People v. Krueger

241 N.E.2d 707, 99 Ill. App. 2d 431, 1968 Ill. App. LEXIS 1383
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedSeptember 23, 1968
DocketGen. 51,992
StatusPublished
Cited by38 cases

This text of 241 N.E.2d 707 (People v. Krueger) 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. Krueger, 241 N.E.2d 707, 99 Ill. App. 2d 431, 1968 Ill. App. LEXIS 1383 (Ill. Ct. App. 1968).

Opinion

MR. JUSTICE MURPHY

delivered the opinion of the court.

In a jury trial, defendant was convicted of driving while under the influence of intoxicating liquor in violation of section 47 of the Uniform Act Regulating Traffic (Ill Rev Stats 1965, c 951/2, ¶ 144). He was fined $150 and costs. At the beginning of the trial and on motion of the State, a charge of failure to have a vehicle sticker was dismissed, and the jury found the defendant not guilty of the charge of failure to stay in lanes.

Defendant’s contentions on appeal include (1) that the complaint was defective in that it did not allege that the offense took place in Cook County; (2) numerous prejudicial trial errors; and (3) that he was not proved guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.

The court denied defendant’s pretrial motion to suppress the results of the breathalyzer test, physical performance tests and alcohol influence test, and any other evidence obtained as a result of an “illegal arrest.”

On February 11, 1966, at approximately 11:45 p. m., defendant was driving his automobile in the City of Chicago westbound on Lawrence Avenue in the right-hand lane. He was being followed in the left-hand lane by Chicago Police Officer William Sheldon. The officer testified that he observed defendant swerve suddenly from the right-hand lane into the lane in which the officer was proceeding, and after following defendant for two or three blocks the officer put on his Mars light and stopped the defendant, intending to ask him why he had suddenly swerved. When defendant stepped from his car, the officer smelled alcohol on his breath and noticed a swaying motion in his walk. He then placed defendant under arrest for driving while under the influence of liquor. Defendant was transported to the Chicago 20th District police station by squad car. At the station the defendant told him he had had three or four beers. The officer stated that the defendant’s eyes were watery and bloodshot, his face was flushed, his clothing was soiled and mussed. The officer described certain physical tests given defendant, the results of which indicated to him that the defendant was intoxicated.

Officer Sheldon further testified that he had occasion to observe two to three hundred persons who were under the influence of intoxicating liquor and, in his opinion, defendant was under the influence of intoxicating liquor and unfit to drive on the night in question. On cross-examination he stated that on February 11, 1966, he had been on the police force for approximately eleven months, during which time he had made ten to fifteen arrests for driving under the influence of alcoholic liquors.

At the police station the defendant was given a “breathalyzer” test by Police Officer Alfred Leisz. The officer testified that the test resulted in a reading of .230% of blood alcohol, which he recorded on the alcoholic influence report.

Considered first is defendant’s contention that the complaint was fatally defective because it shows that the offense took place upon a highway between 1500 and 1600 West Lawrence but failed to state the county in which the offense took place. We note that the caption of the complaint includes “1st Municipal District, Circuit Court of Cook County, Illinois,” and the body of the complaint states that “the offense occurred ‘upon a public highway of this State’ between ‘1300 and 1600 West Lawrence’ which is ‘situated within the corporate limits of the City of Chicago aforesaid.’ ” This same contention was recently found to be without' merit in People v. Williams, 37 Ill2d 521, 524, 229 NE2d 495 (1967), and that decision is controlling here.

Next considered is defendant’s contention that his motion to suppress the evidence was improperly denied because it was illegally acquired. Defendant argues that his arrest was made on mere suspicion and without probable cause. We believe that Officer Sheldon’s observance of defendant’s erratic driving, plus the odor of liquor, was reasonable ground to believe that defendant was driving under the influence of intoxicating liquor. We find that defendant’s arrest was lawful.

Defendant next contends that the evidence against him could not be used because it was acquired without proper warning or protection of his constitutional rights. Defendant cites Miranda v. Arizona, 384 US 436 (1966), where the court stated (p 479):

“But unless and until such warnings and waiver are demonstrated by the prosecution at trial, no evidence obtained as a result of interrogation can be used against him.”

As to his custodial interrogation, the record does not show any warning to defendant by Officer Sheldon of his constitutional rights. However, defendant does not indicate what part of his interrogation he considers to be self-incriminating. With the exception of stating he had three or four beers, defendant’s answers appear to be nonincriminating. We find no prejudicial error here.

As to the physical tests made by Officer Sheldon, the pronouncements made in Schmerber v. California, 384 US 757 (1966), apply here. That case dealt with the taking of a blood sample from a drunk driving suspect over his objection and with the use of reasonable force. In Schmerber, the court stated (p 761) :

“We hold that privilege protects an accused only from being compelled to testify against himself, or otherwise provide the State with evidence of a testimonial or communicative nature, and that the withdrawal of blood and use of the analysis in question in this case did not involve compulsion to these ends. . . . The officer’s direction to the physician to administer the test over petitioner’s objection constituted compulsion for the purposes of the privilege. The critical question, then, is whether petitioner was thus compelled ‘to be a witness against himself.’ ”

And on page 764, the court stated:

“[B]oth federal and state courts have usually held that it [Fifth Amendment] offers no protection against compulsion to submit to fingerprinting, photographing, or measurements, to write or speak for identification, to appear in court, to stand, to assume a stance, to walk, or to make a particular gesture.”

We find no error in admitting the testimony of Officer Sheldon as to the sobriety tests made at the police station and the results thereof.

Next considered is defendant’s contention that the result of the “breathalyzer” test was improperly admitted into evidence. Officer Leisz, who administered the breathalyzer test to defendant at the police station, testified that he had been a police officer for eleven years, and that he had been with the “Evidence Technician Department” for a year and half. His duties included the giving of breathalyzer tests. He had taken a 44-hour course in the operation of the machine at the Chicago Police Academy. He had a certificate from the Indiana University as a certified breathalyzer officer. He had the machine with him when he testified, and he explained its use and stated that the reading of defendant’s test of .230 was a proper reading. He was not a chemist nor an engineer nor a physician.

He was cross-examined at length.

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Bluebook (online)
241 N.E.2d 707, 99 Ill. App. 2d 431, 1968 Ill. App. LEXIS 1383, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-krueger-illappct-1968.