People v. Sanders

Defendant was convicted, after jury trial, of two counts of criminal sexual assault, alleging that he knew the victim was unable to give consent due to intoxication. Defendant was a a bartender who had been providing victim with free alcohol all night. As nothing in record indicates Defendant knew what victim was saying in her text messages to bouncer, content of messages was irrelevant, and court allowed bouncer to testify as to victim's cognitive abilities during messaging. Court properly denied Defendant's Batson challenge, and did not err by failing to sua sponte address factors other than deciding that no pattern of discrimination had been shown. Court properly prohibited defense counsel from introducing content of sexually suggestive text messages victim sent to bouncer on night of offense. (STEIGMANN and APPLETON, concurring.)