People v. Ward
| Decision Date | 07 July 2021 |
| Docket Number | 2-19-0243 |
| Parties | THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. JEFFREY N. WARD, Defendant-Appellant. |
| Court | United States Appellate Court of Illinois |
Appeal from the Circuit Court of Kane County. No. 18-CM-1380 Honorable Clayton L. Lindsey, Judge, Presiding.
Jeffrey N. Ward, appellant pro se.
Joseph H. McMahon, State's Attorney, of St. Charles (Patrick Delfino, Edward R. Psenicka, and Barry W. Jacobs, of State's Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor's Office, of counsel), for the People.
JUSTICE BIRKETT delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion.
OPINION
¶ 1 Defendant, Jeffrey N. Ward, appeals his conviction of the offense of domestic battery (720 ILCS 5/12-3.2(a)(2) (West 2018)) following a jury trial in the circuit court of Kane County. Because the trial court erred in denying defendant's motion for a directed verdict, we reverse defendant's conviction.
¶ 3 On June 1, 2018, defendant was involved in a verbal altercation with police officers at the scene of a traffic accident involving his 18-year-old son Matthew. As defendant was arguing with one of the officers, defendant's wife Leslie Ward, stepped between defendant and the officer. Defendant pushed Leslie to the side and continued to argue. Defendant was arrested and charged by complaint with two counts of domestic battery. Count I alleged that defendant knowingly caused bodily harm to his wife, Leslie O. Ward, by pushing her. 720 ILCS 5/12-3.2(a)(1) (West 2018). Count II alleged that defendant made contact of an insulting nature with Leslie O. Ward by pushing "her with both hands in her shoulder and neck area, causing her to lose her balance and take a few steps back." See 720 ILCS 5/12-3.2(a)(2) (West 2018). The complaint was signed by Officer Matthew Hann. Leslie refused to cooperate and insisted that her husband did nothing wrong.
¶ 5 The chief judge of the Sixteenth Judicial Circuit requested that a judge from another judicial circuit be assigned to hear defendant's case. On June 4, 2018, our supreme court ordered the chief judge of the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit to assign a judge from that circuit to preside over defendant's case. Judge Redington was assigned to hear the case. Defendant moved for substitution of judge. 725 ILCS 5/114-5(a) (West 2018). Judge Clayton Lindsey from the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit was assigned to preside over the proceedings, all of which took place in Kane County.
¶ 7 Prior to trial, defendant filed a motion to dismiss arguing that Leslie told the arresting officer, Sergeant George Carbray, that the "push" did not constitute domestic battery and that "[defendant's] arrest was just another act of harassment against her family from the Geneva Police Department." A copy of Leslie's written statement from June 1, 2018, was attached as an exhibit. The State's response argued that the victim's desire to drop charges is not grounds for dismissal. The trial court denied defendant's motion.
¶ 9 Also prior to trial, the State filed a motion in limine to bar Leslie from testifying that she "consented to the physical contact." The State argued that Leslie's "consent" has no bearing on whether the defendant committed a domestic battery on June 1, 2018, because, according to People v. Ford, 2015 IL App (3d) 130810, "consent is neither a statutory nor a common law defense to domestic battery." Throughout the prosecution of the case, the State posited that the fact that Leslie did not feel insulted or provoked was irrelevant. The State argued that allowing Leslie to testify that she consented would be "misleading to the jury as it would be misstating the law." The trial court barred defendant from arguing that "the alleged victim consented directly or indirectly to the touching that is alleged to have occurred in this matter." The trial court ruled that Leslie or other witnesses could testify as to "what [they] observed or experienced related to the incident in question." The trial court noted that Ford does state that "consent is a defense to what would otherwise be a minor sort of offensive touching; medical procedures and batteries that are incidents to participating in certain sporting events," but it stated that, "by definition, a domestic battery is not a minor sort of offensive touching."
¶ 11 Prior to trial, the State nol-prossed count I, domestic battery alleging bodily harm. At trial, Barbara Stilling testified that on June 1, 2018, at about 6:30 p.m., she was involved in a minor traffic accident while heading west on Keslinger Road in Geneva. She was rear-ended by a vehicle driven by Matthew. Stilling called the police, and Hann responded to the scene. The vehicles were moved to a parking lot. Defendant arrived on the scene and spoke to his son first and then to Officer Hann. Stilling heard defendant say "something to the effect like 'I see a f*** a*** here and it's you, '" referring to Hann. A short time later, Carbray arrived. Stilling said that, while defendant was speaking to Carbray, defendant leaned forward and was "getting in [Carbray's] face." Stilling saw Leslie come between the defendant and Carbray "to try to diffuse the situation." Leslie said something but Stilling did not hear what she said. Stilling then saw defendant use his right hand to push Leslie off to the right, either on the "neck or upper shoulder." Leslie "stumbled a little bit but did not fall." Stilling did not hear "defendant say anything to anyone present at the time." At the end of Stilling's direct examination, the prosecutor asked, "When you observed the defendant shove Mrs. Ward, how did that make you feel?" Stilling responded, "I was surprised, startled that it actually happened." On cross-examination, Stilling added that she was "a little shocked" to see defendant move his wife out of the way. Stilling acknowledged that, when she spoke to Carbray, she never told him that she was "startled" or "shocked" but that she may have used the word "surprised." At the time of the push, Leslie was facing defendant, and her back was to Carbray.
¶ 12 Leslie testified that she is defendant's wife and lives with him in their Geneva home, along with their two sons, aged 19 and 22 at the time of trial. On June 1, 2018, Matthew, their younger son, texted and called his parents to tell them that he had been involved in a car accident. Defendant and Leslie drove separately to the scene. Defendant left their home first. Leslie let the family's dogs in and then left to drive to the scene. When Leslie arrived, defendant was speaking to a police officer. He was not happy. Leslie stated that the Geneva Police Department had "not treated him particularly well." Leslie got in between defendant and the officer he was speaking to. Leslie did not recall if she said anything to defendant but stated that she might have placed her hand on his chest. She said that defendant never told her to "shut up." When asked whether defendant shoved her "out of the way," she responded "No" and said that the contact was similar to passing someone in a hallway and "you go, okay, you need to move." Leslie said that defendant's attention was on the police officer in front of him and that he "just moved [her] out of the way." He did so quickly but held on to her so she would not fall. The following exchange then took place:
Leslie testified that, when defendant was arrested, she expressed her "displeasure to the police officers" and she "wrote a statement indicating what had happened." Leslie said that she stepped between defendant and the officer because, whenever defendant is involved "with the Geneva police, they tend to treat him very poorly and unfairly" but they do not tend to do anything to her.
¶ 13 On cross-examination, Leslie testified that she and defendant had been married for 27 years. Leslie is a middle school teacher and has her master's degree. She testified that she was not insulted, shocked, or provoked when defendant moved her out of the way. Leslie testified that after defendant pushed her, the officer said "[t]hat was domestic abuse" and that he was a "mandated reporter." Leslie told him that as a teacher she was also a mandated reporter and that what defendant did should not be reported. She told the police that she did not want defendant arrested and that she was "very unhappy with the way he was being treated." Leslie prepared a written statement "right after [the incident] happened." She made it very clear to the police that she was unhappy with the whole ordeal. The police officer asked her if she would like to make a statement, and she said that she would. Defense counsel showed Leslie a copy of her written statement, which she identified. Defense counsel moved to admit her statement into evidence. The prosecutor objected, stating, "[y]ou cannot admit a consistent statement into evidence." Defense counsel responded that the victim's statement in a domestic battery case at the "time of the alleged incident is always relevant as to whether or not the contact was insulting or provoking." Defense counsel argued...
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