas was located. John had followed them inside the apartment and the defendant did not believe that the victim had seen John.

The statement further claimed that defendant received a roll of duct tape from John and then went back into the bedroom and taped the victim's ankles together as she sat on the bed. He told her to lie down and he started to tape her wrists, but stopped because the victim complained that her arm hurt. The victim then told him that there was money in a beer stein in the kitchen. He went into the kitchen and John retrieved $90 from the stein. He then went back to the victim and told her that it was not enough money. He and John then removed $35 from her purse. The defendant received $60 of the money, and John received the rest and left.

The statement claimed that defendant then demanded more money. When the victim stated that she had no more money, defendant said that he had seen her bank statement and knew she had $10,000 in the bank, and told the victim to write him a check. He then went into the kitchen to bring the victim water and her checkbook. When he returned, the victim stated that she had to go to the bathroom. He carried her to the toilet and moved her gown aside for her. When she was done, he carried her back to the bed.

The statement further claimed that defendant kept ordering the victim to write him a check and the victim kept refusing. Eventually, he picked up her taped feet, placed them on the bed with her knees up and threatened to shove a pen "up her ass." He then placed his penis on her thigh and placed the index finger of his left hand in her vagina up to the knuckle and then shook the bed with his knees. The victim then said that she would write the check.

The statement claimed that defendant retrieved the checkbook for the victim. He cut the tape from her ankles and handed her glasses to her so she could write the check. The victim went to the dresser to write the check, and defendant told her to write the check in the amount of $7,000, leaving the payee blank and writing "remodeling" on the memo line. The defendant then took the victim into the dining room, sat her down in a chair, and taped her hands and ankles to the arms and legs of the chair. He then gave her some water, placed a fan on her and left with the check.

The statement claimed that defendant first tried unsuccessfully to find someone to cash the check and then he went to the bank. After...