People v. Furlong

578 N.E.2d 77, 217 Ill. App. 3d 1047, 160 Ill. Dec. 898, 1991 Ill. App. LEXIS 1223
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJuly 18, 1991
Docket1-89-1133
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 578 N.E.2d 77 (People v. Furlong) 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. Furlong, 578 N.E.2d 77, 217 Ill. App. 3d 1047, 160 Ill. Dec. 898, 1991 Ill. App. LEXIS 1223 (Ill. Ct. App. 1991).

Opinion

PRESIDING JUSTICE JIGANTI

delivered the opinion of the court:

Following a jury trial, the defendant Michael Furlong was convicted of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver and sentenced to a prison term of six years and six months. He contends on appeal that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress evidence seized from his luggage after exposure to a narcotics detector dog. The defendant also contends that he was denied a fair trial as a result of the State’s failure to disclose the substance of a statement as required by the supreme court discovery rules. 107 Ill. 2d R. 412(a)(ii).

At a hearing on the motion to suppress, the defendant presented the testimony of Carl Ekman, a special agent with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) who was assigned to O’Hare airport. Ekman testified that at 8:20 p.m. on May 16, 1986, he and his partner, Agent Robert Fulkerson, Jr., were observing passengers deplane from a flight originating in West Palm Beach, Florida. Ekman explained that West Palm Beach is considered a source city for narcotics. The defendant exited the jetway carrying a bag that appeared to be lightly packed. The agents followed the defendant and overheard him ask a ticket agent where the baggage area was located. The defendant, continuously glancing over his shoulder, proceeded to the lower-level baggage area, bypassed the baggage carrousels and quickly took an escalator back to the ticket area. After stopping in a gift shop, the defendant made a telephone call and again walked past the ticket counters. At that point, Ekman and Fulkerson approached the defendant and identified themselves as DEA agents. Although at least one of the agents was armed, no weapon was displayed. When they asked the defendant if they could speak with him, he responded, “Sure.”

Ekman then asked the defendant to produce a copy of his airline ticket and identification. According to Ekman, the defendant’s chest and stomach were visibly shaking. The ticket was purchased earlier that day and paid for in cash. The defendant’s return flight was scheduled for 12:02 a.m. on May 18, approximately 28 hours after his arrival in Chicago. The defendant stated that the reason for the short trip was to see a baseball game. When asked which team he came to see, the defendant hesitated and was unable to answer.

Ekman returned the defendant’s ticket and Florida driver’s license and told him that they were conducting a drug investigation. In response to Ekman’s question, the defendant indicated that he worked on a produce farm and that he was not carrying drugs. Ekman then asked if the defendant would consent to a search of his bag, informing him that he had a right to refuse the search and that he was free to leave. When the defendant refused the search, Ekman told him that the bag would be detained for a search by a narcotics detector dog and that the defendant had the option of remaining with the bag during the search, which would take about 15 minutes, or leaving the airport and having the bag delivered to him later. The defendant stated that he wanted to leave the airport and did not know where he would be staying. The agents then took down the information listed on the defendant’s driver’s license.

At that point, a friend of the defendant approached the agents and gave them his address and telephone number. The defendant and his friend then left the airport. A short time later, a narcotics detector dog reacted positively to the defendant’s bag and a search warrant was obtained. Two bags of cocaine were found inside the bag.

The defendant also called Agent Fulkerson, whose testimony was substantially similar to that of Agent Ekman. The State presented the testimony of Officer Thomas Kinsella, the handler of the narcotics detector dog. At the conclusion of the hearing, the trial court denied the defendant’s motion to suppress, finding that the defendant had consented to the initial encounter with the DEA agents.

At trial, Agents Ekman and Fulkerson again testified to the events surrounding their confrontation with the defendant and the search of his bag. The defendant, testifying in his own behalf, stated that he did not know that the cocaine was in his bag. He testified that he was given a ride to the airport by an acquaintance named Gary Fortinier and that Fortinier must have put the cocaine in the bag when he loaded it into his car. On cross-examination, the prosecutor asked, “Did you tell Agent Ekman on the plane that Gary Fortinier sold you the cocaine, and you bought [sic] it up to Chicago to turn it around?” No objection was made to this question, and the defendant answered, “No, I didn’t.”

When the State indicated that it would call Agent Ekman in rebuttal, defense counsel objected to any testimony on his part concerning prior inconsistent statements made by the defendant because the State failed to disclose any such statements in its answer to discovery. The State responded that the defendant was notified of this information because Agent Ekman’s report listed the source of the cocaine as “Gary Fortinier, age 29-32, West Palm Beach, Florida.” The trial court ruled that the report was not sufficient compliance with the discovery rules, but that the defendant’s objection was untimely because he failed to object to the State’s question during cross-examination which laid the foundation for impeachment.

Agent Ekman then testified in rebuttal that the defendant was extradited from Florida to Chicago on January 30, 1987. During the flight, the defendant told Ekman that he bought four ounces of cocaine from Gary Fortinier and brought it to Chicago with the intention of selling it for double or triple the price he paid. In surrebuttal, the defendant denied making that statement to Ekman.

The defendant first contends that the court erred in denying his motion to suppress evidence. Specifically, he argues that the court erred in finding that the initial encounter between the defendant and the DEA agents was a consensual one. He further maintains that the agents lacked a reasonable, articulable suspicion that his bag contained drugs and that the dog alert search was therefore illegal.

Relying upon the Supreme Court decision in Florida v. Royer (1983), 460 U.S. 491, 497-98, 75 L. Ed. 2d 229, 236, 103 S. Ct. 1319, 1324, this court in People v. Forrest (1988), 172 Ill. App. 3d 385, 390, 526 N.E.2d 616, 619, stated that “law enforcement officers who approach an airline passenger in a public area, announce their office, and ask him if he is willing to answer questions put to him have not committed a seizure of the person within the meaning of the fourth amendment, and, thus, any answers given to the police during such a consensual encounter will not be suppressed.” A seizure of the person for fourth amendment purposes occurs only where a reasonable person, in view of all the circumstances surrounding the incident, would have believed that he was not free to leave. (People v. Forrest, 172 Ill. App. 3d 385, 526 N.E.2d 616

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
578 N.E.2d 77, 217 Ill. App. 3d 1047, 160 Ill. Dec. 898, 1991 Ill. App. LEXIS 1223, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-furlong-illappct-1991.