People v. Wheeler

• Decision Date: 19 July 1991
• Docket Number: No. 3-90-0184,3-90-0184
• Citation: 216 Ill.App.3d 609,159 Ill.Dec. 266,575 N.E.2d 1326
• Parties: , 159 Ill.Dec. 266 The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. Charles A. WHEELER, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois

Page 1326

575 N.E.2d 1326

216 Ill.App.3d 609, 159 Ill.Dec. 266

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

No. 3-90-0184.

Appellate Court of Illinois Third District.

July 19, 1991.

Rehearing Denied Aug. 27, 1991.

Mark D. Fisher, (argued), Office of the State Appellate Defender, Ottawa, for Charles Anthony Wheeler.

Gary F. Gnidovec (argued), States' Attys. Appellate Prosecutor, Ottawa, Marc Bernabei, State's Atty., Princeton, for the People.

Justice SLATER delivered the opinion of the court:

The defendant, Charles A. Wheeler, was convicted of aggravated criminal sexual assault (Ill.Rev.Stat.1989, ch. 38, par. 12-14(b)(1)) and sentenced to 20 years in prison. The defendant raises the following issues on appeal: (1) whether he was proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt; (2) whether the defendant was denied a fair trial because he was precluded from having an expert witness examine or interview the complainant; (3) whether the defendant was denied a fair trial by the exclusion of certain expert testimony; (4) whether the jury was improperly instructed; and (5) whether improper comments and arguments by the prosecution denied the defendant a fair trial. We affirm.

Cheryl K., the complainant's mother, testified that she married the defendant in November of 1977 and that they had a child in February of 1978. Cheryl and the defendant separated when complainant was nine months old and they were subsequently divorced. Complainant had no further contact with the defendant until February of 1987. This visit came about because complainant wanted to see her real father. Defendant lived in Princeton, Illinois, while complainant and her mother lived in Davenport, Iowa. After this first visit, complainant wanted to see the defendant again. Arrangements were thus made for complainant and her father to spend two or three weekends together. During that period of time, complainant talked very highly of her father and seemed to be happy that he was a part of her life, according to Cheryl. Complainant also spent the summer of 1987 with defendant.

Cheryl testified that complainant went away to camp during the summer of 1988. In August of 1988, Cheryl, complainant, and the rest of the family moved to Decatur. They returned to Davenport a month or so later. In December of 1988, complainant said that she wanted to see the defendant again. Complainant visited the defendant on two or three weekends in January of 1989. The defendant would pick up the complainant on Friday night or Saturday morning and bring her back home on Sunday evening. Although Cheryl and the complainant were fairly sure that one of the weekends was January 14 and 15 because of Martin Luther King's birthday, they were uncertain about the dates of the other weekends. Cheryl agreed that prior to January, complainant had remarked on several occasions that she wanted to live with her father.

Cheryl further testified that complainant might have spent her last weekend alone with defendant in February of 1989. Complainant visited the defendant again, as late as Easter of 1989, but not alone. On July 14, 1989, Cheryl suggested that complainant spend part of the summer with her father. Complainant started crying and said that defendant had sexually abused her.

The complainant, who was 11 years old at the time of trial, testified that she first saw the defendant in February of 1987, when she was nine years old. She visited defendant two or three times in January of 1989. She thought the last time that she was alone with the defendant might have been the weekend of Martin Luther King's birthday. Complainant testified that during this last visit, the defendant asked her to sleep in his room. She got into his bed wearing a nightgown and underwear. The defendant got into bed naked. He kissed complainant on the cheek and put his tongue in her mouth. Complainant stated that the defendant told her that what they were doing was practice for when she grew up. Defendant then rubbed her vagina with his hand and took off her underwear. While holding her legs apart he kissed her vagina. Complainant said that her legs began to shake and the defendant told her that that happened to all women. The defendant then rolled over on his back and had the complainant get on top of him. After the complainant refused to put the defendant's penis in her mouth, he told her to squeeze his penis, which she described as hairy and stiff, and "sticky stuff" came out. The complainant testified that while this was occurring, the defendant was licking her vagina and was panting "[l]ike a dog does after it gets done running." The complainant also stated that the defendant told her that she felt like her mother. At one point the defendant asked her if she would like him to stop, but when she said yes, he said he could not. The complainant said that the defendant told her not to tell anyone or he would go to prison forever. She testified that she did not tell anyone right away because she was scared.

The complainant further testified that she and the defendant had engaged in similar conduct on "about two" other weekends in January of 1989 and "more than 10" times prior to that. Complainant stated that she thought that defendant first sexually abused her two or three weeks after they met. At that time, the defendant was living with Cathy Cannon. The complainant agreed that she may have told the police that the sexual contact began in June of 1987 after the defendant and Cannon broke up, and that she slept in defendant's bed most of that summer. The complainant stated that it was her idea to reinitiate contact with the defendant in January of 1989. When asked why she would do so if she had been abused in the past, she replied that she thought the defendant would change.

Elsie ("Pat") Elmore testified that she conducts child abuse and neglect investigations for the Iowa Department of Human Services. On July 14, 1989, she went to the complainant's residence in response to a call and interviewed the complainant and her mother. The facts related by the complainant to Elmore were consistent with the complainant's testimony related above, including the defendant's alleged statements that he couldn't stop and that he would go to prison if the complainant told anyone. The complainant also told Elmore that before the defendant would leave he would breathe as though he had been running hard and was out of breath. According to Elmore, the complainant told her that the defendant began sexually abusing her the first time she visited him.

Pamela Klein, a psychotherapist involved in psychological counseling and consultation, testified that she interviewed the complainant. Based on her interview, she determined that the complainant exhibited symptoms consistent with rape trauma syndrome. On cross examination, Klein testified that her findings were based solely on her interview with complainant; she did not examine the complainant's school records or medical records.

The final prosecution witness was Gary Swanson, an investigator with the Princeton Police Department. Swanson testified that he interviewed the complainant and her mother on July 19, 1989. The complainant told Swanson that she spent the summer of 1988 at defendant's house in Princeton and that, during that summer, she slept most nights in his bed. The complainant's description of sexual abuse was consistent with her testimony at trial. In addition, the complainant demonstrated what had happened with anatomically correct dolls. She told Swanson that the last incidents occurred on three weekends in January and she thought the dates were December 31 of 1988 and January 14 and 28 of 1989.

Swanson also testified also concerning a second interview conducted on August 3, 1989. The complainant described essentially the same sexual activities during the second interview that she had during the first, although she stated that she spent the summer of 1987 at her father's home, not the summer of 1988. She also said that the last incidents occurred on the weekends of January 8 and 14, 1989.

A number of alibi witnesses testified for the defense regarding weekends in January and February of 1989. Cathy Cato, an old friend of the defendant, testified that she was at the defendant's house from 3 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, December 31, 1988, and she did not see the complainant. Vickie Burda, defendant's half-sister, gave essentially the same testimony as Cato.

Patricia Briddick, who dated the defendant from November of 1988 through the third week of January 1989, testified that she met the defendant at a bar on Saturday night, December 31, and stayed at his house until 5 p.m. on Sunday, January 1. Briddick also met the defendant at the same bar on the following three Saturday nights, those being the 7th, 14th, and 21st of January 1989. On each of those nights she stayed at the defendant's house until the following Sunday. On none of those occasions, according to Briddick, was the complainant staying at the defendant's house. Briddick also testified that in the early morning hours of January 15, she and several other people went to the defendant's house for a party after the bar closed. Nancy Lorang, an acquaintance of the defendant, corroborated Briddick's testimony that the defendant was at the bar on the 7th, 14th and 21st, and that there had been a party at the defendant's house on the 15th.

Michael Pluemer, the defendant's brother-in-law and the former owner of the painting company for which the defendant worked, testified that the defendant worked from 4 to 8 p.m. on Friday, January 13, in Marseilles, Illinois. Pluemer testified that he was with the defendant from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday, January 28, moving paint cans and storing them at the defendant's house. In addition, Pluemer stated that he and the defendant were together the following day, January 29, from 8:30 a.m. to 6:30...