People v. Waln

457 N.E.2d 979, 120 Ill. App. 3d 73, 75 Ill. Dec. 537, 1983 Ill. App. LEXIS 2579
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedNovember 16, 1983
Docket82-615
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 457 N.E.2d 979 (People v. Waln) 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. Waln, 457 N.E.2d 979, 120 Ill. App. 3d 73, 75 Ill. Dec. 537, 1983 Ill. App. LEXIS 2579 (Ill. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

JUSTICE WELCH

delivered the opinion of the court:

Following a jury trial in the circuit court of St. Clair County, defendant Keith Wain was convicted of burglary and sentenced to six years’ imprisonment. He argues that the trial court erred in denying his motions to suppress evidence seized in a search of his car and to suppress a confession given to St. Clair County authorities.

At approximately 10 p.m. on April 25, 1982, the defendant’s car was stopped by Caseyville police officers at the only entrance to a subdivision where a burglary had been reported as being in progress. St. Clair County deputy James Lay joined the Caseyville officers soon after the defendant’s car was stopped and directed them to detain the defendant. The defendant instead left the police and led them on a high speed chase until- his car ran off the road about one-quarter mile from where he was first stopped. He was issued several traffic citations and his license was taken for bond. Later, while he was still at that location, his car was searched, including the trunk, and he was placed under arrest. The defendant was transported to the St. Clair County jail, where he gave a statement to the authorities.

The defendant first contends that his initial detention by the Caseyville officers was improper. He reasons that his subsequent flight, the search of his car, his arrest and his confession are all products of that detention and should have been suppressed. He points out that when he was first directed to stop, he was not engaged in any criminal activity, nor was he committing any traffic violations. Moreover, at that time, the authorities did not have a description of any of the individuals observed at the scene of the burglary. The People respond that the officers nonetheless had sufficient information to make an investigatory stop of the defendant’s car pursuant to Terry v. Ohio (1968), 392 U.S. 1, 20 L. Ed. 2d 889, 88 S. Ct. 1868.

The principles applicable to this issue are well settled. Under Illinois’ codification of the Terry rule (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1981, ch. 38, par. 107 — 14), a police officer may, after identifying himself, stop a person in a public place for a reasonable period of time if the officer reasonably infers from all of the circumstances that that person is about to commit or has committed an offense. Probable cause for arrest need not be shown for this detention, but the stop must be justified by specific and articulable facts which, when combined with rational inferences from those facts, warrant the intrusion. A mere hunch or suspicion is not sufficient. People v. Fox (1981), 97 Ill. App. 3d 58, 421 N.E.2d 1082; People v. Grice (1980), 87 Ill. App. 3d 718, 410 N.E.2d 209, cert, denied (1981), 450 U.S. 1003, 68 L. Ed. 2d 207, 101 S. Ct. 1714.

Caseyville police officer Michael Mooney testified both at trial and at a hearing on the defendant’s motion to suppress physical evidence. At 9:56 p.m. on April 25, 1982, Mooney received a radio dispatch concerning a burglary in progress at 103 Southern Drive in Caseyville. Three other police units responded with Mooney to that call. Mooney did not arrive at the scene of the burglary because he received a radio transmission from his sergeant informing him that there were two vehicles leaving the scene of the burglary and advising him to stop the vehicles. At the hearing on the motion to suppress, Mooney stated that the transmission did not include a description of the vehicles.

As a result of this information, Mooney stopped a black-over-red Dodge Charger driven by the defendant and Caseyville officer Gazawski stopped a blue Ford Granada. These cars were stopped at the only entrance to the subdivision containing the burglarized residence, approximately one-quarter to one-half mile from the site of the burglary, at 10:02 p.m., 30 seconds after Mooney received the radio transmission from his sergeant. It appears that a third car, a tan or brown AMC Pacer or Gremlin, was stopped subsequently at this location. Mooney testified that at the time he arrived at the entrance to the subdivision, the Charger and the Granada were the only two cars leaving the subdivision, although other cars were entering it and “one or two” additional cars may have later exited the subdivision.

Mooney asked the defendant for identification, which he produced. Mooney also inquired whether the defendant lived in the area, and he replied that he did not, but he was there to visit a friend known as “Buster.” About 30 seconds after Mooney first stopped the defendant’s car, St. Clair County deputy sheriff James Lay arrived at the scene of that stop. Lay recognized the defendant, whom, he stated, he was aware through fellow officers was an “admitted burglar.” The defendant had not previously been arrested for burglary, and Lay had no personal knowledge of the defendant’s connections with law enforcement authorities. Lay directed Mooney to detain the defendant while he went to the burglarized residence, so Mooney instructed the defendant to pull his car to the side of the road. The defendant then left the entrance of the subdivision at a high speed.

These facts establish reasonable cause for the initial stop of the defendant’s car. The authorities were aware that a burglary was in progress in a residential neighborhood or had been very recently completed at 9:56 p.m., and knew, within a minute or two after 10 p.m., that two cars were leaving the scene of that burglary. The knowledge of each of the police officers, when working together, is the knowledge of all (People v. Hobson (1983), 117 Ill. App. 3d 191, 452 N.E.2d 771), and so Michael Mooney was justified in acting upon the information furnished him through the radio transmissions. While that information did not include a description of any suspects or vehicles to be stopped, we cannot say that Mooney acted unreasonably by stopping the only two cars he saw leaving the sole exit to the subdivision, especially given the extremely close spatial and temporal proximity to the report of the burglary in progress. (People v. Jones (1981), 102 Ill. App. 3d 246, 429 N.E.2d 1101; People v. Grice (1980), 87 Ill. App. 3d 718, 410 N.E.2d 209, cert, denied (1981), 450 U.S. 1003, 68 L. Ed. 2d 207, 101 S. Ct. 1714; People v. Drummer (1980), 81 Ill. App. 3d 626, 402 N.E.2d 307.) Furthermore, the recognition of the defendant by Deputy Lay as a person who had been connected with other burglaries furnished additional grounds to detain the defendant while Lay inspected the scene of the burglary. (People v. Keith (1972), 7 Ill. App. 3d 1071, 289 N.E.2d 103.) Under the evidence presented to the trial court, it did not err in deeming the initial stop of the defendant to be in accord with Terry standards.

Our holding that the defendant’s car was properly stopped at the entrance to the subdivision undercuts much of the defendant’s argument that the search of his car and his subsequent arrest were unreasonable.

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Bluebook (online)
457 N.E.2d 979, 120 Ill. App. 3d 73, 75 Ill. Dec. 537, 1983 Ill. App. LEXIS 2579, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-waln-illappct-1983.