People v. Misch

572 N.E.2d 466, 213 Ill. App. 3d 939, 157 Ill. Dec. 397, 1991 Ill. App. LEXIS 867
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedMay 23, 1991
DocketNo. 4—90—0673
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 572 N.E.2d 466 (People v. Misch) 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. Misch, 572 N.E.2d 466, 213 Ill. App. 3d 939, 157 Ill. Dec. 397, 1991 Ill. App. LEXIS 867 (Ill. Ct. App. 1991).

Opinion

JUSTICE STEIGMANN

delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendant, Thomas C. Misch, appeals the trial court’s denial of his petition to rescind a statutory summary suspension of his driver’s license, which resulted from application of the provisions of section 11 — 501.1 of the Illinois Vehicle Code (Code) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 95½, par. 11—501.1). On appeal, defendant argues (1) the arresting officer did not have reasonable grounds to believe that defendant was driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol or drugs or a combination thereof (DUI), and (2) section 11 — 501.1 of the Code does not authorize the statutory summary suspension of defendant’s driving privileges based upon the positive test for cannabis in his blood and urine. We disagree and affirm.

Defendant’s first argument need not long detain us. He does not argue that any impropriety occurred when McLean County deputy sheriff Scott Shumaker stopped the pickup truck that defendant was driving on July 27, 1990, the night in question; instead, defendant argues that Shumaker’s interaction with the defendant at the scene where the pickup truck was stopped did not provide Shumaker with reasonable grounds to believe that defendant was driving the pickup truck while under the influence of alcohol, other drug, or a combination thereof. (See Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 95½, par. 2—118.1(b)(2).) Defendant made the same argument to the trial court, and it provided written findings as follows:

“Deputy Shumaker testified as to his observations of defendant’s driving, the defendant’s physical appearance, the faint odor of alcohol on defendant’s breath, the smell of alcohol on defendant’s clothing, the defendant’s performance on field sobriety tests, cups with alcohol residue found in the vehicle, and a statement by the passenger in defendant’s vehicle concerning the consumption of cannabis. Based upon a totality of the evidence presented, the Court finds that reasonable grounds to believe that the defendant was driving a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol and/or drugs has been shown and that [defendant] has not borne his burden of proof as to that issue.”

The trial court’s findings of fact at the hearing on defendant’s petition to rescind his statutory summary suspension will not be reversed unless those findings are against the manifest weight of the evidence. (See People v. Sanders (1988), 176 Ill. App. 3d 467, 469, 531 N.E.2d 61, 63.) Our review of the record in this case demonstrates that the trial court’s findings were soundly based. In addition to the evidence specifically cited by the trial court, we note that defendant admitted to Shumaker that he had been drinking. Further, in a wonderfully descriptive phrase, Shumaker described defendant’s demeanor as they conversed as follows: “I got this 30-foot stare in a 10-foot room.” Shumaker testified that, “A couple of times I even turned around and looked to see if there was something back there that he was looking at.” However, Shumaker saw nothing to account for the defendant’s strange behavior. At that point, Shumaker shined his “very strong police flashlight” into defendant’s eyes, yet defendant’s pupils remained “very wide open.”

Shumaker also testified that defendant was unable to recite the alphabet, that after defendant reached the letter “p,” he stated, “k, y, x.” According to Shumaker, only after he acquired all of the above information, in addition to that referred to by the trial court, did he arrest defendant for DUI. On this record, the trial court’s decision clearly was not contrary to the manifest weight of the evidence.

In his brief, defendant also makes the following argument: “[T]here exist no reasonable grounds to believe a driver to be under the influence of any substance, within the meaning of the Illinois Motor Vehicle Code, unless there is objective and unambiguous evidence of impaired driving ability ***.” We emphatically disagree and reaffirm what we wrote in People v. Sides (1990), 199 Ill. App. 3d 203, 556 N.E.2d 778, wherein we discussed a similar issue:

“In assessing the defendant’s mental and physical faculties at a time relevant to the charge that he was driving an automobile while under the influence of alcohol, it is entirely appropriate for the jury to consider the defendant’s ability to perform the simple physical tasks which comprise the field-sobriety tests. The jury’s inference that a defendant who had difficulty performing some of these tasks may have been similarly impaired in his ability to think and act with ordinary care when in operation of an automobile is entirely justified and one which the law permits the jury to draw.
Certainly in our modern society, a juror’s common observations and experiences in life would include not only the driving of an automobile, but a familiarity with the degree of physical and mental acuity required to do so. No expert testimony is needed nor is a showing of scientific principles required before a jury can be permitted to conclude that a person who performs badly on the field-sobriety tests may have his mental or physical faculties ‘so impaired as to reduce his ability to think and act with ordinary care.’ ” (Sides, 199 Ill. App. 3d at 206-07, 556 N.E.2d at 779-80.)

Just as a jury may infer that a defendant’s ability to drive a motor vehicle is impaired, based upon the factors discussed above, so may a police officer draw the same inference. No direct evidence that the defendant actually drove a motor vehicle in an erratic or unlawful manner is required either to sustain a defendant’s conviction for DUI or to provide probable cause for his arrest for DUI.

Last, defendant argues that section 11 — 501.1 of the Code does not authorize a statutory summary suspension of the driver’s license of drivers whose blood-alcohol tests do not disclose an alcohol concentration of 0.10 or more grams per 100 milliliters of blood, but who otherwise test positively for the presence of cannabis in their blood or urine. Resolution of this issue requires us to analyze a recent amendment to the Code in the context of the facts in this case.

After defendant was arrested for DUI, he was taken to a hospital where Shumaker requested defendant to provide blood and urine samples. Defendant complied, and the results of those tests proved negative for the presence of alcohol and positive for the presence of cannabis.

Prior to defendant’s compliance with Shumaker’s request that defendant provide these samples, Shumaker provided defendant with a warning, as required by section 11 — 501.1(c) of the Code (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 95½, par. 11—501.1(c)), that, in part, stated the following: “If you submit to a chemical test(s) disclosing any amount of a drug, substance, or compound resulting from the unlawful use or consumption of cannabis listed in the Cannabis Control Act or a controlled substance listed in the Illinois Controlled Substances Act, your driving privileges will be suspended for a minimum of 3 months.”

A few days later, after the test results from the hospital had been received, Shumaker filed his sworn report, pursuant to the provisions of section 11 — 501.1(f) of the Code (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 95½, par. 11—501.1(f)).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
572 N.E.2d 466, 213 Ill. App. 3d 939, 157 Ill. Dec. 397, 1991 Ill. App. LEXIS 867, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-misch-illappct-1991.