2023 IL App (1st) 192479 SECOND DIVISION June 30, 2023 No. 1-19-2479 ______________________________________________________________________________ IN THE APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS FIRST JUDICIAL DISTRICT ______________________________________________________________________________ ) PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, ) Appeal from the ) Circuit Court of Plaintiff-Appellee, ) Cook County ) v. ) No. 16 CR 1024 ) RYNE DEGRAVE, ) Honorable ) Lawrence E. Flood, Defendant-Appellant. ) Judge Presiding ) _____________________________________________________________________________ JUSTICE ELLIS delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. Presiding Justice Fitzgerald Smith and Justice Cobbs concurred in the judgment and opinion. OPINION ¶1 In August 2015, defendant Ryne Degrave and Victoria Meissner had plans to go to a spa together to commemorate the first anniversary of their marriage. Unfortunately, as had apparently happened too often before, things went sour. A day that should have been filled with celebration instead turned into one full of anger, culminating in a fight that left Meissner with a bloodied and broken nose. While she did not speak to police at first, about a month later, Meissner told them that defendant had punched her and tried to drown her. The State charged defendant with two counts of aggravated domestic battery. ¶2 The trial proceedings turned into a back catalog of their tumultuous relationship. The State introduced evidence that defendant had been violent toward Meissner before. In turn, No. 1-19-2479 defendant also testified about several occasions where Meissner had attacked him to support his claim that she was the initial aggressor on their anniversary fight and that he was defending himself when he struck her. One such incident, which defendant captured on video, occurred in September 2015. But because that fight came after the argument that was the basis for the criminal charges, the trial court prohibited any reference to it and excluded the video. The court later convicted defendant of one count of aggravated domestic battery for breaking Meissner’s nose but acquitted him of trying to drown her. ¶3 Defendant appeals, arguing that the evidence and video of the September fight was highly illustrative of Meissner’s propensity to commit violence and may have bolstered his claim that she was the initial aggressor during the August fight. We agree. Evidence of a victim’s purported violent character is admissible to prove that the victim was the initial aggressor. Here, the video and testimony about the September fight was highly probative of Meissner’s violent character, and we find it of no import that this fight occurred after the one that prompted the State to charge defendant. The court misconstrued the law when it excluded this evidence, and because the evidence was closely balanced, we find plain error. We reverse the conviction and remand for a new trial. ¶4 BACKGROUND ¶5 The proceedings in this case reveal a relationship rife with allegations of violence committed by and against both parties. We recite this turbulent history because it became a key point in the trial and is important to the resolution of this appeal. ¶6 The State charged defendant with two separate counts of …
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