People v. Sloup

834 N.E.2d 995, 359 Ill. App. 3d 841, 296 Ill. Dec. 190, 2005 Ill. App. LEXIS 927
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedSeptember 2, 2005
Docket2-03-0992
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 834 N.E.2d 995 (People v. Sloup) 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. Sloup, 834 N.E.2d 995, 359 Ill. App. 3d 841, 296 Ill. Dec. 190, 2005 Ill. App. LEXIS 927 (Ill. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinions

JUSTICE BYRNE

delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendant, John L. Sloup, was convicted of unlawful possession of a controlled substance (720 ILCS 570/402(c) (West 2002)). He appeals, arguing that the trial court erred in denying his motion to quash the arrest and suppress the drug paraphernalia seized from his vehicle after an early-morning traffic stop. We reverse.

FACTS

Officer Opelt of the Westmont police department was the only witness to testify at the hearing on the motion to quash the arrest and suppress the evidence. On direct examination by defense counsel, Officer Opelt testified that, while on patrol at 3 a.m. on September 28, 2003, he spotted a Buick driven by defendant traveling in the left eastbound lane of 63rd Street near Cass Avenue. Officer Opelt observed the Buick weave in its lane a couple of times. The car touched but did not cross the yellow line. Officer Opelt saw the Buick pull within five or six feet of the rear bumper of another car that was traveling slowly in the same lane. The Buick passed the car on the right but did not signal a lane change until its tires had touched the white lines that divided the left and right eastbound lanes.

Officer Opelt stopped the Buick and ran a check on the license plate but found nothing of note. Officer Opelt exited his car and approached the Buick. Defendant, who was the only occupant, lowered his window. Officer Opelt did not detect an odor of alcohol or cannabis or see anything in plain view that would indicate criminal activity. He asked defendant to produce his driver’s license and proof of insurance, and defendant complied. Officer Opelt returned to his squad car, where he ran a check on defendant’s license, again finding nothing amiss. Officer Opelt returned to defendant’s car but did not return defendant’s license to him.

Officer Opelt testified that, because he believed that defendant was acting unusually nervous for a routine traffic stop, he inquired about defendant’s destination. Defendant replied that he was heading to the Omega Restaurant in Downers Grove. Officer Opelt asked defendant what street he was on. Defendant replied that he was on 75th Street and also volunteered that he lived on 75th Street. Officer Opelt told defendant that he was in fact on 63rd Street, and then asked defendant why he was traveling on 63rd Street to the Omega Restaurant. Defendant replied that his route was the quickest. Officer Opelt testified that the route defendant was taking to the Omega Restaurant “made absolutely no sense.” Because defendant was heading in a “roundabout” way toward his destination, was acting unusually nervous, and had committed the prior driving infractions, Officer Opelt suspected that defendant might have been “under the influence of something.” However, Officer Opelt testified that during the conversation he “deemed it not necessary at that point to go ahead with the [field sobriety] tests.” Officer Opelt conceded that, in his experience, nervousness is “not such a strong indicator” of intoxication.

Because Officer Opelt did not detect the odor of alcohol, he asked defendant whether he was under the influence of any “street drugs,” and defendant replied in the negative. Defendant then volunteered that he had been recently released from drug rehabilitation for a heroin addiction and that he had remained clean since his release.

Officer Opelt suspected that defendant was under the influence of some substance but did not direct defendant to perform any field sobriety tests, because “[i]f [defendant] was under the influence of drugs, [Officer Opelt] didn’t feel his condition was enough to warrant an arrest for driving under the influence of a controlled substance.” Defendant was not free to leave, but Officer Opelt did not give Miranda warnings, because he believed that defendant was not under arrest. Officer Opelt testified that he observed no indications in defendant’s physical appearance or demeanor that he was under the influence of drugs. Later in his examination, Officer Opelt acknowledged that only reasonable suspicion is needed to warrant field sobriety tests.

Approximately 10 minutes after the initial stop, Officer Opelt requested consent to search the vehicle, and defendant complied. Meanwhile, a backup officer arrived on the scene, and Officer Opelt asked defendant to step out of the Buick and stand with the backup officer during the search. Officer Opelt conceded that defendant had done nothing to make him fear an imminent attack. Officer Opelt found drug paraphernalia, a pipe used to smoke cocaine, under the front passenger seat of the Buick. Officer Opelt testified that he asked for consent to search because he believed that “£j]ust because there’s not probable cause to make the arrest for driving under the influence of a controlled substance doesn’t mean that there’s not controlled substances still inside the vehicle.”

Upon cross-examination by the prosecutor, Officer Opelt testified that, at the time he asked to search the vehicle, he had not come to a “conclusion of 100 percent surety” of whether defendant was under the influence of drugs. Officer Opelt opined that the presence or absence of contraband in the vehicle would be relevant to determining whether defendant was indeed under the influence of drugs. Although Officer Opelt found the drug paraphernalia and believed that the discovery would be relevant to whether defendant was intoxicated, Officer Opelt never conducted field sobriety tests of defendant. Officer Opelt explained that his lack of training in driving-under-the-influence (DUI) drug detection contributed to his decision to refrain from testing defendant.

At the close of the hearing, defendant argued that there was no traffic violation on which to base the traffic stop and, alternatively, that defendant’s consent to the search was tainted because Officer Opelt’s request for consent to search the Buick was not reasonably related in scope to the circumstances that formed the basis for the stop. Defense counsel argued, “I think it’s pretty clear that asking to search somebody’s car for drugs has nothing to do with an alleged weaving within the lane and then [an alleged turn] signal [violation].” The trial court found Officer Opelt to be credible and held that defendant’s erratic driving provided an adequate basis to stop him. The court further found that Officer Opelt never exceeded the scope of the stop.

Following a brief bench trial at which little additional evidence was presented, the trial court found defendant guilty of unlawful possession of a controlled substance. Defendant timely appeals.

ANALYSIS

When reviewing a ruling on a motion to quash an arrest and suppress the evidence seized, our standard of review is usually twofold. People v. Davis, 352 Ill. App. 3d 576, 579 (2004). We accord great deference to the trial court’s factual findings and credibility determinations and reverse those conclusions only if they are against the manifest weight of the evidence, but we review de novo the ultimate conclusion of whether suppression is warranted. People v. Gherna, 203 Ill. 2d 165, 175 (2003). Where the evidence is undisputed and the only matter challengeable is the trial court’s legal conclusion, our review is de novo. People v. Centeno, 333 Ill. App. 3d 604, 616 (2002).

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People v. Sloup
834 N.E.2d 995 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2005)

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Bluebook (online)
834 N.E.2d 995, 359 Ill. App. 3d 841, 296 Ill. Dec. 190, 2005 Ill. App. LEXIS 927, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-sloup-illappct-2005.