People v. Roberson

854 N.E.2d 317, 304 Ill. Dec. 975
Appellate Court of Illinois·Decided August 23, 2006·No. 4-05-0247·Published·Cited by 12 cases

Opinion

854 N.E.2d 317 (2006)
304 Ill.Dec. 975

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellant,
v.
Alfred ROBERSON, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 4-05-0247.

Appellate Court of Illinois, Fourth District.

August 23, 2006.

*318 Justice APPLETON delivered the opinion of the court:

A police officer stopped defendant, Alfred Roberson, for a traffic violation. Roberson had a passenger, Anthony Evans. The officer asked Evans for his name, Evans told him, and the officer checked for any outstanding warrants for Evans's arrest. Upon learning of such a warrant, he arrested Evans. In a search of the car incident to the arrest, the officer found contraband, whereupon he arrested Roberson, too. The State charged Roberson with possession of a controlled substance (720 ILCS 570/402(c) (West 2004)) and possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver (720 ILCS 570/401(c)(2) (West 2004)).

Roberson moved to suppress the evidence, and the trial court granted the motion on the authority of People v. Harris, 207 Ill.2d 515, 280 Ill.Dec. 294, 802 N.E.2d 219 (2003), vacated & remanded, Illinois v. Harris, 543 U.S. 1135, 125 S.Ct. 1292, 161 L.Ed.2d 94 (2005), apparently unaware that the Supreme Court of the United States vacated Harris eight days earlier. The State appeals, arguing we should reverse the trial court's judgment for the same reason the Supreme Court of the United States overturned Harris, namely, the judgment is inconsistent with Illinois v. Caballes, 543 U.S. 405, 125 S.Ct. 834, 160 L.Ed.2d 842 (2005). We agree with the State's argument. Because the warrant *319 check on Evans violated no constitutionally protected interest in privacy, it did not change the fundamental nature of the traffic stop. Therefore we reverse the trial court's order granting Roberson's motion to suppress evidence and quash his arrest, and we remand this case for further proceedings.

I. BACKGROUND

Roberson moved to suppress the evidence on the ground that he never consented to a search of his car and the search was not incident to his own arrest. In a hearing on the motion on March 2, 2005, defense counsel told the trial court:

"MR. CLARK: Judge, actually [the prosecutor] and I have agreed to stipulate. This hearing was held —
THE COURT: On the other guy.
MR. BRINEGAR [(prosecutor)]: February 15[,] [2005].
MR. CLARK: — on the co-[d]efendant. The [c]ourt heard the evidence at that time from the officer who would have testified in this case. The testimony would be precisely the same, and I believe that Mr. Brinegar is also conceding that the [c]ourt would rule exactly the same way based on the Harris case.
MR. BRINEGAR: Well, I'm conceding that there's a high likelihood that the [c]ourt would. The facts could be stipulated[-]to that[,] I believe[,] there was a valid traffic stop. The sole reason for the search of the car, however, was the officer's questioning of the passenger, Anthony Evans, which[,] under Harris [,] is impermissible, and the [c]ourt so found. The subsequent search after the questioning of Evans, discovering that he was wanted on a warrant —
THE COURT: Yeah, this guy hadn't done anything, had he?
MR. CLARK: Speeding ticket.
THE COURT: Speeding ticket.
MR. BRINEGAR: Right. He was the driver of the car. Dennis Rogers thought he recognized Anthony Evans, asked him his name. He confirmed he was Anthony Evans.
Rogers checked for warrants on Evans. There was an outstanding warrant. Then[,] after placing Evans under arrest, the car was searched. Contraband was found between the front passenger seat and the armrest in the center of the seat.
THE COURT: Right. Right. Okay.
MR. BRINEGAR: And the only thing that Roberson had done is be the driver of a car that was stopped on what everybody appears to agree was a valid traffic stop. Nothing was found on Roberson.
MR. CLARK: It's our contention — our contention is[,] for a speeding ticket[,] he never should have been asked out of the vehicle. He never should have been patted down, and the passenger compartment of the vehicle never should have been searched.
THE COURT: Anything else?
MR. BRINEGAR: No.
THE COURT: I agree. Well, Harris — and I don't even know whether [Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 9 L.Ed.2d 441, 83 S.Ct. 407, 9 L.Ed.2d 441 (1963),] is still the one that is cited. Fruit of the poisonous tree would also be applicable in this particular thing. Once invalid, everything else is invalid subsequent thereto. And I have ruled that Evans was an illegal stop and/or arrest. That's the one where the police officers — they've changed their whole procedure now. Is that —
MR. BRINEGAR: That's what Dennis Rogers testified to.
*320 THE COURT: Right. Because of the — because of the Harris case.
MR. BRINEGAR: The Harris case.
THE COURT: And that they realized that they were in contravention of the [c]onstitution.
The motion to suppress will be allowed."

The State filed a certificate of impairment.

This appeal followed.

II. ANALYSIS

A. Our Standard of Review and the Burdens of Persuasion and Production

When ruling on a motion to suppress evidence, a trial court might have to choose between competing versions of fact or weigh the credibility of witnesses; to that extent, we defer to the trial court unless we find these factual determinations to be "manifestly erroneous" in light of the record. People v. Gonzalez, 204 Ill.2d 220, 223, 273 Ill.Dec. 360, 789 N.E.2d 260, 263 (2003). The term "manifest error" means error that is "clearly evident, plain, and indisputable." People v. Ruiz, 177 Ill.2d 368, 384-85, 226 Ill.Dec. 791, 686 N.E.2d 574, 582 (1997). Insomuch as the facts are undisputed, our standard of review is de novo; we decide, without any deference to the trial court, whether the law requires suppression of the evidence under those facts. People v. Gherna, 203 Ill.2d 165, 175, 271 Ill.Dec. 245, 784 N.E.2d 799, 805 (2003).

Our standard of review assumes a certain division of labor between the defendant and the State. On a motion to suppress evidence, the defendant has the ultimate burden of persuasion: the defendant must convince the trial court that the search or seizure was unlawful. 725 ILCS 5/114-12(b) (West 2004); People v. Ramsey, 362 Ill.App.3d 610, 614, 298 Ill.Dec. 446, 839 N.E.2d 1093, 1097 (2005). The burden of production, or the burden of coming forward with evidence, first falls upon the defendant and then, if the defendant makes out a prima facie

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

People v. Roberson, 854 N.E.2d 317, 304 Ill. Dec. 975 (Ill. Ct. App. 2006).

854 N.E.2d 317 (People v. Roberson) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

People v. Mott
906 N.E.2d 159 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2009)
People v. Snyder
904 N.E.2d 625 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2009)
People v. Rollins
Appellate Court of Illinois, 2008
People v. Terry
Appellate Court of Illinois, 2008
People v. Lashmet
868 N.E.2d 368 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2007)
People v. Andrews
867 N.E.2d 520 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2007)