v.
Dzierzanowski
2023 IL App (2d) 210565-U No. 2-21-0565 Order filed March 1, 2023
NOTICE: This order was filed under Supreme Court Rule 23 and is not precedent except in the limited circumstances allowed under Rule 23(e)(1). ______________________________________________________________________________
IN THE APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS
SECOND DISTRICT ______________________________________________________________________________
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE ) Appeal from the Circuit Court OF ILLINOIS, ) of Lake County. ) Plaintiff-Appellee, ) ) v. ) No. 18-CF-1234 ) WOJCIECH DZIERZANOWSKI, ) Honorable ) Victoria A. Rossetti, Defendant-Appellant. ) Judge, Presiding. ______________________________________________________________________________
JUSTICE BIRKETT delivered the judgment of the court. Justices Hudson and Kennedy concurred in the judgment.
ORDER
¶1 Held: Defendant’s convictions are affirmed because: (1) the evidence was sufficient to prove defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child and aggravated criminal sexual abuse, (2) the trial court did not abuse its discretion in the evidentiary rulings concerning (a) the victim’s delayed outcry, (b) the cross-examination of the victim’s mother, (c) in granting portions of the State’s motion to quash subpoenas for the victim’s medical and school records, and (d) the indictment did not impede defendant’s ability to mount a defense, and (3) and the trial court did not abuse its discretion by allowing the victim to make an in-court identification of defendant’s penis because it was not pursuant to an unduly suggestive show-up procedure.
¶2 Following a bench trial before the circuit court of Lake County, defendant, Wojciech
Dzierzanowski, was found guilty of five counts of predatory criminal sexual assault of a child (720
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ILCS 5/11-1.40(a)(1) (West 2018)) and seven counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse (id. §
11-1.60(c)(1)(i)). Defendant was sentenced to consecutive 7-year terms of imprisonment for each
of the predatory criminal sexual assault convictions, and he was sentenced to 4-year terms of imprisonment for each of the aggravated criminal sexual abuse convictions, which were to run concurrently with each other, with count X being discretionarily consecutive to the predatory criminal sexual assault convictions, for an aggregate 39-year term of imprisonment. Defendant
appeals, challenging the sufficiency of the evidence for all convictions. Defendant also challenges, as improper hearsay, the victim’s testimony about his initial outcry which occurred several years after the commission of the alleged offenses. Defendant contends that the indictment was
improperly vague and argues that the trial court abused its discretion quashing his subpoena of the victim’s medical and school records. Defendant contends that his cross-examination of the victim’s mother was improperly limited regarding a purported sham marriage and the mother’s surreptitious recording of a therapy session involving the victim and his family. Last, defendant contends the trial court abused its discretion regarding the admissibility of a purported in-court identification of his penis based on an improper pretrial photograph show-up procedure. We affirm.
¶3 I. BACKGROUND
¶4 We summarize the facts appearing of record. Defendant was born in Poland and was born with hypospadias, a condition affecting his penis. This congenital deformity meant that
defendant’s urethra did not exit the glans of his penis but resulted in the opening being on the underside of the shaft of his penis. Defendant’s condition resulted in urine, as well as ejaculate, being sprayed from the opening on the underside of his penis. The head of defendant’s penis
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¶5 In November 1999, the victim, J.P., was born to Agnes W., his mother, and Thomas P., his father. At the time of J.P.’s birth, Agnes and Thomas were married, but they soon divorced. J.P. and his mother resided in Glenview, and then they moved to an apartment in Chicago. When J.P.
was about five years of age, while he and Agnes were residing in Chicago, Agnes and defendant, whom Agnes had known during her marriage to Thomas, entered into a romantic relationship. In 2006, J.P., his mother, and defendant moved to a residence in Lake Forest. Defendant performed
repairs and improvements to the Lake Forest residence over time, eventually finishing the basement with a bedroom for defendant, and later, a bedroom for J.P.
¶6 Upon cohabiting with Agnes, defendant undertook more of a parental role regarding J.P.
He would discipline J.P. for misbehaving. Defendant’s discipline included spanking and, over
time, escalated to the point of whipping J.P. with a belt. Nevertheless, there is no evidence in the record from medical or educational personnel who observed J.P. regarding injuries related to discipline.
¶7 At trial, J.P. testified about his relationship with defendant and how it evolved. Defendant became a father figure in J.P.’s life. Defendant sometimes took J.P. to work and allowed J.P. to accompany him on errands. According to J.P., defendant frequently spoiled him with gifts. J.P.
appreciated having defendant present because his father, Thomas P., was not around very often, and it was nice for J.P. to have a man present with whom he could talk.
¶8 J.P. testified that his mother spent most of her time during the week at home. On weekends, however, she usually worked as a wedding photographer, and J.P. was cared for by a babysitter or 210567
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by defendant. Defendant’s continued presence deepened J.P.’s regard, and he began to confide in defendant regarding “male oriented” issues, like “physical activities” or video games, or topics of interest beyond his mother’s experiences or interests.
¶9 J.P. testified that, when they moved into the Lake Forest residence, everyone used rooms on the main floor. Typically, defendant and Agnes slept in one room, and J.P. slept in a nearby room. When defendant did not share Agnes’s room, he slept in the basement or on the living room couch. Although defendant and Agnes did not marry, she and defendant eventually had two
children together, M.D. and A.D. While J.P. originally slept in the children’s room on the main floor, when he was about 15 years of age, he moved into the basement bedroom, and his younger brothers occupied the children’s room. J.P.’s basement bedroom was about 20 steps from defendant’s bedroom.
¶ 10 J.P. testified that, defendant’s physical discipline escalated in frequency and severity, he reacted more rebelliously, engendering a kind of vicious circle. The physical abuse testified to by
J.P. culminated with an incident in which J.P.’s phone had died, and J.P. failed to contact Agnes or defendant to inform them he would be coming home late. According to J.P., defendant whipped him with a leather belt.
¶ 11 J.P. also testified about the sexual abuse he experienced at defendant’s hand. The first
instance of abuse occurred when he was seven, during the fall or winter when it was cold outside, and J.P. was wearing red fleece pajamas decorated with penguins. Defendant opened his Hewlett-
Packard laptop computer and played a pornographic video. J.P. did not understand at that time what he was seeing. He described the video as depicting oral sexual acts between a woman and a
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¶ 12 As he and defendant watched the video, defendant unbuckled his belt and began to touch
J.P. Defendant grabbed J.P.’s buttocks and began to rub his finger on J.P.’s anus, first over J.P.’s clothes, and then progressing to under his clothes. As defendant was rubbing J.P., he also took
J.P.’s hand and “led it down [defendant’s] pants,” until defendant had J.P. take hold of defendant’s penis and moved his hand up and down.
¶ 13 J.P. testified that he and defendant were not talking, and J.P. was very confused about what was happening. J.P. described that defendant was laying on the couch, with the laptop to defendant’s right and J.P. to defendant’s left, propped over defendant’s legs with J.P.’s hand down his pants, and with defendant rubbing J.P.’s anus. Next, defendant took his pants off, and, while still laying on the couch, defendant guided J.P.’s head over defendant’s penis and inserted his penis
into J.P.’s mouth. Defendant kept his hand over J.P.’s head and gently pushed his head up and down. J.P. continued until defendant ejaculated in his mouth.
¶ 14 J.P. testified that, about a month later, the second instance of abuse occurred. It played out in the same general manner as the first. Defendant opened his laptop and started playing a pornographic video. After a few minutes, defendant sat beside J.P. and inquired whether J.P. was enjoying the video. J.P. testified at trial that he did not understand what he was viewing and was
“in shock kind of in a way.” As J.P. continued to watch, defendant initiated manual sexual contact which progressed to oral sexual activity.
¶ 15 J.P. testified that this became the routine format of the abuse: an instance of abuse would begin with defendant playing pornography, defendant would then initiate manual sexual contact
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¶ 16 J.P. testified that, after the first few instances of abuse, he “remember[ed] very precisely a car ride” with defendant. Defendant told him that the conduct they engaged in was for practice so
J.P. would know in the future how to properly have sex. Defendant also told J.P. that, in the future, he would take J.P. to strip clubs and show him everything about sex and sexual activities. J.P. interpreted this conversation to mean that he and defendant were engaging in “a guy thing that
stayed between us, and it was like our secret, and it would help [J.P.] in the future.” During the period from age 7 to age 11 or 12, defendant was neither threatening nor mean, and J.P. continued to view defendant as a father figure.
¶ 17 J.P. testified that from the age of 7 until the age of 11, the sexual encounters were very gentle. The encounters usually took place on the living room couch. Occasionally, they occurred
in rooms in the basement, such as the exercise room or the play area. J.P. related that, between the ages of 7 and 11, defendant would very occasionally initiate an encounter after he emerged from the shower, pulling J.P. into the bathroom, placing J.P. on his knees, and initiating oral sexual activity without the typical preambles of viewing pornography followed by manual sexual stimulation. Despite these occasional bathroom encounters, the primary location of the abuse was
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the living room couch. J.P. also described occasions where defendant would tilt J.P.’s head all the way back as he was sitting up and then insert his penis into J.P.’s mouth. J.P. also noted that the sexual encounters with defendant were never only manual sexual acts, rather, the encounters
“always involved oral [sexual activity] at some point.” J.P. related that, for the abuse occurring between ages 7 and 11, only he and defendant were present in the Lake Forest residence; he could not remember a time when his mother was present.
¶ 18 When J.P. reached about 12 years of age, the sexual activities became “a little bit more intense.” J.P. explained that defendant became more aggressive physically and tried to impose much more discipline on J.P. because J.P. had become more rebellious and more frequently disagreed and argued with defendant. The sexual activity, however, was never punitive. In J.P.’s view, defendant “wanted to get off sexually. So that’s what he would use [J.P.] for.” As an example of the increased intensity, defendant would “try to insert his whole penis down [J.P.’s] throat completely until [J.P.] would touch his crotch, and [defendant] would make [J.P.] pull on
his testicles.” During this time, defendant added to the encounters a small, black, pill-like vibrator which defendant would insert into his own anus. Defendant did not use the vibrator on J.P.
Defendant also became rougher with J.P., grabbing J.P.’s head and forcing his penis into J.P.’s mouth. J.P. also began to understand more fully what was going on and he became “terrified” of defendant.
¶ 19 J.P. testified that, when he was 11 or 12, he told his mother that defendant was teaching him about sex or brought up something sexual in their conversation. The following day, defendant told J.P., in Polish, “[L]ook, what we do in our private time stays between us guys.”
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¶ 20 J.P. noted that, between the ages of 11 and 14, the location of the sexual encounters began to change. The majority of the encounters occurred downstairs, first in the playroom, and then moving more into defendant’s basement bedroom. J.P. recalled that most of the encounters, if not every single time, began with the viewing of pornography on defendant’s laptop.
¶ 21 In a brief digression, J.P. acknowledged that, from the first encounter, he was interested in understanding “what [pornography] was about.” J.P. admitted that, after the initial sexual encounter with defendant, he would himself search for and view porn without defendant’s prompting or presence. J.P. did not, however, pull up pornographic videos when defendant was with him; he only sought and searched for it when he was by himself.
¶ 22 J.P. testified that, when he was 11 or 12, defendant would commonly wear Agnes’s pink shorts when the sexual encounters occurred. J.P. described that defendant would start a pornographic video, after which he would change into Agnes’s pink shorts. After changing into the shorts, defendant would typically initiate the other aspects of a sexual encounter culminating in oral sexual activity. J.P. identified a pair of pink shorts that were recovered from the Lake
Forest residence as the shorts worn by defendant. J.P. further testified that defendant also wore a pair of navy-blue shorts as a precursor to the sexual encounters as well, but less frequently than
the pink shorts. J.P. initially described the shorts as “black,” explaining he had only seen them in the dark. The navy-blue shorts were also recovered from the Lake Forest residence.
¶ 23 J.P. testified that defendant attempted to anally penetrate him only one time, when J.P. was
14 years of age. When defendant tried to place his penis in J.P.’s anus, J.P. told defendant that he
“needed to go to the bathroom and poop,” which “grossed [defendant] out,” and defendant no
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¶ 24 J.P. testified about the final instance of sexual activity that occurred when he was turning
15. Defendant brought J.P. into the downstairs bathroom to shower together. The two undressed, and defendant told J.P. to get into the shower and left, promising to “be right back.” J.P. showered
and, when defendant stepped into the shower, J.P. exited. J.P. then went into his room in the basement and locked the door. J.P. testified that the sexual abuse stopped after this occasion, but the physical abuse continued.
¶ 25 J.P. estimated that, from the age of 7 until the age of 11 or 12, the abuse, meaning manual
and oral sexual activities, occurred approximately once a month. From the age of 12 to the age of 14, the activity occurred approximately once a week, and after age 14, it become less frequent until it ended after the above-described incident.
¶ 26 J.P. moved out of the Lake Forest residence nine months to a year following the final sexual
incident. Specifically, he moved to his father’s residence after he completed his junior year of high school when he was 16. J.P. told his mother and father that he wanted to move because of the physical abuse from defendant.
¶ 27 During the time between the last sexual incident and J.P.’s move to his father’s residence, defendant completed the downstairs bedroom for J.P., and, once they moved a bed into the room, J.P. slept there every night. J.P. would sometimes use that bedroom to spend the night after helping his mother in one of her photography assignments.
¶ 28 J.P. did not tell anyone about the sexual encounters until he was on spring break when he was 18. J.P., his mother, his brothers, and family friends took a trip to Florida. J.P.’s friend, 210573
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Olivia, confided in J.P. about something that had happened to her. Olivia’s statement led J.P. to reveal that defendant had touched him sexually.
¶ 29 After J.P.’s statement to Olivia, he informed his mother that he wanted to begin therapy, explaining to her it was due to the defendant’s physical abuse. In his first session, J.P. made sure that the therapist had executed a nondisclosure agreement so the therapist could not share anything with J.P.’s parents, and J.P. emphasized to the therapist that he did not want any information from his sessions shared with anyone. J.P. discussed the sexual abuse in that first session. After a few sessions, the therapist suggested that a pedophile will move on from one victim to another, and it was likely that defendant would move to abuse his own children. After learning this, J.P. arranged to have a therapy session with his parents and to reveal to them defendant’s sexual abuse. After the family session, law enforcement was contacted.
¶ 30 J.P. testified that he was interviewed by the police, and this led to a search of the Lake
Forest residence. Police recovered the red fleece pajamas with penguins, pink shorts, and navy- blue shorts from the residence. The black vibrator was not located, but a white vibrator was recovered from a closet. Police also recovered a laptop computer.
¶ 31 J.P. was extensively questioned about defendant’s penis and was shown three photographs during his testimony. The photographs had been prepared by defendant and were turned over to the State during discovery. On August 28, 2019, well before the trial commenced, defendant filed a motion in limine to preclude the use of the photographs and the identification of defendant’s penis, arguing that the pretrial display of the photographs (the two closeups of defendant’s penis) to J.P. constituted an impermissibly suggestive show-up identification. Lakesha Wilkerson, a detective with the Lake County sheriff, testified during the motion in limine hearing that she
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showed J.P. the photographs. Specifically, she did not inform J.P. what the photographs depicted, only that they were “graphic.” Wilkerson showed J.P. the first two photographs, and J.P.
immediately identified them as defendant’s penis. When J.P. was asked how he identified the penis, Wilkerson recalled that J.P. replied that he had seen it before. With the second closeup photograph, J.P. explained that he had seen defendant’s penis before, and recognized defendant’s pubic hair. In its ruling on the motion in limine, the trial court noted that, because J.P. had not been informed of the subject matter or other details concerning the photographs, the procedure was not unduly suggestive, and the photographs were admissible with any issues going to the weight to be accorded them.
¶ 32 During his testimony at trial, J.P. viewed and identified all three photographs of defendant’s penis in open court.[1] In each of the photographs, defendant’s flaccid penis was held by an unseen individual wearing blue gloves. In the first photograph, a closeup of defendant’s penis, one blue-gloved hand is holding the penis away from defendant’s body. The hand is
grasping the penis from above with the thumb closest to the viewer and the fingers contacting the opposite side of the shaft. Wrinkles of flesh covering the top of the glans and extending about halfway around the glans are apparent. The second photograph presents a closeup of defendant’s
penis with two blue-gloved hands manipulating defendant’s penis to present its underside, again holding it away from defendant’s body. The penis is twisted sufficiently to show the underside