People v. Gossage

In this appeal, the defendant, Danny Gossage, challenges as excessive the two concurrent 10-year terms of imprisonment imposed for the offenses of rape and aggravated battery, after a jury found him guilty of those offenses as well as unlawful restraint. The evidence presented at trial by the prosecution tended to establish that Julie LaShorne, then a 20-year-old student at Western Illinois University, was walking back to her dormitory from a party at approximately 2 a.m. on April 9,1978. She was alone at the time. A pickup truck pulled up on the street, and two males disembarked from the…