Guilty verdict in Annawan sex assault case

After a two-day bench trial Danyel BJ Smith, 25, of Elmwood, was found guilty by Judge Jeffery O’Connor of both Class X felony predatory criminal sexual assault and Class X felony aggravated kidnapping of a victim under the age of 13.

The charges in Henry County Circuit Court stem from an incident from Aug. 21, 2015, at the Hatzer-Nordstrom Equip-ment auction in Annawan.

Class X is the most serious class of felonies, and a Class X felony is punishable by six to 30 years’ imprisonment. An extended term Class X felony is punishable by 30 to 60 years in prison.

In court Friday, State’s Attorney Matthew Schutte called Henry County Deputy Jim Kessinger to testify about his involvement on the morning of Aug. 21, 2015. Kessinger said Smith was in custody at 10:45 and that he spoke with Smith’s mother and Smith the same day. He also interviewed the four young men who helpd catch Smith and the grandfather of the 7-year-old girl.

The state also called Maureen “Molly” Hofmann, an advanced practice nurse from the Pediatric Resource Center in Peoria. Hofmann testified she did a sexual assault evaluation of the child and found bruising and an abrasion. She noted that a follow-up exam the next month showed all the injuries had healed, as expected.

After Hofmann’s testimony Chief Public Defender James Cosby asked for a directed verdict of not guilty, which was denied.

Julie Hutchison, Smith’s mother, testified that she and her husband were with Smith at the auction and that Smith was not out of her sight for more than 10 minutes.

The defense also called psychologist Dr. Kirk Witherspoon to testify about his evaluation of Smith. As for the question of whether the results rose to the level of guilty but insane, Dr. Witherspoon said there was nothing to support that in his evaluation. He noted that Smith acts without forethought and has a short span of attention but nothing rose to the level of insanity.

As for whether Smith suffers from a mental illness, Dr. Witherspoon said Smith has had severe mental problems and epilepsy and would need to be held where he could get mental health care.

Under cross-examination by Schutte, Dr. Witherspoon said the diagnosis of Smith being schizophrenic and bi-polar came in part from Smith’s mother. Schutte said medical records showed that in another case Smith talked about his other personality taking over.

In his closing argument Schutte said there was a common theme running through the testimony of all the witnesses, ranging in age from 7 to 60, involving three groups of people who were “absolutely firm” about Smith’s identity. Schutte said that during his police interview, Smith asked if spending the night in jail would affect his Social Security.

In his closing arguments Cosby pointed out that all seven witnesses, including the victim, could only agree on one thing, that the suspect was wearing jeans, adding that “eyewitness identification is inherently unreliable.” Cosby said Smith told Detective Kessinger that he was leaving the camper when he saw the kids coming with a man described like all the witnesses described Smith.

Judge O’Connor said when the search for Smith finally concluded, the grandfather said he was one hundred percent certain about Smith’s identity and the other six all identified him. The judge held up a photo of Smith’s jeans with a red hammer strap attached and said, “This exhibit is the hammer on this case. The state has met its burden. He (Smith) knew what he was doing. He chose the premises. He shut out the boy. When Grandpa broke through the door, away he ran.”

A pre-sentencing investigation was ordered. Sentencing and post-trial motions are set for 9 a.m. on July 6.