People v. Neuberger

959 N.E.2d 195, 355 Ill. Dec. 167
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedOctober 21, 2011
Docket2-10-0379
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 959 N.E.2d 195 (People v. Neuberger) 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. Neuberger, 959 N.E.2d 195, 355 Ill. Dec. 167 (Ill. Ct. App. 2011).

Opinion

959 N.E.2d 195 (2011)
355 Ill. Dec. 167

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee,
v.
Jacob A. NEUBERGER, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 2-10-0379.

Appellate Court of Illinois, Second District.

October 21, 2011.

*196 Thomas A. Lilien, Deputy Defender (Court-appointed), Kim M. DeWitt (Court-appointed), Office of the State Appellate Defender, for Jacob A. Neuberger.

Scott L. Brinkmeier, Carroll County State's Attorney, Lawrence M. Bauer, Deputy Director, Edward R. Psenicka, State's Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor, for People.

OPINION

Presiding Justice JORGENSEN delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion.

¶ 1 Following a stipulated bench trial in the circuit court of Carroll County, defendant, Jacob A. Neuberger, was found guilty of unlawful possession of cannabis (720 ILCS 550/4(a) (West 2008)) and possession of drug paraphernalia (720 ILCS 600/3.5 (West 2008)). The trial court placed defendant on court supervision for 12 months for both offenses and imposed a $750 fine for possession of drug paraphernalia. On appeal, defendant argues that *197 the trial court erred in denying his motion to quash his arrest and suppress evidence. In the alternative, defendant argues that, as a result of the time he spent in custody prior to trial, he is entitled to monetary credit toward his fine. We affirm as modified.

¶ 2 At the hearing on defendant's motion to quash and suppress, Mount Carroll police officer Dennis Asay testified that just before midnight on July 30, 2009, while on patrol in a marked squad car, he responded to a report that someone was hiding in the bushes on the north side of the post office, which is located at the corner of Rapp Street and Clay Street and is "kitty corner" from the Carroll County courthouse. According to Asay, the information came from either a dispatcher or a jailer who noticed the subject crouching behind the bushes, which are located between the post office building and the sidewalk on Rapp Street. Asay was a few blocks away when he received the report. When he approached the intersection of Rapp Street and Clay Street, he observed a red automobile pull onto Rapp Street and stop in front of the north side of the post office. Asay then observed someone come from behind the bushes, jump over them, run over to the automobile, and get into the backseat. At that point, Asay activated his vehicle's emergency lights and pulled up behind the automobile. When Asay approached the automobile, he recognized the individual who had jumped over the bushes to be Karl Beyer. Danielle Neuschwanger was driving the vehicle, and defendant was in the front passenger seat. Asay spoke with Neuschwanger and then turned his attention to Beyer, a youth who was violating curfew. A sheriff's deputy who also responded to the report took Beyer into custody. Asay then "went back to further investigate the driver." Asay testified that he detected the odor of an alcoholic beverage on her breath and that her eyes were bloodshot. Asay had Neuschwanger exit the vehicle and perform field sobriety tests. He concluded that she was not intoxicated.

¶ 3 While Neuschwanger was performing the field sobriety tests, Michael Holland, a Carroll County sheriff's deputy, arrived at the scene with a drug-detection dog named "Illo." When Neuschwanger completed the tests, she returned to the driver's seat of the vehicle and Asay began to speak with defendant. Holland walked Illo around the vehicle a couple of times. (On cross-examination, Asay indicated that he was unsure whether Holland started to walk the dog around the vehicle before or after Asay finished administering the field sobriety tests to Neuschwanger.) Holland advised Asay that Illo had alerted on the car, indicating the presence of contraband, and Asay then asked defendant to step out of the vehicle. Asay frisked defendant and had him remove his shoes. In one of the shoes, Asay discovered a baggie containing what appeared to Asay to be cannabis. The same shoe also contained a "metal device" that had what appeared to be burnt cannabis in it. Asay then placed defendant under arrest.

¶ 4 Holland testified that, when he arrived at the scene, Asay was administering field sobriety tests to Neuschwanger, and defendant was sitting in the front passenger seat of a red four-door automobile. Neuschwanger sat in the driver's seat while Holland walked Illo around the vehicle. Holland testified that he and Illo started the walk at the rear driver's-side corner of the vehicle. They proceeded counterclockwise behind the vehicle and around to the passenger side. Illo alerted when he reached the handle of the front passenger door. After Asay placed defendant under arrest, Holland searched the automobile. Holland testified that he discovered "contraband" in the vehicle. He *198 did not specify the nature of the contraband or indicate where it was located within the vehicle.

¶ 5 In denying the motion, the trial court reasoned that, after Illo alerted to the automobile defendant had been traveling in, the police had probable cause to search the vehicle and considerations of officer safety justified searching the occupants of the vehicle before searching the vehicle itself.

¶ 6 Under Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968), a police officer who lacks probable cause for an arrest may nonetheless effect a limited investigatory stop where there exists a reasonable suspicion, based upon specific and articulable facts, that the person detained has committed or is about to commit a crime. Id. at 21-22, 88 S.Ct. 1868. "[A]lthough reasonable suspicion demands more than a mere hunch [citation], the standard requires only that `a police officer must be able to point to specific, articulable facts which, when taken together with the rational inferences from those facts, reasonably warrant the intrusion' [citation]." Village of Lincolnshire v. Kelly, 389 Ill.App.3d 881, 887, 329 Ill.Dec. 849, 907 N.E.2d 440 (2009) (quoting People v. Schacht, 233 Ill.App.3d 271, 275, 174 Ill.Dec. 497, 599 N.E.2d 43 (1992)). In determining whether reasonable suspicion exists, courts must make commonsense judgments and inferences about human behavior. People v. Payne, 393 Ill.App.3d 175, 180, 332 Ill.Dec. 115, 912 N.E.2d 301 (2009). Reasonable suspicion may arise from acts that are not crimes in their own right; "the question for the court is the degree of suspicion that attaches to the circumstances surrounding a defendant's actions." Id. "Facts that describe a large category of presumably innocent travelers are insufficient to support an investigatory stop." Id. On the other hand, it is not necessary to show that the belief that the suspect has committed a crime is more likely true than false. Kelly, 389 Ill.App.3d at 886-87, 329 Ill.Dec. 849, 907 N.E.2d 440.

¶ 7 Defendant maintains that there was no basis to stop the vehicle in which he was traveling. Defendant acknowledges that he did not contest the stop during the proceedings below.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
959 N.E.2d 195, 355 Ill. Dec. 167, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-neuberger-illappct-2011.