People v. Conley (In re Conley)

2023 IL App (1st) 211084

221 N.E.3d 655

468 Ill.Dec. 827

IN RE COMMITMENT OF Gregory CONLEY

(The People of the State of Illinois, Petitioner-Appellee,

v.Gregory Conley, Respondent-Appellant).

No. 1-21-1084

Appellate Court of Illinois, First District, Sixth Division.

Filed March 31, 2023

Rehearing Denied July 6, 2023

Michael R. Johnson, Kate E. Levine, of Johnson & Levine LLC., for appellant.

Kwame Raoul, Jane E. Notz, Katherine M. Doersch, Chicago, Joshua M. Schneider of Manassa Law, of State of Illinois, for appellee.

OPINION

JUSTICE C.A. WALKER delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion.

¶ 1 In September 2015, the State filed a petition to civilly commit respondent Gregory Conley to institutional care under the Sexually Violent Persons Commitment Act (SVP Act) ( 725 ILCS 207/1 et seq. (West 1998)). Following a bench trial, the circuit court found Conley was a sexually violent person (SVP Act) and granted the State's petition. On appeal, Conley argues (1) the petition violated his constitutional right to a speedy trial, (2) the prosecution of the petition violated his right to be free from double jeopardy, (3) the petition was barred by statute of limitations and res judicata , and (4) the evidence was insufficient to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he was an SVP. For the following reasons, we affirm.

¶ 2 I. BACKGROUND

¶ 3 On May 5, 1999, the State filed a petition to civilly commit Conley to institutional care under the SVP Act ( 725 ILCS 207/1 et seq. (West 1998)) after he served his prison term on a 1993 conviction for attempted aggravated criminal sexual assault. In April 2000, a jury rendered a verdict that Conley was an SVP. Conley filed a motion for a new trial, and the circuit court granted the motion. In October 2000, Conley escaped from the custody of the Department of Human Services while being transported to court. As a result, Conley was convicted of escape, two counts of possessing contraband in a penal institution, and two counts of aggravated battery. In July 2001, Conley was sentenced to 30 years in prison. On August 16, 2001, the State voluntarily dismissed Conley's 1999 SVP case.

¶ 4 Conley served his sentence on the escape conviction between 2001 and 2015. On September 30, 2015, the State filed a petition to civilly commit Conley under the SVP Act. Conley filed a motion to dismiss pursuant to section 2-619 of the Code of Civil Procedure ( 735 ILCS 5/2-619 (West 2014) ). In the motion, Conley argued (1) the petition was barred by res judicata and statute of limitations, (2) the petition violated the double jeopardy clause, (3) the prosecution of the case violated his constitutional right to a speedy trial, and (4) the Act was unconstitutional as applied to him. The court denied the motion to dismiss on July 22, 2016.

¶ 5 On May 3, 2021, the case proceeded to a bench trial. The State submitted a certified statement of Conley's 1993 conviction for attempted aggravated criminal sexual assault. The State also introduced the testimony of Dr. John Arroyo and Dr. Steven Gaskell, clinical psychologist experts in sex offender evaluation, diagnosis, and risk assessment. Both Arroyo and Gaskell performed an evaluation of Conley in 2015. The doctors later attempted to interview Conley, but Conley refused. In 2020, the doctors updated their evaluations by reviewing Conley's criminal history records, medical records, and treatment records.

¶ 6 Conley's records revealed he joined a gang and began selling drugs and robbing stores at 12 years old. He started making obscene phone calls at the age of 13 and had his first deviant sexual thought about raping someone at the age of 15. Conley was arrested for burglary at 15 years old and was convicted of burglary at 17 years old. He also reported participating in "gang rapes of girls in the neighborhood."

¶ 7 Conley was convicted of several offenses of rape, deviant sexual assault, and robbery committed in 1979 and 1980 and was sentenced to a concurrent 14 years in prison for each offense. In 1988, he was convicted of attempted aggravated kidnapping and was sentenced to five years in prison. In 1991, Conley was convicted of attempted aggravated criminal sexual assault and was sentenced to 17 years in prison. In 2000, he was convicted of escape, possessing contraband in a penal institution, and aggravated battery and was sentenced to 30 years in prison. During his incarceration, Conley averaged 14 disciplinary tickets a year between 1980 and 1990. Between 2001 and 2011, Conley received 15 tickets. Since his second commitment, Conley has had "maybe four warnings" from the institution.

¶ 8 Dr. Arroyo diagnosed Conley with antisocial personality disorder and other specified paraphilic disorders that cause him to be sexually attracted to nonconsenting partners. Dr. Arroyo explained this type of paraphilia as "any persistent and intense sexual interest, other than sexual interest in genital stimulation or preparatory fondling with phenotypically normal, physically mature consenting human partners." Dr. Arroyo stated that this paraphilia becomes a disorder "when it is causing the individual distress or impairment, or satisfying that paraphilia causes harm or risk of harm to others." Dr. Arroyo described Conley's pattern of behavior as Conley

"walking the streets, that he would look for victims that were vulnerable. He would then follow them until they were in a quiet area or quickly move them to a quiet area. He would then sometimes threaten them; punch them; tell them he had a gun or knife. He would vaginally penetrate them, and then he would leave."

Conley also underwent a penile plethysmograph examination which showed "clinically significant arousal to opportunistic non-consent themes and muted sadism." Dr. Arroyo admitted that the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition DSM-5 does not identify other specified paraphilic disorder. Dr. Arroyo opined that Conley's diagnoses were congenital or acquired conditions that affect the emotional or volitional capacity and predispose Conley to commit acts of sexual violence.

¶ 9 Dr. Arroyo conducted a risk assessment using the Static-99R and Static-2002R actuarial instruments. Conley scored a 5, an above average risk category, on both assessments. Based on the Static-99R score, Conley had between 21% and 32% likelihood of recidivism within five years. Using the Static-2002R score, Conley was 1.9 times more likely to be rearrested or reconvicted when compared to the typical sex offender who scored a 3. Dr. Arroyo also considered factors not analyzed in the risk assessments such as (1) capacity for relationship stability, (2) hostility toward women, (3) lack of concern for others, (4) impulsiveness, (5) poor problem solving, (6) sex as coping, (7) deviate sexual preference, and (8) cooperation with supervision. Dr. Arroyo stated that he did not see any evidence that Conley currently acted out toward women, that Conley has received treatment for sexual coping, and that Conley had difficulty with supervision in the past. Dr. Arroyo acknowledged that Conley had participated in a six-month sex offender treatment program in 1998 and was currently in phase three of his treatment program but did not believe Conley's treatment was a protective factor. Dr. Arroyo opined that Conley was an SVP.

¶ 10 Dr. Gaskell diagnosed Conley with other specified paraphilic disorder, sexually attracted to nonconsenting females, nonexclusive type because "he had a pattern of using physical force and threats of a weapon to either coerce or attempt to coerce adolescent and adult females into engaging in sexual behavior with him." Like Dr. Arroyo, Dr. Gaskell referenced the 2018 penile plethysmograph test, as well as a subsequent test conducted in 2000. Dr. Gaskell explained the 2000 test showed arousal to coercion and violence toward women and the 2018 test was "very similar." In 2018, Dr. Gaskell reported that Conley was "having fantasies that involved, objectifying and demeaning females, and having dominance over them" and Conley's "most arousing sexual fantasy that he never acted upon was raping three women."

¶ 11 Dr. Gaskell also diagnosed Conley with other specified personality disorders because "he meets the full criteria for antisocial personality disorder," including "[r]eckless disregard for the safety of others; irritability and aggressiveness by repeated physical assaults; impulsivity; and lack of remorse." Dr. Gaskell explained Conley had a "history of committing serious criminal offenses." Conley also had a history of committing "other nonsexual offenses" and "rule violations that he's had in prison." For instance, in 2015, Conley threatened to stab a female security staff, and in 2017, he was in a fight.

¶ 12 Dr. Gaskell stated that the presence of both other specified paraphilic disorder and other specified personality disorder was significant because it "shows that he has sexual deviance, and the other one makes it more likely that he's going to act on that sexual deviance." Dr. Gaskell noted that Conley has had "fantasies about objectifying and demeaning women and being dominant over them" and, in 2018, Conley stated "his most arousing fantasy [was] that he has not completed raping three women." Dr. Gaskell believed Conley's disorders were "chronic" and "lifelong" that can be "managed with treatment." Dr. Gaskell performed a Static-99R and a Static-2002R risk assessments. Conley scored a 6 on the Static-99R and a 5 on the Static-2002R. Dr. Gaskell found, based on the risk assessment scores, Conley was respectively 3.77 and 1.97 times more likely to reoffend than the average sex offender. Conley's Static-2002R score indicated that he had a 19.1% likelihood of recidivism within five years. Dr. Gaskell also considered factors such as "early onset of sexual offending; any deviant sexual interest; deviant arousal on the PPG; anti-personality [sic ] disorder; hostility; impulsiveness/recklessness; separation from parents;...