People v. Wozniak

557 N.E.2d 996, 199 Ill. App. 3d 1088, 146 Ill. Dec. 54, 1990 Ill. App. LEXIS 1049
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedJuly 17, 1990
Docket3-89-0054
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 557 N.E.2d 996 (People v. Wozniak) 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. Wozniak, 557 N.E.2d 996, 199 Ill. App. 3d 1088, 146 Ill. Dec. 54, 1990 Ill. App. LEXIS 1049 (Ill. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinions

JUSTICE BARRY

delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendant Doug W. Wozniak was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 95½, par. 11—501(a)(2)). The trial court granted defendant’s motion to suppress the result of defendant’s breath test. The State appeals the suppression order.

The record shows that on October 9, 1988, defendant was charged with driving under the influence of alcohol and his license was summarily suspended. Defendant subsequently filed a petition to rescind (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 95½, par. 11—501.1), alleging that he had not been properly arrested.

At the hearing on the petition, Spring Valley police officer Thomas Sment testified that on October 9 he had investigated a traffic accident involving vehicles driven by defendant and Mrs. McNally. The officer asked for both drivers’ licenses and issued a citation to Mrs. McNally for failure to yield. While talking with defendant, Sment noted that defendant had difficulty speaking and that he staggered and swayed as he walked. Sment also detected the odor of alcohol on defendant’s breath. The officer had defendant perform some field sobriety tests, which defendant failed. Sment then told defendant to accompany him to the police station for a breath test. He did not tell defendant that he was under arrest at that time.

Officer Sment further stated that he had known defendant for four years and did not think it necessary to handcuff him. Defendant sat in the front seat of the squad car en route to the police station. There, the officer gave defendant the standard motorist’s warning (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 95½, par. 11—501.1(c)) and administered the breath test. Defendant registered a .20 breath-alcohol content. Then, defendant lost his balance and disturbed the breathalyzer keyboard. Consequently, a second test was administered in which defendant registered a .19 breath-alcohol content. At that point the officer issued defendant a citation for driving under the influence of alcohol. Defendant’s license was not returned to him that evening.

Defendant testified that he had been drinking beer that evening. He claimed, however, that he satisfactorily performed the field sobriety tests. He also denied that he staggered or swayed as he walked. Defendant agreed that he was not handcuffed, but stated that he rode in the back seat of the police car to the station.

The trial court found that defendant had not been arrested prior to the breath test. Accordingly, the court rescinded the statutory summary suspension.

Defendant subsequently filed a motion to suppress the breath-test result in the DUI prosecution, again arguing that he had not been properly arrested prior to the breath test. The parties rested on the evidence presented at the summary suspension hearing. The trial court suppressed the breath-test result on the ground that defendant had not been arrested prior to the test.

In this appeal, the State argues only that the trial court erred in suppressing the breath-test result in the DUI prosecution. The State acknowledges that the statutory summary suspension provisions are triggered by an arrest for driving under the influence of alcohol (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 95½, par. 11—501.1(a)). There is no language, however, in that section or in section 11—501 (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 95½, par. 11—501)—the section defining the offense of driving under the influence of alcohol — stating that an arrest must precede a breath test in order for the result to be admissible in a DUI prosecution. The State concludes that as long as the test is supported by probable cause to believe that the motorist was driving under the influence of alcohol, the result is admissible in a DUI prosecution regardless of whether defendant was under arrest at the time the test was administered.

The initial question to be resolved is a question of law, i.e., whether sections 11—501 and 11—501.1 of the Illinois Vehicle Code (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 95½, pars. 11—501, 11—501.1) are so interrelated as to require suppression of evidence in a DUI prosecution solely because such evidence was statutorily invalidated for purposes of the summary suspension proceedings.

In another context, that question was recently answered in the negative by the Second District of the Illinois Appellate Court (People v. Giere (2d Dist. 1989), 192 Ill. App. 3d 520, 548 N.E.2d 1104, appeal denied (1990), 131 Ill. 2d 562) and in the affirmative by this district (People v. Monckton (3d Dist. 1989), 191 Ill. App. 3d 106, 547 N.E.2d 673, appeal denied (1990), 131 Ill. 2d 564). At issue in Monckton and Giere was whether a breath test taken without defendant’s voluntary consent as required for purposes of the summary suspension provision tainted the test result for purposes of a subsequent DUI prosecution. In Monckton this court rejected its own precedent in People v. Eaves (3d Dist. 1988), 174 Ill. App. 3d 911, 529 N.E.2d 277, ruling that “[ajdmission of the result in either the summary suspension hearing or the DUI trial would defeat the legislature’s objective of allowing a defendant to make a knowing and voluntary decision regarding the test.” Monckton, 191 Ill. App. 3d at 109, 547 N.E.2d at 674.

By contrast, in Giere, the court, relying on precedent in People v. Brawn (2d Dist. 1988), 175 Ill. App. 3d 725, 530 N.E.2d 71, Village of Algonquin v. Ford (2d Dist. 1986), 145 Ill. App. 3d 19, 495 N.E.2d 595, and Eaves, stated, “There is nothing *** in either section 11—501 or section 11—501.1 that requires consent before a blood test may be taken in a DUI or reckless homicide prosecution.” (Giere, 192 Ill. App. 3d at 524-25, 548 N.E.2d at 1107.) To the extent that Giere was convicted only of reckless homicide (the DUI charge having been dismissed prior to trial), the court’s statement relative to DUI is obiter dictum. Nonetheless, the rationales of the two decisions cannot be reconciled. Giere rejects the precedents of People v. Frazier (4th Dist. 1984), 123 Ill. App. 3d 563, 463 N.E.2d 165, and People v. Romano (2nd Dist. 1985), 139 Ill. App. 3d 999, 487 N.E.2d 785, decided under a prior version of section 11—501.1(c), which had held that consent under the statute then in effect was required before blood tests could be administered.

In Monckton, Frazier and Romano were relied upon as support for the court’s statement that “[t]he Code reflects the legislature’s desire to prohibit involuntary blood and breath tests and to allow a driver to make a knowing withdrawal of his implied consent, so long as he is willing to bear the penalty.” (Monckton, 191 Ill. App. 3d at 109, 547 N.E.2d at 674.) Monckton fails, however, to consider statutory amendments subsequent to Frazier and Romano and makes no reference to either Ford or Brown. Although Monckton derives its finding of legislative intent from section 11—501.1(c), it does not purport to engraft that provision onto section 11—501.

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People v. Wozniak
557 N.E.2d 996 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1990)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
557 N.E.2d 996, 199 Ill. App. 3d 1088, 146 Ill. Dec. 54, 1990 Ill. App. LEXIS 1049, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-wozniak-illappct-1990.