People v. Whiles

2024 IL App (4th) 231086
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedMay 14, 2024
Docket4-23-1086
StatusPublished

This text of 2024 IL App (4th) 231086 (People v. Whiles) 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. Whiles, 2024 IL App (4th) 231086 (Ill. Ct. App. 2024).

Opinion

2024 IL App (4th) 231086 FILED NO. 4-23-1086 May 14, 2024 Carla Bender IN THE APPELLATE COURT 4 th District Appellate Court, IL OF ILLINOIS

FOURTH DISTRICT

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, ) Appeal from the Plaintiff-Appellant, ) Circuit Court of v. ) Stephenson County JAIMIE L. WHILES, ) No. 23DT21 Defendant-Appellee. ) ) Honorable ) James M. Hauser, ) Judge Presiding.

PRESIDING JUSTICE CAVANAGH delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion. Justices Harris and Steigmann concurred in the judgment and opinion.

OPINION

¶1 The circuit court of Stephenson County granted (1) a motion by defendant, Jaimie

L. Whiles, for the suppression of evidence and (2) a petition by him to rescind the statutory

summary suspension of his driver’s license. Having filed a certificate of impairment, the State

appeals. In our de novo review, we hold that the doctrine of collective knowledge defeats

defendant’s motion and petition. Therefore, we reverse the court’s judgment and remand this case

for further proceedings.

¶2 I. BACKGROUND

¶3 On April 2, 2023, a Stephenson County deputy sheriff, Mevludin Aliu, pulled

defendant over and issued him three uniform traffic tickets: one for driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) (625 ILCS 5/11-501(a)(1), (5) (West 2022)), another for driving an uninsured

vehicle (id. § 3-707), and another for illegally transporting alcohol (id. § 11-502).

¶4 Because chemical testing revealed that defendant had a blood alcohol concentration

of more than 0.08 (specifically, 0.166), statutory law required the summary suspension of his

driving privileges. See id. § 6-208.1(a)(2).

¶5 Defendant petitioned the circuit court to rescind the statutory summary suspension.

One of his claims in support of the proposed rescission was that “[t]he arresting officer did not

have reasonable grounds to believe that the defendant was driving *** while under the influence

of alcohol or drugs.”

¶6 Also, defendant moved for the suppression of any evidence the State had obtained

because of the traffic stop. Such evidence was inadmissible, the motion argued, because Aliu had

lacked “reasonable grounds for making the stop.”

¶7 At the hearing on the petition and motion, the defense called Aliu to testify. On

April 2, 2023, around 7:37 p.m., to quote from his testimony, he “received a call about a possibly

intoxicated driver” heading east on United States Route 20. Aliu “pulled into a turnaround” and

watched for a “red Jeep.” He recounted, “I observed a red Jeep[,] and the vehicle behind it flashed

its headlights at me. The vehicle was a fully marked Paw Paw patrol vehicle.” Paw Paw, Aliu

noted, was in Michigan, and a Paw Paw police officer had “no jurisdiction” in Illinois.

¶8 Aliu continued:

“A. I got behind the vehicle, insured it was the correct vehicle, the correct

license plate, and initiated a stop. The vehicle at first didn’t pull over right away, I

hit the sirens quick, and the vehicle began to pull over.

***

-2- Q. Prior to pulling over the vehicle did you observe any violations of the

Illinois Vehicle Code?

A. I did not.

Q. Okay. And you said you received a call about a possible—possible DUI

driving eastbound, correct?

A. Correct.
Q. And that was all the information you had at the time of the stop?
A. If a remember correctly, yes.”

¶9 On cross-examination, Aliu testified that it was only “[a]fter the fact” that he

learned “who the 911 caller was”—namely, “the officer driving the Paw Paw police vehicle.” This

officer’s last name was Ferrion (although the court reporter was unsure how the name was spelled).

The prosecutor asked:

“Q. And did you find out why he made that call?

A. I did. So he had observed the vehicle driving erratically and swerving

and crossing the center line, the fog line. At one point it almost hit a pole, and then

on 20, before it entered our county, it made a complete stop for about I think he

said about two seconds. Before continuing again.

Q. Was that stop at a stop sign?
A. No, it was on the highway.
Q. Was it at a red light?
A. No.”

-3- ¶ 10 On redirect examination, Aliu acknowledged that he “found out all of this

information after the fact”—“three days after the fact.” “[A]t the time of the stop,” he “didn’t

know” yet what Ferrion had observed.

¶ 11 When Aliu pulled the Jeep over, he noticed it had “damage to the driver’s side”—

“fresh” damage, not rusted. Initially, the driver of the Jeep, defendant, told the police officers he

had hit a deer. Eventually, though, he “confessed to hitting a pole, trying to turn around using the

GPS.”

¶ 12 After Aliu testified, defense counsel argued that because Aliu “didn’t witness

anything that would indicate that [defendant] was possibly impaired,” and because Aliu “only

found out information from the caller three days later *** as far as who the caller was and what

exactly the caller observed,” the traffic stop was unreasonable and the evidence from the stop

should be suppressed.

¶ 13 The prosecutor argued, on the other hand, that Ferrion had probable cause to believe

that defendant was impaired and that Ferrion’s knowledge should be imputed to Aliu.

¶ 14 The circuit court was unconvinced. Because Aliu had not seen defendant commit

any traffic violation, and because the only information that Aliu had at the time of the stop was a

message from the dispatcher that a possibly intoxicated driver was eastbound on United States

Route 20, the court granted the motion for suppression and rescinded the statutory summary

suspension.

¶ 15 The State filed a motion for reconsideration, but the circuit court adhered to its

decision.

¶ 16 This appeal followed.

-4- ¶ 17 II. ANALYSIS

¶ 18 The implied-consent provision of the Illinois Vehicle Code, section 11-501.1(a),

provides as follows:

“Any person who drives *** a motor vehicle upon the public highways of this State

shall be deemed to have given consent *** to a chemical test or tests of blood,

breath, other bodily substance, or urine for the purpose of determining the content

of alcohol *** in the person’s blood if arrested, as evidenced by the issuance of a

Uniform Traffic Ticket, for any offense as defined in Section 11-501 ***. If a law

enforcement officer has probable cause to believe the person was under the

influence of alcohol ***, the law enforcement officer shall request a chemical test

or tests which shall be administered at the direction of the arresting officer. *** The

issuance of the Uniform Traffic Ticket shall not constitute an arrest, but shall be for

the purpose of notifying the person that he or she is subject to the provisions of this

Section and of the officer’s belief of the existence of probable cause to arrest.” 625

ILCS 5/11-501.1(a) (West 2022).

Driving while “the alcohol concentration in [one’s] blood *** is 0.08 or more” (id. § 11-501(a)(1))

is an “offense as defined in Section 11-501” (id. § 11-501.1(a)).

¶ 19 Upon receiving a sworn report of a law enforcement officer that a person refused

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Bluebook (online)
2024 IL App (4th) 231086, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-whiles-illappct-2024.