People v. Krogh

462 N.E.2d 790, 123 Ill. App. 3d 220, 78 Ill. Dec. 671, 1984 Ill. App. LEXIS 1689
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedMarch 30, 1984
Docket82-1402
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 462 N.E.2d 790 (People v. Krogh) 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. Krogh, 462 N.E.2d 790, 123 Ill. App. 3d 220, 78 Ill. Dec. 671, 1984 Ill. App. LEXIS 1689 (Ill. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinion

PRESIDING JUSTICE RIZZI

delivered the opinion of the court:

Following a jury trial, defendant, Eugene Krogh, was convicted of the delivery of a controlled substance (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1979, ch. 56V2, par. 1401(a)(2)) and sentenced to the Illinois Department of Correetions for a period of six years. A codefendant who was tried in a bench trial begun simultaneously with defendant’s jury trial is not a party to this appeal. On appeal, defendant argues that the court erred in denying his motion to quash his arrest, in restricting his cross-examination of a State’s witness and in refusing to grant a mistrial after a State’s witness commented on defendant’s immediate post-arrest silence and that the court abused its discretion in preventing him from questioning two State’s witnesses about his signed consent to search his automobile. We affirm.

Prior to trial, defendant moved to quash his arrest and to suppress his statements. At the hearing on defendant’s motion to quash, Agent Danny Pierce of the Illinois Department of Law Enforcement testified that on May 8, 1980, he was assigned to a backup and surveillance unit for a “drug buy.” The purchase of 12 ounces of cocaine for $14,400 was to take place around 1:30 p.m. in a forest preserve parking lot near the intersection of Route 72 and Barrington Road. Pierce knew that a maroon Toronado might be the vehicle involved. Pierce was stationed at a Shell gas station on the southeast corner of Route 72 and Barrington Road.

At approximately 1:30 p.m. Pierce observed a brown Chevy going south on Barrington Road. Pierce saw the Chevy slow down, though there was no traffic immediately ahead of it. A couple of minutes later, Peirce saw the Chevy go north on Barrington Road and turn into the forest preserve parking lot. Agent Grady, who was stationed in the forest preserve parking lot, informed Pierce by radio that while in the parking lot the driver of the brown Chevy emptied his ashtray and observed all the people and vehicles in the lot. Pierce saw the Chevy leave the forest preserve parking lot, go north on Barrington Road and pull into the gas station where Pierce was stationed. The driver, whom Pierce identified as defendant, got out of his car, walked to the men’s room and attempted, unsuccessfully, to open the door. He then returned to his car and stayed there for a few minutes. Defendant then got out of his car, walked to a place about 10 feet from Barrington Road in the driveway of the gas station and looked north at the traffic coming south. Then, defendant raised both his arms up, with his elbows bent and his fingers spread and waved his arms while nodding his head up and down. As defendant was waving, the driver of a maroon Toronado that was passing looked toward defendant, nodded his head and raised his left hand upward, then turned into the forest preserve parking lot. Immediately after the Toronado passed, defendant got into his car, drove to the parking lot of an implement company building located directly across from the forest preserve parking lot, and went inside the building. When another agent gave the prearranged signal indicating either that it was time to arrest the driver of the Toronado, the codefendant, or that the delivery had taken place, Agent Thomas Petersik, who was in charge of the investigation, advised agents to arrest defendant, and they did. Petersik testified that in his experience it is very seldom that only one person is involved in the sale of a large quantity of drugs. The court found, on the basis of Petersik’s experience and defendant’s conduct, that probable cause existed to arrest defendant, and the court denied defendant’s motion to quash his arrest.

After another hearing, the court denied defendant’s motion to suppress his statements, on the basis that defendant had received adequate Miranda warnings and had waived his rights under Miranda. The court granted defendant’s motion in limine to exclude the introduction of, or reference to, items recovered from defendant’s vehicle.

At trial, the evidence showed the same sequence of the events of May 8, 1980. In addition, Agents Petersik and DeFranco testified that after defendant was advised of his rights, defendant told them that he was the lookout, he was to receive a percentage of the $14,000 and that it was his “stuff.” Defendant also signed a waiver of rights form. However, the agents did not get a written statement from defendant. The jury found defendant guilty of delivery of a controlled substance.

Defendant first argues that the court erred in denying his motion to quash his arrest because the agents did not have probable cause to arrest him. Defendant maintains that while his activities may have been suspicious, the fact that the agents had no prior knowledge of him or of any involvement by him, and the fact that the agents’ past dealings with the codefendant either involved no other people or else people other than defendant mitigate against the conclusion that the agents had probable cause to arrest him. We believe that defendant’s argument is meritless.

The determination of whether probable cause for an arrest exists in a specific instance depends on the totality of the facts and circumstances known to the officers when the arrest is made. (People v. Summers (1981), 100 Ill. App. 3d 170, 174, 426 N.E.2d 937, 940.) Probable cause is present if a reasonable and prudent person in possession of the knowledge which has come to the arresting officers would believe that the person to be arrested had committed a crime. (100 Ill. App. 3d 170, 174, 426 N.E.2d 937, 940.) The investigating officer may rely upon his knowledge and experience and the reasonable inferences drawn from observed facts. (People v. Stamps (1982), 108 Ill. App. 3d 280, 287, 438 N.E.2d 1282, 1289-90.) Probable cause for an arrest may be estabEshed on the basis of all the information possessed by the officers working in concert. People v. Johnson (1982), 104 Ill. App. 3d 572, 576, 432 N.E.2d 1232, 1237.

Here, the agents initially had the knowledge, based on their experience, that drug buys such as the one scheduled for the afternoon of May 8, 1980, seldom involve only one person. We do not believe that to support a finding of probable cause the agents needed knowledge that defendant in particular might be involved in the scheduled transaction. Aware that someone else might be involved, the agents observed defendant in the area where a drug buy was soon scheduled to take place. Defendant’s driving and his actions in the forest preserve parking lot were somewhat suspicious. Then, the agents observed defendant give an obvious signal to the driver of a vehicle they were expecting and remain in the area while the deal took place. We believe that the observations and experience of the agents involved in the investigation here would warrant a reasonable person in believing that an offense had been committed and that defendant had committed the offense. Thus, we conclude that the trial court did not err in denying defendant’s motion to quash his arrest.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
462 N.E.2d 790, 123 Ill. App. 3d 220, 78 Ill. Dec. 671, 1984 Ill. App. LEXIS 1689, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-krogh-illappct-1984.