Jury resumes deliberations today in rape case

After more than five hours, the six-man, six-woman jury deciding the fate of 16-year-old ward of the state Ronald Patterson went home late Wednesday and will return to the courtroom of Cook County Judge Ellen Beth Mandeltort this morning to resume deliberations.

The deliberations followed Wednesday afternoon's closing arguments, which featured an impassioned address by Cook County Assistant Public Defender Larry Kugler, who argued enough reasonable doubt exists to acquit his client. He challenged the testimony of the complaining witness, a mental health worker at Streamwood's John Costigan Center, a residential treatment facility for adolescents with behavioral problems that has been Patterson's home for three years.

The woman was transporting Patterson back to the center in a company minivan on Dec. 14, 2008 following his one-day visit with relatives, when she claimed he forced her to exit the expressway and drive to a deserted parking lot in a Schaumburg industrial park. When they stopped, she said Patterson choked her, pinned her against the van, then shoved her into it and forced her to perform sex acts, leaving her bruised, sobbing and fearing for her life.

Kugler reminded the jury that forensic testing revealed no DNA from the then-15-year-old Patterson.

He also questioned the woman's claims that she had been choked by Patterson, who witnesses said weighed between 250 and 300 pounds at the time, but weighs about half that now. Kugler suggested that would have resulted in more obvious injuries to her neck than a "little red mark," which neither the Schaumburg police officer who took her statement nor the emergency room doctor who examined her noted in their reports, he said. He also pointed out that while prosecutors repeatedly referred to the bruises and abrasions to her arms and hip, they never inquired how she got them and presented no evidence of other bruises that would have been consistent with the allegations against Patterson.

"How is it you're not kicking or scratching his face?" asked Kugler, who also questioned why the woman, who said she works out regularly and runs four to six miles a day, didn't run away.

"She wants to make you think there was no possibility of fighting back," Kugler said.

The woman painted Patterson as "out of control," he said, but testified the teenager never hit or punched her and never displayed a weapon. Lastly, he suggested the police should have informed Patterson's caseworker from the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services before they interviewed the minor, who has been charged as an adult with aggravated criminal sexual assault and faces six to 30 years in prison if convicted.

Patterson testified the woman initiated sex, which he says was consensual. He testified they met for the first time two days earlier when the woman was assigned to take him to a movie as a reward for good behavior.

He claimed he never choked or forced her to perform sex acts, never slammed her against the outside of the van, and that no struggle occurred inside the van. He also denied almost everything in his statement to police, saying he signed the statement because the officer told him to.

Cook County Assistant State's Attorney Mike Andre came out swinging in his rebuttal to Kugler.

"I guess the people of the state of Illinois ought to apologize to Ronald Patterson because the wrong person was charged," said Andre, who called Patterson's claims lies. The complaining witness "should have been prosecuted for statutory rape."

Why would someone initiate sex with a minor, then tell co-workers and police she was raped, Andre asked. There were no witnesses and Patterson wasn't going to talk, Andre said. Instead she spoke up, subjected herself to exams and questions, then came into court to reveal the most intimate details of her life, in order to "expose the rapist for the man he is," he said.

"The defense is asking you to second-guess her," Andre said. "It's insulting to sit here and blame her for what he did. It's not her fault."

Deliberations continue at 9:30 a.m. today in Rolling Meadows' Third Municipal District.