People v. Tate

Kenneth Tate was convicted after a jury trial in Cook County of attempted first degree murder, aggravated criminal sexual assault, and aggravated battery, receiving an aggregate 50-year sentence. He appealed, challenging the sufficiency of the evidence on all convictions and arguing the State misrepresented DNA evidence during closing arguments.

The Appellate Court affirmed. On the attempted murder count, the court held that Tate's prolonged strangulation of the victim, his statement that 'the more you scream, the more you're going to die,' punches to her face, and her loss of consciousness—combined with medical testimony that strangulation can cause death within minutes—supported a rational inference of specific intent to kill, even absent a weapon. The court relied on the principle that strangulation is a continuous act and that abandoning the assault before death does not negate intent already formed. On the sexual assault and battery counts, the court found the victim's testimony credible and sufficiently corroborated by medical findings, photographic evidence of neck injuries, and DNA evidence, rejecting the argument that inconsistencies with her statements to medical personnel created reasonable doubt. Finally, the court found no error in the State's closing argument, concluding the prosecutor properly distinguished the two DNA sources (shirt semen vs. partial oral swab profile) rather than conflating them, and that any confusion was mitigated by defense counsel's rebuttal and jury instructions.

This unpublished Rule 23 decision offers useful reasoning for practitioners on how strangulation evidence alone can establish intent to kill, and on corroboration standards for sexual assault convictions based on a single witness's testimony plus DNA and medical evidence.