People v. Connolly

751 N.E.2d 1219, 322 Ill. App. 3d 905, 256 Ill. Dec. 382, 2001 Ill. App. LEXIS 452
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJune 13, 2001
Docket2 — 00—0716
StatusPublished
Cited by58 cases

This text of 751 N.E.2d 1219 (People v. Connolly) 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
People v. Connolly, 751 N.E.2d 1219, 322 Ill. App. 3d 905, 256 Ill. Dec. 382, 2001 Ill. App. LEXIS 452 (Ill. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

JUSTICE RAPP

delivered the opinion of the court:

Following a bench trial in the circuit court of Du Page County, defendant, Martin Connolly, was convicted of, inter alla, driving under the influence of alcohol (625 ILCS 5/11 — 501(a)(2) (West 1998)). Defendant appeals only his conviction of driving under the influence of alcohol, contending (1) that the trial court erred in denying his motion for a directed finding at the close of the State’s case; (2) that the State failed to prove him guilty beyond a reasonable doubt; and (3) that he was denied a fair trial. We affirm.

I. FACTS

On November 16, 1999, defendant was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol (625 ILCS 5/11 — 501(a)(2) (West 1998)). Defendant waived his right to a trial by jury, and the case proceeded to a bench trial.

The State called Officer Razzino of the Lombard police department. Officer Razzino was on patrol duty early in the morning of November 16, 1999. At approximately 2:45 a.m., Officer Razzino was heading west on Roosevelt Road approaching Highland Avenue when he observed a blue Ford van in front of him. At that location, Roosevelt Road has two westbound lanes and two eastbound lanes. The westbound lanes are separated from the eastbound lanes by a double yellow fine. The two westbound lanes are separated by a white dashed line. Officer Razzino saw the van cross over the white dashed line dividing the westbound lanes by approximately one to two feet. The van reentered its lane of traffic and then crossed approximately five to six inches over the double yellow line into the eastbound lanes.

Officer Razzino followed the van while running the registration through dispatch. At the intersection of Roosevelt and Finley Roads, Officer Razzino activated his squad car’s emergency lights to effect a traffic stop. The van traveled two or three more blocks and then pulled over. Officer Razzino radioed in the traffic stop and got out of his squad car. Defendant immediately got out of the van and approached Officer Razzino. Officer Razzino told defendant to stay where he was and defendant responded by saying, “What did I do wrong?” Officer Razzino explained to defendant that he was stopped for improper lane usage and failure to signal. Defendant said that he did not believe he committed those offenses and asked again what he had done wrong. Officer Razzino explained once more why he stopped defendant and then asked defendant for his driver’s Acense and proof of insurance. Defendant just stood there and stared at Officer Razzino. Officer Razzino asked defendant again to produce his driver’s license and proof of insurance. Defendant again asked what he did wrong while he pulled out a state identification card. Officer Razzino ran defendant through the law enforcement data system. While waiting for a response from dispatch, Officer Razzino observed that defendant’s eyes were bloodshot and glassy and that defendant had a strong odor of alcoholic beverage emanating from his breath when he spoke. Officer Razzino asked defendant where he was coming from, and defendant said he had been at a bar in Chicago. When asked if he had anything to drink at the bar, defendant threw his hands up in the air and said “Man, I will just leave my car here and I will walk to my girlfriend’s house. We don’t have to do this.” Defendant then said something to the effect of “Why don’t you go ahead and arrest me? You are going to do it anyway.” Defendant then said that he had about a six-pack of beer within the last three hours.

Officer Razzino asked defendant if he could recite the alphabet beginning at E and ending at W Defendant said that he could do it and recited “A, B, C, D, E, H, J” and then stopped and stated “I can’t do this. Why don’t you just go ahead and arrest me?” Next, Officer Razzino asked defendant if he could count backwards from 67 to 43. Defendant said that he could not and refused any further field sobriety testing.

Officer Razzino said that in his opinion defendant was under the influence of alcohol. Officer Razzino based his opinion on defendant’s incoherence; his inability to answer simple questions or to follow simple instructions; his red, glassy, and bloodshot eyes; the strong odor of alcoholic beverage emanating from his breath; his admission of drinking; his inability to perform two field sobriety tests; and his refusal to take further field sobriety tests.

Officer Razzino advised defendant that he was under arrest for driving under the influence of alcohol, handcuffed him, and took him into custody. Officer Razzino took defendant to the Lombard police station, and defendant was put through standard booking procedure. Officer Razzino said that he handed defendant a copy of the warning to motorist and read the warning to defendant in its entirety from a standard form. When asked to submit to a Breathalyzer test, defendant refused, saying that he “felt pretty buzzed” and that there was a possibility that he “might blow over.”

On cross-examination, Officer Razzino testified that it is approximately a mile to a mile and a half from the location where he saw the van cross the white and yellow lines to the location where defendant pulled over. That span of Roosevelt Road has three intersections with traffic lights, and Officer Razzino did not observe defendant commit any traffic violations while traveling that distance. There was nothing unusual in the way defendant pulled over. Defendant did not stumble or fall when he got out of the van. Defendant was not swaying or staggering and did not need to lean on the van for support. Defendant was not belligerent or out of control. Officer Razzino did not observe defendant having difficulty in retrieving his identification card. Defendant was standing near Officer Razzino when a dispatch advised that defendant’s license was suspended, but Officer Razzino tried to keep defendant from hearing the information by putting the radio up to his ear. Defendant said, “[W]hy don’t you just go ahead and arrest me because you are going to anyway” after Officer Razzino determined the status of defendant’s license. Officer Razzino did not notice anything irregular about defendant’s speech. Officer Razzino denied that defendant said that he wanted to speak to an attorney before he would take any field sobriety tests. Officer Razzino did not include the fact that defendant was incoherent in his police report regarding the incident.

Officer Razzino indicated that defendant said that he wanted to consult with an attorney before submitting to the Breathalyzer test. Officer Razzino told defendant that he did not have the right to speak to an attorney before deciding whether to submit to the Breathalyzer test and that he could talk to an attorney later but that defendant needed to decide right now if he wanted to submit to the Breathalyzer test. Officer Razzino considered defendant’s request to speak to an attorney before submitting to the Breathalyzer test as a refusal and recorded it as such. Defendant made a phone call after refusing the Breathalyzer test.

Officer Razzino admitted that defendant was able to recite his own phone number, his brother’s name, phone number, and address without difficulty within an hour of his arrest.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

People v. Jackson
2026 IL App (5th) 240087-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2026)
People v. Lowry
2026 IL App (5th) 240401-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2026)
People v. Johnson
2025 IL 130447 (Illinois Supreme Court, 2025)
People v. Grayer
2025 IL App (4th) 241015-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2025)
People v. Miranda
2025 IL App (1st) 232247-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2025)
People v. McAtee
2024 IL App (1st) 220842-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2024)
People v. Keenan
2024 IL App (4th) 230422-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2024)
People v. Ward
2024 IL App (2d) 190243-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2024)
People v. Tazelaar
2024 IL App (4th) 230245-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2024)
People v. Rice
2023 IL App (2d) 200673-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2023)
People v. Givler
2022 IL App (3d) 200255-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2022)
People v. Collins
2022 IL App (3d) 190244-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2022)
People v. Dwyer -Ridge
2022 IL App (2d) 200224-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2022)
People v. Durosier
2021 IL App (1st) 200050-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2021)
People v. Garcia
2021 IL App (1st) 192576-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2021)
People v. Dye
2021 IL App (3d) 180503-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2021)
People v. Mueller
2021 IL App (2d) 190868 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2021)
People v. O'Connor
2021 IL App (1st) 191437-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2021)
People v. Wallace
2021 IL App (3d) 180168-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2021)
People v. Johnson
2020 IL App (2d) 190935-U (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2020)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
751 N.E.2d 1219, 322 Ill. App. 3d 905, 256 Ill. Dec. 382, 2001 Ill. App. LEXIS 452, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-connolly-illappct-2001.