People v. Hansen

761 N.E.2d 376, 326 Ill. App. 3d 610, 260 Ill. Dec. 532, 2001 Ill. App. LEXIS 1493
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedDecember 24, 2001
Docket4-00-1091 Rel
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 761 N.E.2d 376 (People v. Hansen) 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. Hansen, 761 N.E.2d 376, 326 Ill. App. 3d 610, 260 Ill. Dec. 532, 2001 Ill. App. LEXIS 1493 (Ill. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

JUSTICE COOK

delivered the opinion of the court:

The State appeals from the December 5, 2000, ruling of the Livingston County circuit court, which granted defendant Michael Hansen’s motion to quash arrest and suppress evidence. We reverse and remand for further proceedings.

I. BACKGROUND

On November 5, 1999, the Illinois State Police stopped an Oldsmobile for speeding. There were four males and a large dog in the Oldsmobile. The driver and defendant Hansen were in the front and the two other males were in the backseat with the large dog in between them. Two troopers were in the police car. Officer Hoop, the driver of the police car, was new to the force and was still in his probationary period. Officer Harris was riding along to supervise Officer Hoop.

When the Oldsmobile pulled over to the side of the road, Officer Hoop activated the takedown lights on his patrol car to illuminate the interior of the Oldsmobile. As the Oldsmobile stopped, Officer Harris noticed the front seat passenger, Hansen (defendant), making furtive movements as though he were placing or retrieving something from under his seat. Officer Harris warned Officer Hoop to be careful because the front seat passenger had made the furtive movements and may be reaching for a weapon.

As Officer Hoop approached the driver’s side window of the Oldsmobile, he noticed the strong smell of burning cannabis emanating from the vehicle. Officer Hoop proceeded to ask the driver for his license and registration. While Officer Hoop was talking to the driver, Officer Harris approached the passenger side of the Oldsmobile and also smelled the strong odor of burning cannabis. Hansen rolled his window down, thinking the officer wanted to talk to him, at which point Officer Harris told Hansen to place his hands on the dashboard. Hansen complied. Officer Harris shined his flashlight into the car onto the floorboard underneath Hansen and saw a green leafy substance on the floorboard that the officer believed to be cannabis. Officer Harris then ordered Hansen to get out of the car.

With Hansen out of the car, Officer Harris searched the floorboard and under the seat in which Hansen had been sitting. Finding nothing, Officer Harris then ordered Hansen to place his hands on the car and frisked Hansen. During the frisk, Officer Harris felt something hard in defendant’s front-right pocket which he could not identify. When Hansen would not tell Officer Harris what was in his pocket, Officer Harris reached into defendant’s pocket and retrieved two glass smoking bowls. Officer Harris reached into defendant’s pocket again and retrieved a bag which was later confirmed to contain cannabis.

Officer Harris handcuffed and read Hansen his Miranda rights (Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 16 L. Ed. 2d 694, 86 S. Ct. 1602 (1966)) after he found the smoking bowls and bag of suspected cannabis. Both officers searched the car and all of the other persons in the car. No controlled substances were found in the car or on any other persons in the car. The driver and other passengers and the dog were allowed to leave, and Hansen was placed in the police car. The suspected cannabis on the floor of the car was left in the car and not tested and it is unknown what the substance actually was. While being transported in the police car, Hansen volunteered that he had “smoked three bowls.”

Hansen and the other passengers denied anyone smoked cannabis in the Oldsmobile that night and denied that there was any odor of burnt cannabis in the car. According to testimony, neither Officer Hoop nor Officer Harris put any mention of an odor of burning cannabis in their police reports and did not question any of the passengers in the car about the odor until after all searches had been conducted.

Hansen was charged with possession of drug paraphernalia, a Class A misdemeanor, and unlawful possession of cannabis, a Class B misdemeanor. 720 ILCS 600/3.5(a) (West 1998); 720 ILCS 550/4(b) (West 1998). Hansen filed a motion to quash arrest and suppress evidence, claiming that Officer Harris did not have probable cause to search Hansen’s person and therefore the cannabis, smoking bowls, and any statements made after the illegal search were tainted and inadmissible. The trial court granted Hansen’s motion, finding that Officer Harris did not have probable cause to search Hansen’s person.

In making its ruling, the trial court walked through the various stages of the interaction between Hansen and the Illinois State Police officers, explaining its analysis and conclusions at each step. As a preliminary matter, all parties conceded that the initial stop of the Olds-

mobile for speeding was proper. The trial court also found that Officer Harris was allowed to ask Hansen to get out of the car and frisk him for weapons, based on the furtive movements, under Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 20 L. Ed. 2d 889, 88 S. Ct. 1868 (1968). Officer Harris exceeded the authority of a Terry frisk, however, when he reached into Hansen’s pocket. Officer Harris found nothing under Hansen’s seat and never believed the object in Hansen’s pocket was a weapon; therefore, he was not allowed to retrieve the object anyway.

The trial court next considered whether the search could be justified as a search incident to arrest. The trial court noted that a search incident to arrest can occur prior to the actual arrest if probable cause to make the arrest existed before the search was made. Therefore, the fact that Hansen was not handcuffed and given Miranda rights until after the search was not dispositive of the issue. The trial court also noted that the odor of burnt cannabis emanating from the vehicle gave Officers Hoop and Harris probable cause to search the Oldsmobile, the driver, and any containers found in the car. The trial court found no probable cause to search Hansen’s person, however, because passengers have a higher expectation of privacy in their persons.

II. ANALYSIS

A trial court’s ruling on a motion to suppress can only be overturned if it is against the manifest weight of the evidence. People v. Boyd, 298 Ill. App. 3d 1118, 1122-23, 700 N.E.2d 444, 447 (1998), appeal denied, 182 Ill. 2d 554, 707 N.E.2d 1241 (1999). The trial court’s findings of fact will not be reversed unless they are manifestly erroneous. People v. Gonzalez, 184 Ill. 2d 402, 411, 704 N.E.2d 375, 379 (1998) , cert, denied, 528 U.S. 825, 145 L. Ed. 2d 63, 120 S. Ct. 75 (1999) . If the trial court’s findings of fact are not manifestly erroneous, then our review of matters of law is de novo. Gonzalez, 184 Ill. 2d at 412, 704 N.E.2d at 380.

The trial court made a factual determination in favor of the officers’ version of events.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
761 N.E.2d 376, 326 Ill. App. 3d 610, 260 Ill. Dec. 532, 2001 Ill. App. LEXIS 1493, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-hansen-illappct-2001.