People v. Eubanks

2019 IL 123525
CourtIllinois Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 29, 2021
Docket123525
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 2019 IL 123525 (People v. Eubanks) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Illinois Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Eubanks, 2019 IL 123525 (Ill. 2021).

Opinion

Digitally signed by Reporter of Decisions Reason: I attest to Illinois Official Reports the accuracy and integrity of this document Supreme Court Date: 2021.01.29 14:01:08 -06'00'

People v. Eubanks, 2019 IL 123525

Caption in Supreme THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, Appellant, v. RALPH Court: EUBANKS, Appellee.

Docket No. 123525

Filed December 5, 2019

Decision Under Appeal from the Appellate Court for the First District; heard in that Review court on appeal from the Circuit Court of Cook County, the Hon. Timothy Joyce, Judge, presiding.

Judgment Appellate court judgment affirmed in part and reversed in part. Circuit court judgment affirmed in part and reversed in part. Cause remanded.

Counsel on Kwame Raoul, Attorney General, of Springfield (David L. Franklin, Appeal Solicitor General, and Michael M. Glick and Leah M. Bendik, Assistant Attorneys General, of Chicago, of counsel), for the People.

James E. Chadd, State Appellate Defender, Patricia Mysza, Deputy Defender, and Deepa Punjabi, Assistant Appellate Defender, of State Appellate Defender’s Office, of Chicago, for appellee. Justices JUSTICE THOMAS delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. Justices Kilbride, Garman, and Karmeier concurred in the judgment and opinion. Chief Justice Burke specially concurred, with opinion. Justice Theis concurred in part and dissented in part, with opinion. Justice Neville took no part in the decision.

OPINION

¶1 Shortly before 9 p.m. on December 21, 2009, Maria Worthon was killed by a hit-and-run driver near the intersection of Greenview and Greenleaf Avenues in Chicago. Worthon’s son, Jeremiah, was seriously injured in the accident. The State charged defendant, Ralph Eubanks, with numerous offenses arising out of the incident. A jury ultimately convicted defendant of first degree murder (720 ILCS 5/9-1(a)(2) (West 2008)), failure to report an accident involving death or injury (625 ILCS 5/11-401(b), (d) (West 2008)), and aggravated driving under the influence (DUI) (id. § 11-501(a)(6), (d)(1)(C), (d)(1)(F) (driving with any amount of a controlled substance in the person’s blood, breath, or urine)). Defendant appealed, and the Appellate Court, First District, reversed defendant’s aggravated DUI conviction, holding that section 11-501.2(c)(2) of the Illinois Vehicle Code (id. § 11-501.2(c)(2)) is facially unconstitutional because it permits compelled chemical testing without a warrant “in all cases where an officer has probable cause to believe that a driver under the influence has caused death or personal injury to another.” 2017 IL App (1st) 142837, ¶ 66. The court also reversed defendant’s conviction for first degree murder and remanded for a new trial, holding that the Cook County circuit court abused its discretion in denying defendant’s request for a reckless homicide instruction. Finally, the court reduced the felony class of defendant’s conviction of failure to report an accident. We allowed the State’s petition for leave to appeal. Ill. S. Ct. R. 315 (eff. July 1, 2018).

¶2 BACKGROUND ¶3 Motions to Suppress and to Declare Statute Unconstitutional ¶4 Prior to trial, defendant filed a motion to suppress the results of blood and urine testing that was done against his will. Defendant contended that he did not consent to chemical testing of his blood and urine, the police did not have a warrant for the testing, and no exigent circumstances were present that would have prevented the police from obtaining a warrant. Accordingly, defendant alleged that the testing amounted to an unconstitutional search. Defendant also moved to declare section 11-501.2(c)(2) of the Vehicle Code unconstitutional on its face and as applied to his case. At the relevant time, this statute provided as follows: “Notwithstanding any ability to refuse under this Code to submit to these tests or any ability to revoke the implied consent to these tests, if a law enforcement officer has probable cause to believe that a motor vehicle driven by or in actual physical control of a person under the influence of alcohol, other drug or drugs, or intoxicating

-2- compound or compounds, or any combination thereof has caused the death or personal injury to another, that person shall submit, upon the request of a law enforcement officer, to a chemical test or tests of his or her blood, breath or urine for the purpose of determining the alcohol content thereof or the presence of any other drug or combination of both. This provision does not affect the applicability of or imposition of driver’s license sanctions under Section 11-501.1 of this Code.” 1 625 ILCS 5/11-501.2(c)(2) (West 2008). Defendant contended that this section was unconstitutional under Missouri v. McNeely, 569 U.S. 141 (2013), as it allowed the police to obtain chemical testing in the absence of a case- specific determination of exigency. ¶5 At the hearing on defendant’s motions, the parties stipulated to the following facts. On December 21, 2009, defendant was arrested in connection with a hit-and-run accident that resulted in the death of Maria Worthon and injuries to her son, Jeremiah. The police had probable cause for the arrest. Defendant was initially taken to district 24 but was eventually transferred to area 3 for processing and questioning. An officer informed him that he was being charged with DUI, read him the DUI motorist warnings, and asked defendant to take a breath test. Defendant refused. Defendant also refused to submit to blood and urine testing. An officer noted the time of the refusal at 12:05 a.m. ¶6 Defendant was left alone in the interview room until 1:37 a.m., when Officer Michael Deneen told him that he was going to take him to the hospital because he was required to give blood and urine samples. At 2:53 a.m., an officer took defendant to the hospital. At the hospital, defendant refused to comply with the blood test, and he was physically restrained by hospital security. His wrists were cuffed to separate rails of a hospital bed, and blood was forcibly taken from him at 4 a.m. A nurse then asked him to provide a urine sample, and defendant refused. The nurse threatened to take the urine with a catheter, and she ordered a catheter at 4:56 a.m. When the nurse approached defendant with the catheter, defendant agreed to provide a urine sample. Defendant provided the sample at 5:20 a.m. ¶7 The blood and urine samples were sent to the Illinois State Police crime lab for analysis. The blood tested negative for alcohol or any illegal substance. The urine tested positive for cannabis, ecstasy, and cocaine metabolite. ¶8 The trial court denied both motions. The court found that the statute was valid under Schmerber v. California, 384 U.S. 757 (1966), and People v. Jones, 214 Ill. 2d 187 (2005). In Jones, this court interpreted Schmerber as allowing compulsory blood testing when the police have probable cause to believe that a person has been driving while intoxicated. Jones, 214 Ill. 2d at 195-96. The court acknowledged the later authority of McNeely but found that McNeely had reasserted the validity of Schmerber. With respect to the motion to suppress, the court found that the totality of the circumstances presented a sufficient exigency that the police were

1 The statute was later amended to add (1) the phrase “the law enforcement officer shall request, and” before the phrase “that person shall submit” and (2) “other bodily substance” to the list of things that may be tested. See Pub. Act 97-471, § 5 (eff. Aug. 22, 2011); Pub. Act 99-697, § 20 (eff. July 29, 2016);

Related

People v. Eubanks
2019 IL 123525 (Illinois Supreme Court, 2019)

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Bluebook (online)
2019 IL 123525, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-eubanks-ill-2021.