Case Title: People v. Holmes

Citation: 2017 IL 120407

Docket Number: 120407

State: illinois

Court: Illinois Supreme Court

Date: 2017-07-20T00:00:00Z

Document:
Illinois Official Reports 
 
Supreme Court 
 
 
People v. Holmes, 2017 IL 120407 
 
 
 
Caption in Supreme 
Court: 
 
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, Appellant, v. DAVID 
HOLMES, Appellee. 
 
 
 
Docket No. 
 
120407 
 
 
 
Filed 
 
 
July 20, 2017 
 
 
 
Decision Under  
Review 
 
Appeal from the Appellate Court for the First District; heard in that 
court on appeal from the Circuit Court of Cook County, the Hon. 
Dennis J. Porter, Judge, presiding. 
 
 
Judgment 
Reversed and remanded. 
Counsel on 
Appeal 
Lisa Madigan, Attorney General, of Springfield, and Anita Alvarez, 
State’s Attorney, of Chicago (David L. Franklin, Solicitor General, 
Michael M. Glick and Garson S. Fischer, Assistant Attorneys General, 
and Alan J. Spellberg and Paul J. Connery, Assistant State’s 
Attorneys, of counsel), for the People. 
 
Amy P. Campanelli, Public Defender, of Chicago (Eileen T. Pahl, 
Assistant Public Defender, of counsel), for appellee. 
 
 
 
Digitally signed by 
Reporter of Decisions 
Reason: I attest to the 
accuracy and integrity 
of this document 
Date: 2018.02.09 
14:31:26 -06'00'
 
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Justices 
JUSTICE GARMAN delivered the judgment of the court, with 
opinion. 
Chief Justice Karmeier and Justices Freeman, Thomas, Burke, and 
Theis concurred in the judgment and opinion. 
Justice Kilbride dissented, with opinion. 
 
 
 
OPINION 
 
¶ 1 
 
Defendant David Holmes was arrested when a Chicago police officer observed a revolver 
in defendant’s waistband. After the arrest, police also discovered that defendant lacked a 
Firearm Owner’s Identification (FOID) card. Defendant was charged with four counts of 
aggravated unlawful use of a weapon (AUUW). Counts I and III alleged that defendant carried 
a loaded, uncased, immediately accessible firearm (720 ILCS 5/24-1.6(a)(1), (a)(3)(A); (a)(2), 
(a)(3)(A) (West 2012)), and counts II and IV alleged that he did so without a FOID card (720 
ILCS 5/24-1.6(a)(1), (a)(3)(C); (a)(2), (a)(3)(C) (West 2012)). Subsequent to defendant’s 
arrest, this court issued its decision in People v. Aguilar, holding that section 24-1.6(a)(1), 
(a)(3)(A), (d)(1) was facially unconstitutional because it violated the right to keep and bear 
arms, as guaranteed by the second amendment to the United States Constitution. People v. 
Aguilar, 2013 IL 112116, ¶ 22. The State entered a nolle prosequi on counts I and III. 
Defendant filed a motion to quash his arrest and suppress evidence with respect to counts II 
and IV on the ground that the arresting officer only had probable cause to believe defendant 
was violating sections 24-1.6(a)(1), (a)(3)(A) and 24-1.6(a)(2), (a)(3)(A), which had been 
declared unconstitutional. 720 ILCS 5/24-1.6(a)(1), (a)(3)(A); (a)(2), (a)(3)(A) (West 2012). 
As a result, defendant argued that probable cause was retroactively invalidated and therefore 
his arrest violated his right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure under the state and 
federal constitutions. 
¶ 2 
 
After a hearing, the circuit court granted defendant’s motion. The appellate court affirmed. 
2015 IL App (1st) 141256, ¶ 40. We allowed the State’s petition for leave to appeal, pursuant 
to Illinois Supreme Court Rule 315 (eff. Mar. 15, 2016). 
 
¶ 3 
 
 
 
 
BACKGROUND 
¶ 4 
 
In January 2014, defendant filed a motion to quash his arrest and suppress evidence with 
respect to counts II and IV. Because the probable cause underlying defendant’s arrest was 
based solely upon a violation of sections 24-1.6(a)(1), (a)(3)(A) and 24-1.6(a)(2), (a)(3)(A) 
(720 ILCS 5/24-1.6(a)(1), (a)(3)(A); (a)(2), (a)(3)(A) (West 2012)), which were declared 
facially unconstitutional in Aguilar after defendant’s arrest, defendant argued that the void 
ab initio doctrine retroactively invalidated probable cause.  
¶ 5 
 
At the hearing on defendant’s motion, the arresting officer, Gabriel Barrera, testified that 
on June 8, 2012, he was patrolling the 63rd Street Beach in Chicago. Officer Barrera saw 
defendant lean into the passenger-side window of a vehicle to speak to the driver. Defendant’s 
shirt rode up, revealing a revolver tucked into his waistband. Officer Barrera approached 
defendant, asked him to place his hands on his head, and removed defendant’s revolver. 
 
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Officer Barrera’s partner then took defendant into custody. It was after defendant was taken 
into custody that Officer Barrera learned defendant’s name and that he did not have a FOID 
card. Officer Barrera had no arrest or search warrant for defendant at the time of his arrest. 
Officer Barrera conceded that, before arresting defendant, he did not know any information 
about defendant. Therefore, probable cause was based solely upon defendant’s violation of the 
subsequently invalidated AUUW subsections. Following Officer Barrera’s testimony, 
defendant argued that the arrest should be quashed and all evidence resulting from the arrest 
suppressed because 
 
“At the time, yes, the officer did have the right to place [defendant] under arrest. He 
had a right to search him and recover that gun. 
 
Post-Aguilar, Judge, he didn’t because that portion of the statute was found to be 
unconstitutional. It was found to be void. It had [sic] ab initio. The point being though 
now that’s no longer okay. Just somebody carrying a gun is not a reason for officers to 
place him in custody and place him under arrest.” 
The trial court noted:  
 
“It might be kind of unfortunate because the officer didn’t do anything wrong at the 
time. But if it is true that the statute is void ab initio then it is like it never existed. And 
if it never existed it is that portion of the statute [sic] then the officer didn’t have 
probable cause.” 
¶ 6 
 
The appellate court affirmed, explaining that its conclusion was informed by this court’s 
decision in People v. Carrera, 203 Ill. 2d 1 (2002): 
“[O]ur supreme court in Carrera stated that a facially invalid statute is void ab initio. 
*** In other words, ‘[i]t is as though no such law had ever been passed.’ [Citation.] *** 
 
Based on the Carrera court’s language, we conclude the void ab initio doctrine 
precludes the application of the good-faith doctrine in defendant’s case. *** As the 
Carrera court explained, applying the good-faith exception to defendant’s case would 
‘run counter to *** void ab initio jurisprudence.’ [Citation.] Further, the Carrera court 
stated that giving ‘legal effect’ to the fact that the prior statute existed in the 
defendant’s case would ‘effectively resurrect’ the statute ‘and provide a grace period 
*** during which our citizens would have been subject to extraterritorial arrests 
without proper authorization.’ ” 2015 IL App (1st) 141256, ¶¶ 29-30 (quoting People 
v. Carrera, 203 Ill. 2d 1, 14, 16 (2002)). 
¶ 7 
 
Referencing Michigan v. DeFillippo, 443 U.S. 31 (1979), and United States v. Charles, 
801 F.3d 855 (7th Cir. 2015), the appellate court noted that, “[a]s a result of the Illinois void 
ab initio doctrine, we are *** in the unique position of having to hold that the same exact 
conduct could establish probable cause if a case was brought in the federal system but not if it 
was brought in our state courts.” 2015 IL App (1st) 141256, ¶ 36. 
 
¶ 8 
 
 
 
 
ANALYSIS 
¶ 9 
 
When reviewing a trial court’s ruling on a motion to quash arrest and suppress evidence, 
this court applies a two-part standard of review. People v. Almond, 2015 IL 113817, ¶ 55. 
Great deference is afforded to the trial court’s findings of fact, and those factual findings will 
be reversed only if they are against the manifest weight of the evidence. Id. This court reviews 
 
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de novo the trial court’s ultimate legal ruling as to whether the evidence should be suppressed. 
Id.  
¶ 10 
 
Before this court, the State contends that (1) the void ab initio doctrine does not 
retroactively invalidate an arrest made upon probable cause to believe a defendant was 
violating a then-valid criminal statute and, (2) alternatively, if the void ab initio doctrine does 
retroactively invalidate such an arrest, then the good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule 
should apply because the statute in the instant case is substantive in nature, in that it makes 
unlawful certain conduct, and does not, by its own terms, confer unconstitutional search and 
seizure authority upon police. 
¶ 11 
 
Defendant acknowledges that, at the time of his arrest, Officer Barrera had probable cause 
to arrest him for carrying a loaded, uncased, immediately accessible firearm. 720 ILCS 
5/24-1.6(a)(1), (a)(3)(A); (a)(2), (a)(3)(A) (West 2012). Defendant, however, contends that our 
2002 decision in Carrera mandates strict application of the void ab initio doctrine, which, 
defendant maintains, would have the effect of retroactively invalidating probable cause and 
thereby incidentally mandating the suppression of the evidence inculpating defendant for his 
FOID violation. Any other result, according to defendant, would be counter to the void 
ab initio doctrine.  
¶ 12 
 
The void ab initio doctrine is a state jurisprudential principle. “When a statute is held to be 
facially unconstitutional, the statute is said to be void ab initio, i.e., void ‘from the 
beginning.’ ” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) People v. McFadden, 2016 IL 117424, ¶ 17 
(quoting Perlstein v. Wolk, 218 Ill. 2d 448, 455 (2006)). “An unconstitutional law ‘confers no 
right, imposes no duty and affords no protection. It is *** as though no such law had ever been 
passed.’ ” People v. Gersch, 135 Ill. 2d 384, 399 (1990) (quoting People v. Schraeberg, 347 Ill. 
392, 394 (1932)). “[W]here a statute is violative of constitutional guarantees, we have a duty 
not only to declare such a legislative act void, but also to correct the wrongs wrought through 
such an act by holding our decision retroactive.” Id. The law is clear that a defendant cannot be 
prosecuted under a statute that is void ab initio. See McFadden, 2016 IL 117424, ¶ 19. Less 
clear is whether the void ab initio doctrine is meant to be given such literal interpretation as to 
extend its reach to probable cause.  
¶ 13 
 
In the instant case, the appellate court concluded that this court’s decision in Carrera 
dictates that probable cause based on a statute later found unconstitutional is retroactively 
invalidated by operation of the void ab initio doctrine. 
 
¶ 14 
 
 
 
 
People v. Carrera 
¶ 15 
 
In Carrera, the defendant was arrested pursuant to a statute that granted police 
extraterritorial arrest powers. 203 Ill. 2d at 7. Subsequent to the defendant’s arrest, the statute 
was held unconstitutional because it was enacted in violation of the single subject rule of the 
Illinois Constitution of 1970. People v. Reedy, 186 Ill. 2d 1, 12 (1999). Thereafter, the statute 
was declared void ab initio in People v. Ramsey, 192 Ill. 2d 154, 156 (2000).  
¶ 16 
 
Before this court, the State argued (1) that the good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule 
applies where police rely upon a statute later declared unconstitutional and (2) that the 
exclusionary rule was inapplicable because the police did not conduct a constitutionally 
unreasonable search or seizure but simply acted outside territorial limits without valid 
statutory authority to do so. Carrera, 203 Ill. 2d at 10. The State forfeited the issue of whether 
 
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the exclusionary rule applied but urged this court to still consider it because resolution of that 
issue must occur prior to reaching the question of whether the good-faith exception applies. Id. 
at 11. 
¶ 17 
 
A majority of this court concluded that Illinois law was settled that the exclusionary rule 
applies where police effectuate an extraterritorial arrest without appropriate statutory 
authority. Id. In response, the State argued that the good-faith exception to the exclusionary 
rule applied because the police did not violate the defendant’s substantive constitutional rights 
in effectuating the extraterritorial arrest. Id. at 13. Acknowledging the State’s argument, the 
majority stated that it was choosing “to resolve this cause on narrower grounds” because “[i]n 
our estimation, the result that we reach is dictated by application of the void ab initio doctrine.” 
Id. at 13-14.  
¶ 18 
 
The majority explained that “[t]he void ab initio doctrine applies equally to legislative acts 
which are unconstitutional because they violate substantive constitutional guarantees [citation] 
and those that are unconstitutional because they are adopted in violation of the single subject 
clause of our constitution [citation].” Id. at 14-15. The majority would not consider the State’s 
good-faith exception argument, since application of “the good-faith exception would run 
counter to our single subject clause and void ab initio jurisprudence—specifically, that once a 
statute is declared facially unconstitutional, it is as if it had never been enacted.” Id. at 16. The 
majority reasoned: 
“In our estimation, to give effect to the historical fact that the amendment existed at the 
time of defendant’s arrest would effectively resurrect the amendment and provide a 
grace period (in this case four years between the effective date of the amendment and 
the date of our opinion in Reedy finding Public Act 89-404 unconstitutional) during 
which our citizens would have been subject to extraterritorial arrests without proper 
authorization. Our decision not to recognize an exception to the exclusionary rule 
where a statute is enacted in violation of the single subject clause comports with our 
jurisprudence that a statute which is facially invalid, and thus unconstitutional in its 
entirety, is void ab initio.” Id.  
¶ 19 
 
However, we find that Carrera is distinguishable from the present case for the following 
reasons. First, the statute at issue in Carrera did not itself violate any provision of the United 
States Constitution. Id. at 22 (Garman, J., dissenting, joined by Fitzgerald and Thomas, JJ.) 
(“[T]he constitutional infirmity in the statute did not spring from any violation of the fourth 
amendment of the United States Constitution or article I, section 6, of the state constitution.”). 
Rather, the statute at issue was held unconstitutional because it was enacted in violation of the 
single subject clause of the state constitution. Id. at 14-15 (majority opinion). Carrera involved 
strict application of a state jurisprudential doctrine—the void ab initio doctrine—to a state 
statute declared unconstitutional on purely state grounds. Id. at 16. In the instant case, the 
statute at issue was held unconstitutional because it violated the second amendment of the 
United States Constitution. The reasoning underlying this court’s decision in Carrera cannot 
therefore be automatically applied to the present case, which involves the relationship between 
the void ab initio doctrine and a statute declared unconstitutional on federal grounds. 
¶ 20 
 
Second, the majority in Carrera declined to consider whether the good-faith exception to 
the exclusionary rule applied. Id. The issue of whether police had probable cause to arrest the 
defendant in Carrera had been forfeited. See id. at 18. Therefore, probable cause was not at 
 
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issue in Carrera. The State also forfeited the issue of whether the exclusionary rule applied. Id. 
at 10. Rather, the majority resolved the case by applying the void ab initio doctrine and 
declined to address the good-faith exception due to its belief that application of the good-faith 
exception would be counter to the void ab initio doctrine. Id. at 16. The present case requires 
that we first address whether probable cause is retroactively invalidated. If not, then any 
reasoning involving the good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule is inapposite.  
¶ 21 
 
Third, Carrera is distinguishable because the facts and issues present did not implicate the 
limited lockstep doctrine. The single subject clause of the Illinois Constitution of 1970 does 
not have a cognate provision in the United States Constitution. See People v. Caballes, 221 Ill. 
2d 282, 289 (2006) (“First, a provision may be unique to the state constitution and, therefore, 
must be interpreted without reference to a federal counterpart. The single-subject rule of the 
Illinois Constitution of 1970 (Ill. Const. 1970, art. IV, § 8(d)) is such a provision.”). In the 
instant case, we must address whether probable cause is invalidated by application of the void 
ab initio doctrine. Where, as here, the existence of probable cause is at issue, which is by 
definition a fourth amendment issue, we must look to federal law pursuant to the limited 
lockstep doctrine. See People v. Fitzpatrick, 2013 IL 113449, ¶ 28. 
¶ 22 
 
For the reasons that we explain below, strict application of the void ab initio doctrine in the 
present context, to the extent posited by defendant, would conflict (1) with precedent from the 
United States Supreme Court and (2) with two recent decisions from this court. 
 
¶ 23 
 
 
 
 
Limited Lockstep Doctrine 
¶ 24 
 
Under our limited lockstep doctrine, we construe the search and seizure clause of our state 
constitution in accordance with the United States Supreme Court’s interpretation of the fourth 
amendment unless any of the narrow exceptions to lockstep interpretation apply. See id. This 
conclusion is “based on the premise that the drafters of the 1970 constitution and the delegates 
to the constitutional convention intended the phrase ‘search and seizure’ in the state document 
to mean, in general, what the same phrase means in the federal constitution.” Caballes, 221 Ill. 
2d at 314. 
¶ 25 
 
“Both the fourth amendment to the United States Constitution, which applies to the states 
via the fourteenth amendment (Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643 (1961)), and article I, section 6, of 
the Illinois Constitution of 1970, guarantee Illinois citizens the right to be free from 
unreasonable searches and seizures. U.S. Const., amend. IV; Ill. Const. 1970, art. I, § 6.” 
People v. Gaytan, 2015 IL 116223, ¶ 20. Notably, the term “probable cause” is incorporated in 
both the state and federal search and seizure provisions. U.S. Const., amend. IV; Ill. Const. 
1970, art. I, § 6. Therefore, we follow decisions of the United States Supreme Court regarding 
searches and seizures. 
¶ 26 
 
In Michigan v. DeFillippo, the United States Supreme Court addressed “whether an arrest 
made in good-faith reliance on an ordinance, which at the time had not been declared 
unconstitutional, is valid regardless of a subsequent judicial determination of its 
unconstitutionality.” 443 U.S. 31, 33 (1979). The ordinance at issue provided that a police 
officer could stop and question an individual if he had reasonable cause to believe that the 
individual’s behavior warranted further investigation for criminal activity. Id. The ordinance 
was subsequently amended to make it a crime for any person stopped pursuant to the ordinance 
to refuse to identify himself and produce evidence of his identity. Id. When the defendant 
 
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failed to identify himself, he was taken into custody and searched. Id. at 34. The search 
revealed a package of marijuana and packet containing a controlled substance. Id. The 
defendant was charged with possession of the controlled substance. Id. The defendant was not 
charged with or tried for violation of the ordinance. Id. Subsequently, the ordinance making it 
a crime to refuse to identify oneself was held unconstitutionally vague on its face. Id.  
¶ 27 
 
The State argued that because of the violation of the ordinance, which the defendant 
committed in the presence of the officers, the defendant was subject to a valid arrest and the 
search that followed was a valid search incident to arrest. Id. at 35. Therefore, evidence of the 
drugs should not have been suppressed. Id. The defendant maintained that since his arrest was 
for allegedly violating an ordinance later held unconstitutional, the search was likewise 
invalid. Id. After noting that the arresting officer had abundant probable cause to believe the 
defendant violated the ordinance, the United States Supreme Court rejected the argument that 
the officer lacked probable cause because he should have known the ordinance was invalid and 
would later be judicially declared unconstitutional. Id. at 36-37. “A prudent officer *** should 
not have been required to anticipate that a court would later hold the ordinance 
unconstitutional.” Id. at 37-38. The Supreme Court explained further: 
 
“Police are charged to enforce laws until and unless they are declared 
unconstitutional. The enactment of a law forecloses speculation by enforcement 
officers concerning its constitutionality—with the possible exception of a law so 
grossly and flagrantly unconstitutional that any person of reasonable prudence would 
be bound to see its flaws. Society would be ill-served if its police officers took it upon 
themselves to determine which laws are and which are not constitutionally entitled to 
enforcement.” Id. at 38. 
¶ 28 
 
In United States v. Charles, police responded to a call involving a road rage incident after a 
woman reported that the other driver was pounding on her car window and had displayed a 
gun. 801 F.3d 855, 857 (7th Cir. 2015). When officers reached the scene, the defendant 
emerged from his car. Id. The defendant matched the caller’s description of the man with the 
gun, the responding officer noticed a bulge under the defendant’s clothing, and the responding 
officer detained and frisked him. Id. After finding nothing, the officer searched the defendant’s 
car, wherein the officer discovered a loaded handgun. Id. The defendant was indicted for 
possessing a firearm as a felon. Id. In finding probable cause, the court noted: 
 
“It’s true that Chicago’s handgun ban was later invalidated, see McDonald, 561 
U.S. at 791, 130 S.Ct. 3020, as was the Illinois concealed-carry law, see Moore, 702 
F.3d at 942. But the ‘[p]olice are charged to enforce laws until and unless they are 
declared unconstitutional,’ so a search based on a violation of a law later declared 
unconstitutional does not necessarily violate the Fourth Amendment. Michigan v. 
DeFillippo, 443 U.S. 31, 38, 99 S.Ct. 2627, 61 L.Ed.2d 343 (1979). Although Charles 
could not be punished for violating an unconstitutional statute or ordinance, unless a 
law is ‘grossly and flagrantly unconstitutional,’ a police officer conducting a search 
may reasonably rely on it for Fourth Amendment purposes. Id.” Id. at 861. 
¶ 29 
 
Federal case law is clear that, under the facts of this case, probable cause would not be 
retroactively invalidated by the subsequent invalidation of the statute upon which probable 
cause was based at the time of the arrest. DeFillippo, 443 U.S. 31; Charles, 801 F.3d 855. We 
find this analysis compelling. Strict application of the Illinois void ab initio doctrine, to the 
 
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literal extent posited by defendant, would conflict with our continued adherence to the limited 
lockstep doctrine. 
 
¶ 30 
 
 
 
 
People v. Blair and People v. McFadden 
¶ 31 
 
Our conclusion is consistent with this court’s recent decisions in People v. Blair, 2013 IL 
114122, and People v. McFadden, 2016 IL 117424. 
¶ 32 
 
First, in Blair, this court considered whether Public Act 95-688 (eff. Oct. 23, 2007), which 
amended the armed violence statute, revived the sentencing enhancement in the armed robbery 
statute that this court held unconstitutional in People v. Hauschild, 226 Ill. 2d 63 (2007). Blair, 
2013 IL 114122, ¶ 1. Relevant here, the State in Blair disputed that, under the void ab initio 
doctrine, the legislature could revive the armed robbery sentencing enhancement only by 
amending and/or reenacting that statute. Id. ¶ 25. The defendant argued that although Public 
Act 95-688 may have remedied the constitutional infirmity in the armed robbery statute, Public 
Act 95-688 did not revive the sentencing enhancement in that statute because “once Hauschild 
declared the armed robbery sentencing enhancement unconstitutional the statute was void 
ab initio, and ‘the enhancement never existed.’ ” Id. ¶ 26. Agreeing with the State, this court 
explained: 
 
“Contrary to defendant’s argument, the void ab initio doctrine does not mean that a 
statute held unconstitutional never existed. As we recognized in Perlstein, [t]he actual 
existence of a statute, prior to a determination that the statute is unconstitutional, is an 
operative fact and may have consequences which cannot justly be ignored. The past 
cannot always be erased by a new judicial declaration. Perlstein, 218 Ill. 2d at 461 
(quoting Chicot County Drainage District v. Baxter State Bank, 308 U.S. 371, 374 
(1940)). Moreover, to construe the void ab initio doctrine as rendering a statute 
nonexistent is tantamount to saying that this court may repeal a statute. See Certain 
Taxpayers v. [Sheahen], 45 Ill. 2d 75, 81 (1970) (effect of repeal is to obliterate the 
statute repealed as completely as though it had never been passed as a law and never 
existed). Such a result, however, would contravene our separation of powers clause. Ill. 
Const. 1970, art. II, § 1. 
 
The power to enact laws, and the concomitant power to repeal those laws, reside in 
the General Assembly. *** Although we are obligated to declare an unconstitutional 
statute invalid and void [citations], such a declaration by this court cannot, within the 
strictures of the separation of powers clause, repeal or otherwise render the statute 
nonexistent.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Id. ¶¶ 29-30. 
¶ 33 
 
Next, in McFadden, we considered whether a conviction for AUUW based on section 
24-1.6(a)(1), (a)(3)(A) could still serve as a prior felony conviction after that section was 
declared facially unconstitutional. 2016 IL 117424. The defendant argued that his 2008 
conviction for unlawful use of a weapon (UUW) by a felon, a constitutionally valid offense, 
was not proven because the predicate felony conviction was based on that portion of the 
AUUW statute declared facially unconstitutional and void ab initio in Aguilar. Id. ¶ 21. We 
noted that, “[b]ased on this court’s precedent, we continue to reaffirm the principle that the 
void ab initio doctrine renders a facially unconstitutional statute unenforceable and renders a 
conviction under that facially unconstitutional statute subject to vacatur.” Id. ¶ 20. We 
explained:  
 
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“Although Aguilar may provide a basis for vacating defendant’s prior 2002 AUUW 
conviction, Aguilar did not automatically overturn that judgment of conviction. Thus, 
at the time defendant committed the UUW by a felon offense, defendant had a 
judgment of conviction that had not been vacated and that made it unlawful for him to 
possess firearms.” Id. ¶ 31.  
¶ 34 
 
Therefore, this court rejected the defendant’s argument that the void ab initio doctrine, in 
and of itself, procedurally operated to overturn the 2002 AUUW conviction. The conviction 
would be treated as valid unless and until it was declared otherwise via judicial process. Id.  
¶ 35 
 
In the instant case, defendant attempts to distinguish Blair and McFadden. Specifically, 
defendant implies that, because Blair involved a question of revival and revival is not at issue 
in the instant case, Blair is inapposite. Defendant also asserts that McFadden did not curtail the 
reach of the void ab initio doctrine nor preclude the defendant from obtaining relief, as it 
addressed only the question of the procedural mechanism to challenge a conviction for 
unlawful use of a weapon by a felon where the underlying felony conviction had been based 
upon a statute later found unconstitutional. Because defendant “followed the proper procedure 
by filing a motion to suppress challenging his arrest without probable cause,” defendant 
insinuates that McFadden is similarly inapplicable.  
¶ 36 
 
We reject these arguments. Defendant does not explain why, if the void ab initio doctrine 
did not bar a statutory amendment from being revived in Blair or did not automatically 
invalidate the judgment of a predicate felony conviction in McFadden, it would invalidate 
probable cause. Such a contention is irreconcilable with Blair and McFadden.  
¶ 37 
 
We hold that the void ab initio doctrine does not retroactively invalidate probable cause 
based on a statute later held unconstitutional on federal constitutional grounds or on state 
constitutional grounds subject to the limited lockstep doctrine. In the instant case, Officer 
Barrera had probable cause at the time of defendant’s arrest, and thus there is no reason to 
suppress the evidence collected incidental to the arrest. Because we conclude that probable 
cause existed at the time of defendant’s arrest and that probable cause was not retroactively 
invalidated by the subsequent declaration of unconstitutionality on second amendment 
grounds, the exclusionary rule does not apply. Thus, there is no need to consider the good-faith 
exception to the exclusionary rule. 
 
¶ 38 
 
 
 
 
CONCLUSION 
¶ 39 
 
The void ab initio doctrine did not retroactively invalidate probable cause for defendant’s 
arrest because probable cause was predicated on a statute that was subsequently declared 
unconstitutional on federal grounds. Because probable cause is a component of both the 
federal and state search and seizure provisions, we follow federal law pursuant to the limited 
lockstep doctrine. Federal case law holds that probable cause for arrest would not be 
retroactively invalidated by subsequent declaration of a statute’s unconstitutionality on federal 
grounds. See DeFillippo, 443 U.S. 31; Charles, 801 F.3d 855. Carrera is distinguishable and 
does not dictate a different result because (1) Carrera involved strict application of a state 
jurisprudential doctrine—the void ab initio doctrine—to a state statute declared 
unconstitutional on purely state grounds, (2) Carrera did not analyze probable cause, as it was 
not at issue, and (3) the facts and issues presented in Carrera did not implicate the limited 
lockstep doctrine. See Carrera, 203 Ill. 2d 1. Our conclusion comports with this court’s 
 
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decisions in Blair and McFadden. See Blair, 2013 IL 114122; McFadden, 2016 IL 117424. To 
hold that the void ab initio doctrine requires retroactive invalidation of probable cause would 
be tantamount to a repeal of the statute, which would violate separation of powers. Because 
probable cause is not invalidated, no fourth amendment violation has occurred. Therefore, we 
need not reach the issue of whether the good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule may 
apply. Consequently, we reverse the judgment of the appellate court and remand the case to the 
circuit court for further proceedings. 
 
¶ 40 
 
Reversed and remanded. 
 
¶ 41 
 
JUSTICE KILBRIDE, dissenting: 
¶ 42 
 
This opinion brings the demise of this court’s void ab initio doctrine one step closer. While 
once again purportedly “ ‘continu[ing] to reaffirm the principle that the void ab initio doctrine 
renders a facially unconstitutional statute unenforceable’ ” (supra ¶ 33 (quoting People v. 
McFadden, 2016 IL 117424, ¶ 20)), the majority simultaneously vitiates both that doctrine’s 
reason for being and our institutional duty to void statutes that are facially unconstitutional and 
to remediate the damage they have done. In reaching its decision, the majority construes this 
court’s opinion in People v. Carrera, 203 Ill. 2d 1, 16 (2002), so narrowly that it is effectively 
overruled. The majority’s analysis is fundamentally incompatible with stare decisis and our 
“paramount and constitutionally mandated function” to protect citizens’ constitutional rights 
from facially unconstitutional legislation. People v. Gersch, 135 Ill. 2d 384, 398 (1990). 
Because I cannot agree, I respectfully dissent. 
¶ 43 
 
In 1886, the United States Supreme Court explained that “[a]n unconstitutional act is not a 
law; it confers no rights; it imposes no duties; it affords no protection; it creates no office; it is, 
in legal contemplation, as inoperative as though it had never been passed.” Norton v. Shelby 
County, 118 U.S. 425, 442 (1886); see also supra ¶ 12 (quoting Gersch, 135 Ill. 2d at 399, 
quoting People v. Schraeberg, 347 Ill. 392, 394 (1932)). This court has consistently followed 
that formulation of the void ab initio doctrine, repeatedly deeming facially unconstitutional 
statutes void “ ‘from the beginning.’ ” Perlstein v. Wolk, 218 Ill. 2d 448, 455 (2006) (quoting 
Black’s Law Dictionary 1604 (8th ed. 2004)). No one may be prosecuted in Illinois under a 
facially unconstitutional law because “ ‘[a]n invalid law is no law at all.’ ” (Internal quotation 
marks omitted.) Gersch, 135 Ill. 2d at 399 (quoting Van Driel Drug Store, Inc. v. Mahin, 47 Ill. 
2d 378, 381 (1970), quoting People ex rel. Barrett v. Sbarbaro, 386 Ill. 581, 590 (1944)). 
While we have occasionally permitted a somewhat more relaxed, equitable application of the 
void ab initio doctrine in civil cases, we have adhered to its strict application in criminal 
matters for decades. Indeed, we have actively championed strict application of the doctrine in 
criminal cases, “where a defendant’s constitutionally guaranteed rights are in need of 
vindication.” Perlstein, 218 Ill. 2d at 466.  
¶ 44 
 
While necessarily acknowledging this substantive backdrop (supra ¶ 12), the majority 
nonetheless chooses to distance itself from those precedents, relying instead on a faulty 
analogy that erroneously equates the “repeal” of a statute with a judicial declaration that it is 
void ab initio. According to the majority, “ ‘to construe the void ab initio doctrine as rendering 
a statute nonexistent is tantamount to saying that this court may repeal a statute. [Citation.] 
Such a result, however, would contravene our separation of powers clause.’ ” Supra ¶ 32 
 
- 11 - 
 
(quoting People v. Blair, 2013 IL 114122, ¶ 29). Not surprisingly, however, the parties’ briefs 
do not raise the spectre of a “judicial repeal.” Applying the majority’s approach, even the 
Supreme Court’s 1886 description of a judicial finding of unconstitutionality would create a 
separation of powers violation. See Norton, 118 U.S. at 442 (explaining that “[a]n 
unconstitutional act is not a law; *** it is, in legal contemplation, as inoperative as though it 
had never been passed”). Used properly, “repeal” is, in fact, a legal term of art meaning 
“abrogation of an existing law by legislative act.” (Emphasis added.) A repeal may be 
“express,” relying on a “specific declaration in a new statute or main motion,” or “implied,” 
produced by an “irreconcilable conflict between an old law or main motion and a more recent 
law or motion.” Black’s Law Dictionary 1413 (9th ed. 2009). Regardless of the type, however, 
a “repeal” necessarily involves legislative action. See also Certain Taxpayers v. Sheahen, 45 
Ill. 2d 75, 81 (1970) (noting that, when one legislative act repeals another, the effect is to 
“obliterate” the original statute as though it never existed). 
¶ 45 
 
In contrast, the void ab initio doctrine was judicially adopted to vindicate our citizens’ 
fundamental right to be free from unconstitutional legislation and to discourage its enactment. 
While the effect of this equitable doctrine may be similar to that of a legislative repeal, it is a 
distinct mechanism based on policy determinations specifically tied to the differing roles 
played by the courts and the legislature. Gersch, 135 Ill. 2d at 396. Because judicial decisions 
declare the existing law, they allow for only incremental adjustments as conditions evolve. 
This slower process allows courts to consider whether equitable factors justify the retroactive 
application of each change. In contrast, the legislature is empowered to alter the course of 
public policy sharply and to create unexpected new rights and responsibilities. For that reason, 
legislative actions are presumed to apply only prospectively. Gersch, 135 Ill. 2d at 396-97. “A 
constitutionally repugnant enactment suddenly cuts off rights that are guaranteed to every 
citizen [citation], and instantaneously perverts the duties owed to those citizens.” Gersch, 135 
Ill. 2d at 397. By failing to apply the void ab initio doctrine to inactivate facially 
unconstitutional statutes retroactively, this court would “effectively resurrect the amendment 
and provide a grace period *** during which our citizens would have been subject to” 
unconstitutional legislative action. Carrera, 203 Ill. 2d at 16. “To hold that a judicial decision 
that declares a statute unconstitutional is not retroactive would forever prevent those injured 
under the unconstitutional legislative act from receiving a remedy for the deprivation of a 
guaranteed right.” Gersch, 135 Ill. 2d at 397. Those considerations, along with our mandate to 
strike down statutes that infringe on citizens’ constitutional rights, have been the driving forces 
behind our strict application of the void ab initio doctrine in criminal cases. Gersch, 135 Ill. 2d 
at 398-99. 
¶ 46 
 
Here, the relevant statute eviscerated Illinois citizens’ fundamental right to possess 
firearms, contrary to the core values firmly ensconced in the second amendment of our federal 
constitution (U.S. Const., amend. II). People v. Aguilar, 2013 IL 112116, ¶ 16. The majority’s 
position drastically, and unnecessarily, undermines the protections provided by our strict 
application of the void ab initio doctrine. Without those protections, citizens unlucky enough 
to attract the attention of law enforcement while exercising their second amendment rights are 
exposed to otherwise impermissible prosecution for secondary conduct. In those instances, I 
continue to support this court’s application of the void ab initio doctrine both to protect 
guaranteed constitutional rights and to uphold our precedents shielding citizens from the sort 
 
- 12 - 
 
of extreme collateral damage that, as in this case, can arise from arrests for facially 
unconstitutional offenses. 
¶ 47 
 
Contrary to the majority’s claim (supra ¶ 32), the effect of a judicial declaration that a 
statute is facially unconstitutional, and thus void ab initio, does not violate the separation of 
powers clause, at least no more than does the inevitable intertwining of our statutory 
constructions with the underlying statutory language. Village of Vernon Hills v. Heelan, 2015 
IL 118170, ¶ 19 (recognizing that the judicial construction of a statute effectively becomes part 
of that statute); Abruzzo v. City of Park Ridge, 231 Ill. 2d 324, 343 (2008) (and cases cited 
therein). The inherent interweaving of common law and statutory enactment has never been 
deemed an unconstitutional judicial crossover into the legislature’s exclusive territory, nor 
should it be. It is simply the natural outcome when each branch of government fulfills its 
intended function. 
¶ 48 
 
Similarly, legislative repeal and our strict application of the void ab initio doctrine both 
provide mechanisms exercising the complementary authority possessed by our coequal 
branches of government. Our strict application of the void ab initio doctrine, however, is not, 
and never has been, “tantamount to saying that this court may repeal a statute.” (Internal 
quotation marks omitted.) Supra ¶ 32. Perhaps that is the reason the parties’ briefs did not 
include that argument, necessitating the majority’s sua sponte discussion. The majority’s 
contrary conclusion suggests that many of our decisions applying the doctrine are 
unconstitutional, seriously undercutting their validity. 
¶ 49 
 
The majority’s approach also attacks our analysis in Carrera, when we applied the 
exclusionary rule to an extraterritorial arrest conducted in reliance on a statute later held 
facially unconstitutional. We declined to consider the good-faith exception, concluding that it 
“would run counter to our single subject clause and void ab initio jurisprudence.” Carrera, 203 
Ill. 2d at 16. We further declined to give effect to the historical fact that the arrest was 
authorized by a statute that, at the time, was valid because doing so “would effectively 
resurrect the amendment and provide a grace period *** during which our citizens would have 
been subject to extraterritorial arrests without proper authorization.” Carrera, 203 Ill. 2d at 16. 
The majority’s abandonment of that principle here is irreconcilable with its purported 
allegiance to our void ab initio doctrine as well as our rejection of the Supreme Court’s 
decision in Illinois v. Krull, 480 U.S. 340 (1987), in favor of the dissent authored by Justice 
O’Connor, based on the same rationale. See People v. Krueger, 175 Ill. 2d 60, 71-73 (1996) 
(discussing Krull, 480 U.S. at 361-69 (O’Connor, J., dissenting, joined by Brennan, Marshall, 
and Stevens, JJ.)). As this case makes clear, the creation of a grace period for violating our 
citizens’ constitutional rights with legislative impunity remains a serious concern and requires 
swift and complete remedial action. The AUUW provision at issue had been in effect since 
2000 and undoubtedly had been applied against hundreds, if not thousands, of Illinois citizens 
before we declared it facially unconstitutional in Aguilar, 2013 IL 112116. Although the 
majority is content to accept the dismissal of the void AUUW charges as defendant’s sole 
remedy, subjecting him to prosecution for secondary charges premised on his arrest for that 
nonoffense, I am not. 
¶ 50 
 
What consolation is it for the State to drop the facially unconstitutional charges that 
prompted an arrest only to subject the very citizen whose rights were violated to additional 
felonies discovered after that arrest? It is, after all, this court’s “duty not only to declare such a 
 
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legislative act void, but also to correct the wrongs wrought through such an act by holding our 
decision retroactive.” Gersch, 135 Ill. 2d at 399. In its effort to avoid the harsh consequences 
sometimes resulting from the invalidation of legislation that tramples our citizens’ 
fundamental rights, the majority overlooks the highly principled rationale underlying our void 
ab initio precedents. The ends thus achieved, however, cannot justify the means used to reach 
them under our case law. 
¶ 51 
 
To bolster its unjust conclusion, the majority also attempts to distinguish Carrera based on 
the nature of its underlying constitutional flaw. That attempt fails, however, by relying on a 
distinction without a difference. Although the statute in Carrera was declared unconstitutional 
for violating the state single subject rule, while the AUUW provision here violated the federal 
second amendment, that distinction is irrelevant. We expressly recognized as much when we 
explained that “[t]he void ab initio doctrine applies equally to legislative acts which are 
unconstitutional because they violate substantive constitutional guarantees [citation] and those 
that are unconstitutional because they are adopted in violation of the single subject clause of 
our constitution [citation].” Carrera, 203 Ill. 2d at 14-15. The majority’s rejection of that 
conclusion contradicts Carrera’s clear directive. 
¶ 52 
 
Compounding its error, the majority announces this unprecedented limitation on the void 
ab initio doctrine without citation to any legal authority. Supra ¶ 19. No principled basis exists 
for granting relief under the void ab initio doctrine when the statute is unconstitutional on state 
grounds but denying the same relief when the constitutional problem is federal. It is 
inconceivable that this court would apply the void ab initio doctrine to grant the defendant in 
Carrera full relief, bypassing the fourth amendment issues raised, but deny this defendant any 
remedy by now choosing to focus on those same fourth amendment questions. As long as a 
statute is facially unconstitutional, on any basis, the core justifications for applying our void 
ab initio doctrine remain the same: to preserve our citizens’ constitutional rights, to provide a 
full remedy for all legislative violations, and to discourage the future enactment of 
unconstitutional legislation. 
¶ 53 
 
Consistent with those principles, the legislature’s direct violation of defendant’s second 
amendment rights demands that he be granted full relief. The necessity of relief is even more 
obvious when the nature of the harm here is compared to Carrera. The statute granting the 
police extraterritorial jurisdiction to make arrests in Carrera was unconstitutional merely 
because it was improperly enacted; the statute’s substantive constitutionality was never in 
question. Carrera, 203 Ill. 2d at 13-14. In other words, if the police had exercised exactly the 
same jurisdictional authority under a statute enacted as part of a legislative package addressing 
a single subject, the validity of Carrera’s arrest would never have been in question. 
Nonetheless, despite the fact that the harm inflicted on Carrera was indirect, he received full 
relief from this court. In sharp contrast, the substance of the only offense underlying 
defendant’s arrest here was unconstitutional on its face, invalidating each and every 
prosecution based on it, yet he receives no relief. The direct and personal nature of the 
constitutional wrong done to defendant, and to every other unfortunate soul arrested on facially 
unconstitutional charges, is palpable, magnifying, not diminishing, the need for a full judicial 
remedy. When viewed in that light, the injustice of the majority’s disposition is manifest. 
¶ 54 
 
Further undercutting the majority’s comparison of the state versus federal constitutional 
violations, blackletter law recognizes a blanket constitutional right to possess firearms 
 
- 14 - 
 
throughout the nation, with the federal right extended to the states through the application of 
the fourteenth amendment. People v. Aguilar, 2013 IL 112116, ¶ 17 (citing McDonald v. City 
of Chicago, 561 U.S. 742 (2010), for the proposition that the second amendment is applicable 
to the states through the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment); Coram v. State of 
Illinois, 2013 IL 113867, ¶ 49 (stating the same proposition); Wilson v. County of Cook, 2012 
IL 112026, ¶ 11 (same). That constitutional mandate is thus no less a part of Illinois citizens’ 
constitutional rights than is the single subject rule. Drawing invisible lines based on the origin 
of citizens’ basic rights ignores their universality as well as what is at stake if they are 
disregarded. 
¶ 55 
 
The majority’s additional attempts to distinguish Carrera due to the State’s forfeiture of 
the fourth amendment questions there (supra ¶ 20) again contradict our express language. In 
discussing the alleged forfeiture, we stated that it was “not necessary *** to determine whether 
the State has waived the [exclusionary rule] argument” or “consider whether the alleged 
waiver must be excused under the circumstances at bar.” Carrera, 203 Ill. 2d at 11. Thus, 
Carrera cannot be properly distinguished based on forfeiture because we never considered the 
forfeiture question on its merits. In fact, we declined to address the State’s alleged forfeiture 
precisely because it was irrelevant to our decision. 
¶ 56 
 
Instead, we expressly “[chose] to resolve [the] cause on narrower grounds” than the fourth 
amendment. Carrera, 203 Ill. 2d at 13. And our failure to address those issues was not a mere 
oversight. Recognizing the critical role played by our state doctrine, we explained that “[t]he 
result that we reach[ed was] dictated by application of the void ab initio doctrine.” (Emphasis 
added.) Carrera, 203 Ill. 2d at 13-14. The majority here, however, turns Carrera on its head, 
completely ignoring this court’s stated preference for applying the void ab initio doctrine even 
when presented with fourth amendment matters potentially implicating limited lockstep. 
¶ 57 
 
The majority’s analysis continues to ramp up the legal ambiguity, creating uncertainty over 
our abandonment of the test we mandated in Krueger “to delineate the scope of our state 
exclusionary rule.” Under that test, we must “ ‘carefully balance the legitimate aims of law 
enforcement against the right of our citizens to be free from unreasonable governmental 
intrusion.’ ” Krueger, 175 Ill. 2d at 75 (quoting People v. Tisler, 103 Ill. 2d 226, 245 (1984)). 
We resolved that question in Carrera in favor of protecting our citizens’ substantive rights 
when, as here, the arrest was premised on a facially unconstitutional statute. Carrera, 203 Ill. 
2d at 14-15. Because “[a]n unconstitutional law ‘confers no right, imposes no duty and affords 
no protection’ ” (internal quotation marks omitted) (supra ¶ 12), no duty exists to enforce an 
unconstitutional law, and conversely, the mere presence of a facially unconstitutional law on 
the books affords the State no protection for the consequences of any arrests based on it. 
¶ 58 
 
The murkiness of the opinion’s rationale further deepens when it chooses to focus on 
probable cause rather than on our void ab initio doctrine. While the historical fact that probable 
cause existed at the time of the arrest undoubtedly cannot be altered at this late date, probable 
cause is not, and has never been, at issue here. The majority, however, uses the existence of 
contemporaneous probable cause to justify its decision to address fourth amendment matters 
rather than the effect of our void ab initio doctrine, contrary to our analysis in Carrera. Supra 
¶¶ 36-37. In doing so, the majority answers the wrong question. The majority’s discussion of 
probable cause is no more relevant here than a substantive analysis of the good-faith exception 
or the exclusionary rule was in Carrera. This case is not about whether probable cause can be 
 
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retroactively invalidated. This case involves only the suppression of evidence gathered after an 
arrest for a facially unconstitutional offense. 
¶ 59 
 
Just as we have never concerned ourselves with the good-faith exception’s retroactive 
effect on probable cause, we should not concern ourselves now with the retroactive effect of 
the void ab initio doctrine on probable cause. The real question is limited to whether that 
doctrine creates a remedy for defendant following his arrest for a facially unconstitutional 
substantive offense. And we need not invalidate defendant’s arrest for lack of probable cause 
to fashion the necessary remedy. We simply need to apply the void ab initio doctrine as we did 
in Carrera. We can, and should, rely on our own nonconstitutional precedents whenever 
possible. People v. White, 2011 IL 109689, ¶ 144 (explaining that constitutional challenges are 
addressed only when they are essential to the case’s disposition). It is both unnecessary and 
unwise to consider whether probable cause is retroactively undermined by either fourth 
amendment considerations or our void ab initio doctrine. 
¶ 60 
 
Both Carrera and this case hinge exclusively on the application of our void ab initio case 
law, obviating any examination of forfeiture or fourth amendment questions. Carrera, 203 Ill. 
2d at 11, 13-14. When applying the void ab initio doctrine, the policy considerations 
underlying probable cause, such as discouraging police misconduct, are irrelevant. The 
conduct of the police bears neither fault nor consideration in determining the proper outcome 
in this case. The only policy considerations that matter are those that historically animated our 
void ab initio doctrine. We adopted that doctrine to protect our citizens’ rights from legislative 
overreach and to discourage the enactment of facially unconstitutional laws. Carrera, 203 Ill. 
2d at 16. See also Krueger, 175 Ill. 2d at 72-75 (adopting similar rationale to the dissent in 
Krull, 480 U.S. at 361-69 (O’Connor, J., dissenting, joined by Brennan, Marshall, and Stevens, 
JJ.)). As we did in Carrera, we should apply the doctrine here to suppress the evidence 
gathered after defendant’s arrest for a facially unconstitutional offense. 
¶ 61 
 
Attempting to find additional support for its departure from the strict application of our 
void ab initio doctrine, however, the majority turns to federal case law. Relying on Michigan v. 
DeFillippo and United States v. Charles, the opinion argues that “[f]ederal case law is clear 
that *** probable cause would not be retroactively invalidated by the subsequent invalidation 
of the statute” underlying defendant’s arrest. Supra ¶ 29 (citing 443 U.S. 31, and 801 F.3d 
855). Although that statement is correct as far as it goes, this is not a federal case, and this court 
is not bound by the federal case law cited. People v. Radojcic, 2013 IL 114197, ¶ 36. We may 
not abandon our own state doctrines based solely on contrary federal authority, at least not 
without properly justifying our break from stare decisis. In this case, the majority’s 
unexplained break is particularly egregious because federal courts do not adhere to our unique 
construction of the void ab initio doctrine and, indeed, rarely even use that term. Because 
federal courts do not abide by our void ab initio jurisprudence, the rationale and outcomes in 
DeFillippo and Charles offer us absolutely no guidance here. 
¶ 62 
 
Indeed, the differing results in those cases should come as no surprise after this court’s 
rejection in Krueger of the United States Supreme Court’s similar position in Krull. Relying on 
the same policy rationales underlying our decision in Carrera, Krueger expressly rejected the 
holding in Krull that “the fourth amendment exclusionary rule does not bar the use of evidence 
seized by a police officer who reasonably relied, in objective good faith, on a statute that *** is 
later declared to be unconstitutional.” Krueger, 175 Ill. 2d at 71. Instead, we knowingly 
 
- 16 - 
 
departed from lockstep in a fourth amendment case and adopted Justice O’Connor’s Krull 
dissent, an opinion joined by Justices Brennan, Marshall, and Stevens. Krueger, 175 Ill. 2d at 
71-75 (discussing Krull, 480 U.S. at 361-69). That dissent focused on the “serious threat to 
fourth amendment values” and liberty created by approving “ ‘a legislature’s unreasonable 
authorization of searches [that] may affect thousands or millions.’ ” Krueger, 175 Ill. 2d at 72, 
73 (quoting Krull, 480 U.S. at 365 (O’Connor, J., dissenting, joined by Brennan, Marshall, and 
Stevens, JJ.)). We reaffirmed that position just a few short years ago in Fitzpatrick, when we 
once again relied on Illinois’s “long-standing state tradition of excluding evidence obtained 
under the authority of an unconstitutional statute. Krueger, 175 Ill. 2d at 74-75.” (Emphasis 
added.) People v. Fitzpatrick, 2013 IL 113449, ¶ 16. I see no principled reason for rejecting 
that same rationale now, without explanation, following defendant’s arrest for “something that 
was never a crime” (People v. Shinaul, 2017 IL 120162, ¶ 14). Unlike today’s majority, I 
remain “[un]willing to recognize an exception to our state exclusionary rule that will provide a 
grace period for unconstitutional search and seizure legislation, during which time our 
citizens’ prized constitutional rights can be violated with impunity.” Krueger, 175 Ill. 2d at 75. 
In light of the facially unconstitutional offense in this case, the need for continuing this stance 
is even stronger. The majority’s position would create a legislative grace period lasting at least 
13 years and affecting innumerable Illinois citizens guilty of nothing more than the exercise of 
their constitutionally protected rights. Krueger, 175 Ill. 2d at 75 (relying on the same factors). 
¶ 63 
 
In light of our precedents applying the void ab initio doctrine rather than fourth 
amendment case law, the majority’s discussion of limited lockstep remains a mystery. Despite 
recognizing our refusal to address the merits of the State’s fourth amendment arguments in 
Carrera, 203 Ill. 2d at 12-14 (supra ¶ 18), the majority asserts that its result in this case is 
compelled by our adherence to fourth amendment jurisprudence (supra ¶¶ 28-29), raising new 
questions about the continuing validity of our contrary analyses in Carrera and Krueger, as 
well as other void ab initio decisions. Because the majority declines to overrule those 
precedents directly, it is apparently content to disavow them sub silentio. 
¶ 64 
 
The opinion is also surprisingly inconsistent with our statements in People v. Caballes: 
“Noting this state’s history of applying the exclusionary rule under the state 
constitution as well as a long-standing tradition of barring evidence gathered under 
the authority of an unconstitutional statute, this court rejected the Krull good-faith rule 
as creating a ‘grace period for unconstitutional search and seizure legislation,’ *** 
[and] ‘knowingly depart[ed]’ from the lockstep tradition to give effect to another 
tradition—the exclusion of evidence gathered in violation of the state constitution’s 
prohibition of unreasonable searches and seizures.” (Emphasis added.) Caballes, 221 
Ill. 2d at 302-03. 
In Caballes, we also recognized that “Krueger was a case about remedies” and that lockstep 
was not implicated because in Krueger “[w]e construed state law as providing a remedy for the 
constitutional violation even though the federal constitution did not require one.” Caballes, 
221 Ill. 2d at 303. The same is true here. In the absence of a federal remedy, defendant seeks 
alternative relief under our state void ab initio doctrine, namely, the suppression of evidence 
obtained pursuant to his arrest on a facially unconstitutional offense. Despite this case being as 
much about remedies as Krueger, and contrary to our long-held state tradition of strictly 
 
- 17 - 
 
applying the void ab initio doctrine to facially unconstitutional criminal statutes, the majority 
rejects that analysis here. 
¶ 65 
 
To complete its discussion, the majority opinion concludes that strictly applying the void 
ab initio doctrine here would conflict with our decisions in People v. McFadden, 2016 IL 
117424, and People v. Blair, 2013 IL 114122. While rejecting the argument that McFadden is 
distinguishable, the majority chides defendant for not explaining why the void ab initio 
doctrine would invalidate probable cause if it did not automatically invalidate the prior 
conviction in McFadden. Once again, because I believe the issue in this case is not properly 
defined by the doctrine’s retroactive effect on probable cause, I cannot agree with the majority. 
The majority’s focus in McFadden was on that defendant’s felony status and the procedural 
hoops he was required to jump through before the State could be precluded from using his 
facially unconstitutional AUUW conviction as the predicate felony for a charge of unlawful 
use of a weapon by a felon filed years later. Because the majority’s approach in that case 
discussed an entirely different question, I agree with defendant that McFadden is 
distinguishable. 
¶ 66 
 
This court’s decision in Blair is equally inapt. There, the court was considering whether an 
amendment to the armed violence statute revived an armed robbery sentencing enhancement 
declared unconstitutional in Hauschild. We noted that the “actual existence” of the statute “is 
an operative fact and may have consequences which cannot justly be ignored. The past cannot 
always be erased by a new judicial declaration.” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Blair, 
2013 IL 114122, ¶ 29. That explanation, however, begs the legal question here, when the issue 
is not even remotely similar. In truth, no remedial doctrine can ever alter historical fact. Our 
case law applying the void ab initio doctrine, however, has looked beyond historical fact to 
fulfill this court’s duty to uphold the constitution and provide justice to those harmed by 
unconstitutional legislation. For example, our rejection of the Supreme Court’s holding in 
Krull was due to our abiding concern over the creation of a grace period when the legislation 
could freely violate citizens’ guaranteed rights. The same rationale supported our use of the 
void ab initio doctrine in Carrera. Our decisions in those cases were driven by our mandate to 
protect citizens’ constitutional rights from legislative overreach and to provide an effective 
remedy when those rights are breached. Along with our other void ab initio precedents, 
Carrera and Krueger squarely put it within the power, and the inherent duty, of this court to 
remedy the consequences defendant faces here due solely to the enactment of the facially 
unconstitutional AUUW provision. 
¶ 67 
 
It is not enough simply to bar the prosecution of the facially unconstitutional offense while 
permitting a defendant to be tried for an offense discovered only later when “ ‘[a]n invalid law 
is no law at all.’ ” (Internal quotation marks omitted.) Gersch, 135 Ill. 2d at 399 (quoting 
Van Driel Drug Store, Inc. v. Mahin, 47 Ill. 2d 378, 381 (1970), quoting People ex rel. Barrett 
v. Sbarbaro, 386 Ill. 581, 590 (1944)). Since our decision in Blair, we have reiterated that “a 
statutory section cannot be ‘present’ if it is void ab initio.” People v. Mosley, 2015 IL 115872, 
¶ 55. And, as even Blair recognized, “ ‘[t]he effect of enacting an unconstitutional amendment 
to a statute is to leave the law in force as it was before the adoption of the amendment.’ ” Blair, 
2013 IL 114122, ¶ 30 (quoting Gersch, 135 Ill. 2d at 390). Despite its stated reliance on Blair, 
the majority fails to apply that proposition here. If we apply the law as it stood prior to the 
enactment of the unconstitutional AUUW provision, defendant would not have been arrested, 
 
- 18 - 
 
and the FOID card violations would not have been discovered. To provide a complete remedy, 
therefore, we must suppress the post-arrest FOID card evidence. 
¶ 68 
 
To hold otherwise would open wide the judicial doors to abuse of our system of criminal 
justice. Imagine the myriad possibilities for abuse if citizens could be arrested for overtly 
unconstitutional offenses that were later nol prossed while the evidence obtained pursuant to 
those arrests was used to prosecute otherwise unreachable conduct. This court’s longstanding 
formulation of the void ab initio doctrine was intended to prevent just that sort of misuse of 
legislative power. 
¶ 69 
 
When citizens become the unwitting victims of facially unconstitutional legislation, we 
must grant them the fullest relief possible in the interests of justice. Only in that way may the 
temptation to enact unconstitutional criminal statutes in the hopes of reaching secondary 
conduct be quelled. Otherwise, where is the justice for those citizens arrested during a 
judicially sanctioned legislative grace period for a statute that makes constitutionally protected 
acts illegal? The only truly effective, and just, relief is to suppress the evidence discovered 
after those arrests. Not only is that remedy straightforward and practicable, but it fulfills the 
vital principles underlying this court’s formulation of the void ab initio doctrine. 
¶ 70 
 
In contrast, the result created by the majority’s disposition sharply undercuts those goals. 
Because the majority’s view “commands that which the Constitution denies the State the 
power to command and makes ‘a crime out of what under the Constitution cannot be a 
crime,’ ” I dissent from its incremental, sub silentio, dismantling of our void ab initio doctrine. 
Michigan v. DeFillippo, 443 U.S. 31, 45 (1979) (Brennan, J., dissenting, joined by Marshall 
and Stevens, JJ.) (quoting Coates v. City of Cincinnati, 402 U.S. 611, 616 (1971)). “[O]ur 
choice of a rule of decision on matters governed by both the state and federal constitutions has 
always been and must continue to be predicated on our best assessment of the intent of the 
drafters, the delegates, and the voters—this is our solemn obligation. In keeping with this 
obligation, *** this court adopted a limited lockstep approach in [People v.] Tisler[, 103 Ill. 2d 
226 (1984),] and modified it in Krueger and Washington to allow consideration of state 
tradition and values as reflected by long-standing state case precedent.” Caballes, 221 Ill. 2d at 
313-14. Here, the strict application of the void ab initio doctrine in criminal cases is an 
enduring state tradition reflected in our case law. If nothing else, stare decisis dictates that we 
continue to apply that doctrine and suppress the evidence gathered against defendant after his 
arrest for “something that was never a crime” (Shinaul, 2017 IL 120162, ¶ 14). 
¶ 71 
 
If, however, the majority wishes to change course at this late date and vitiate our 
longstanding application of the void ab initio doctrine, it should do so forthrightly. While the 
majority’s reluctance to admit its progressive eradication of the doctrine might be 
understandable if we were routinely confronted with harsh consequences from its application, 
that is far from true. “[T]he void ab initio doctrine does not apply to an as-applied 
constitutional challenge” (emphasis in original) (People v. Thompson, 2015 IL 118151, ¶ 32), 
and facial challenges remain the most difficult constitutional claims to mount (People v. Davis, 
2014 IL 115595, ¶ 25). When raised, they are rarely successful. And even more rarely do the 
few successful challenges render void ab initio statutes defining criminal offenses, triggering 
the strict application of the doctrine. 
¶ 72 
 
The elimination of the void ab initio doctrine would, of course, require this court to reverse 
numerous well-reasoned precedents previously fundamental to our criminal jurisprudence. 
 
- 19 - 
 
Perhaps the need for special justification to break from stare decisis explains the majority’s 
failure to acknowledge the serious impact its recent decisions have had on the viability of the 
doctrine. See People v. Colon, 225 Ill. 2d 125, 146 (2007) (explaining that every departure 
from stare decisis must be “specially justified” (internal quotation marks omitted)). Regardless 
of the source of the majority’s refusal to address the doctrine’s erosion, I choose to adhere to 
the case law we have so carefully fashioned to protect the fundamental rights of Illinois 
citizens. 
¶ 73 
 
Our continued adherence to the void ab initio doctrine in precedents such as Carrera is 
ultimately necessary because, when faced with “a statute [that] is violative of constitutional 
guarantees, we have a duty not only to declare such a legislative act void, but also to correct the 
wrongs wrought through such an act by holding our decision retroactive.” Gersch, 135 Ill. 2d 
at 399. The doctrine represents this court’s considered decision to preclude the creation of a 
grace period permitting our citizens to be arrested, prosecuted, and deprived of their liberty all 
for the simple exercise of their fundamental constitutional rights. It is the summation of the 
principles of justice that drove us to reject the Supreme Court’s analysis in Krull, reverse the 
defendant’s murder conviction and remand for a new trial in Gersch, and suppress the 
post-arrest evidence in Carrera. It is also the consideration that should animate this court’s 
analysis in the present case. Both stare decisis and fundamental fairness demand no less. For 
that reason, I would continue to apply the void ab initio doctrine consistent with our 
established case law, and accordingly, I dissent from the majority opinion.