In re Elijah W.

2017 IL App (1st) 162648
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedMay 12, 2017
Docket1-16-2648
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 2017 IL App (1st) 162648 (In re Elijah W.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
In re Elijah W., 2017 IL App (1st) 162648 (Ill. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

Digitally signed by Illinois Official Reports Reporter of Decisions Reason: I attest to the accuracy and integrity of this document Appellate Court Date: 2017.05.10 10:43:55 -05'00'

In re Elijah W., 2017 IL App (1st) 162648

Appellate Court In re ELIJAH W., a Minor (The People of the State of Illinois, Caption Petitioner-Appellee, v. Elijah W., a Minor, Respondent-Appellant).

District & No. First District, Sixth Division Docket No. 1-16-2648

Filed March 10, 2017

Decision Under Appeal from the Circuit Court of Cook County, No. 16-JD-1099; the Review Hon. William G. Gamboney, Judge, presiding.

Judgment Affirmed.

Counsel on Michael J. Pelletier, Patricia Mysza, and Daniel T. Mallon, of State Appeal Appellate Defender’s Office, of Chicago, for appellant.

Kimberly M. Foxx, State’s Attorney, of Chicago (Alan J. Spellberg, Janet C. Mahoney, and Bryan Chinwuba, Assistant State’s Attorneys, of counsel), for the People.

Panel JUSTICE DELORT delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. Presiding Justice Hoffman and Justice Cunningham concurred in the judgment and opinion. OPINION

¶1 Respondent, Elijah W., a 13-year-old minor, was charged as a juvenile with two counts of possession of a controlled substance. Both counts were based on illegal drugs which Chicago police officers confiscated from Elijah’s person. Elijah filed a motion to quash his arrest and suppress evidence, alleging he was seized without probable cause or a reasonable, articulable suspicion of criminal activity and without a valid search or arrest warrant. Elijah sought suppression of the drugs seized as a result of the alleged illegal arrest and seizure. The trial court denied Elijah’s motion. Following an adjudication hearing, the court adjudicated Elijah delinquent of both counts of possession of a controlled substance and sentenced him to one year of intensive probation. Elijah appeals the denial of his motion to suppress and seeks to vacate his adjudication. We affirm.

¶2 BACKGROUND ¶3 At the hearing on the motion to suppress, Elijah testified that on May 14, 2016, at about 11 p.m., he stood outside talking to some friends when he saw an unmarked police car turn around the corner toward them. Elijah told his friends to disperse. He began to walk on the sidewalk south on Monticello Avenue toward Augusta Boulevard. The driver of the police vehicle did not activate the emergency lights, siren, or spotlight. After initially passing Elijah, the police vehicle drove in reverse toward him. He turned and started to walk north toward Thomas Street. At that point, the police officer driving the vehicle told Elijah to “come here.” The officer did not yell at Elijah, pull a weapon from his holster, or shine a spotlight on Elijah. All of the officers in the police vehicle wore plain clothes and bulletproof vests with visible badges. Elijah walked toward the vehicle because he felt obligated to listen to the police. ¶4 When he reached the police vehicle, the driver told him to “[g]ive me the weed” and grabbed him underneath his right shoulder. Elijah repeatedly denied possessing any marijuana. The officer told Elijah that only 30 minutes remained on his shift and that if he told the officers “what you got on you, we won’t lock you up.” Elijah responded, “So if I tell you what I have on me, you won’t lock me up?” Two other police officers then exited the vehicle and handcuffed Elijah. He told the officers to look for the drugs in the change pocket of his jeans and in the left pocket of the jogging pants which he wore underneath his jeans. ¶5 Chicago police officer Meeks testified that on the day in question, he was on routine patrol in a high narcotics area with officers Acevedo, McCarthy, and Garcia. The officers wore plain clothes and drove in an unmarked sport utility vehicle. Officer Acevedo drove the vehicle and Officer Meeks sat directly behind him. Each officer was armed, wore a bulletproof vest, and displayed a police badge. The patrol car turned the corner from Augusta Boulevard onto Monticello Avenue at about 10 miles per hour and started to “creep down the street” at a slower speed. The emergency lights and the spotlight were not activated. ¶6 Officer Meeks first observed Elijah standing on the west side of Monticello Avenue. One other person stood with Elijah at the time. Three of the officers recognized Elijah. At that point, Officer Acevedo attempted to conduct a field interview. When the vehicle rolled by Elijah, he looked at the officers and started to walk southbound on Monticello. Officer Acevedo put the police vehicle in reverse and slowly backed up toward Elijah, who then turned and attempted to walk northbound. Officer Acevedo stopped the vehicle and called Elijah to come over to the car. Elijah was nearly parallel with the police vehicle at that time. Parked cars

-2- separated the police vehicle from Elijah. All the windows of the police vehicle were rolled down. Officer Acevedo twice called to Elijah to “come here” in a casual but stern tone of voice. The other officers remained in the vehicle. None of the officers unholstered their weapons or pointed them at Elijah. Officer Acevedo did not shine the vehicle’s spotlight on Elijah. ¶7 Elijah complied and walked toward the police vehicle. Officer Acevedo asked Elijah “what he was doing out there.” Elijah shrugged in response. Officer Acevedo repeated his question in a stern tone. Elijah then responded, “I got a couple rocks on me.” Officer Meeks exited the police vehicle and placed Elijah in handcuffs. He searched a small change pocket on Elijah’s jeans and found six ziplock bags containing suspect crack cocaine. Officer Meeks also searched the jogging pants Elijah wore underneath his jeans and found another plastic bag containing 12 ziplock bags with capsules of suspect heroin in the right pocket. ¶8 On cross-examination, Officer Meeks testified that Elijah was free to walk away while Officer Acevedo conducted the field interview. As they first approached, Elijah walked a few feet away from the police vehicle and then initially stopped on his own. Elijah also hesitated before approaching the police vehicle. Officer Meeks stated that when Officer Acevedo called to Elijah for the second time, he use a stern tone but did not yell at him. Officer Meeks did not recall Officer Acevedo reaching out of the window to grab Elijah. ¶9 Following this testimony, the trial court took judicial notice there was an existing warrant on Elijah at the time in question. Both parties stipulated that, despite the warrant, the original police report indicated that he had no active warrants. The trial court stated that under Illinois law, “the police can arrest [a suspect] even if that particular officer doesn’t know that there’s an arrest warrant.” The court found Officer Meeks’s testimony more credible than Elijah’s testimony. The court found Elijah demonstrated at the time the police approached him that he did not want to speak to the officer seeking to conduct a field interview: “As to whether or not there was a field interview or a Terry stop or outside of any kind of curfew violation or a prior warrant, it’s a difficult question as to whether the Mendenhall factors have been fulfilled or whether this 13-year-old who is told multiple times to come to the car, a 13-year-old was without his consent.” ¶ 10 The court found the police had a justifiable reason to stop Elijah simply for violating curfew. Because Elijah blurted out, “I’ve got a couple rocks on me,” the police officers no longer needed to conduct a field interview. In addition, the court found that under the imputed knowledge doctrine and the objective standard doctrine, Elijah’s arrest would have been justified due to the outstanding warrant. The court denied Elijah’s motion to suppress.

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2017 IL App (1st) 162648, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-elijah-w-illappct-2017.