Case Name: THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, Appellant, v. JACKIE D. HUNDLEY, Appellee
Court: Illinois Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Illinois
Decision Date: 1993-08-26
Citations: 156 Ill. 2d 135
Docket Number: No. 73925
Parties: THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, Appellant, v. JACKIE D. HUNDLEY, Appellee.
Judges: 
Reporter: Illinois Reports, Second Series
Volume: 156
Pages: 135–148

Head Matter:
(No. 73925.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, Appellant, v. JACKIE D. HUNDLEY, Appellee.
Opinion filed August 26, 1993.
FREEMAN, J., dissenting.
HARRISON, J., joined by BILANDIC, J., also dissenting.
Roland Burris, Attorney General, of Springfield, and Samuel Naylor, State’s Attorney, of Carthage (Norbert J. Goetten, John X. Breslin and J. Paul Hoffman, of the Office of the State’s Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor, of Ottawa, of counsel), for the People.
Albert V. Ancelet, of Capps, Ancelet & Stoverink, of Carthage, for appellee.

Opinion:
JUSTICE HEIPLE
delivered the opinion of the court:
The defendant, Jackie D. Hundley, was charged, in the circuit court of Hancock County, with the offense of unlawful possession of a controlled substance. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 56V2, par. 1402.) Cocaine was found in Hundley's unattended automobile by an Illinois state trooper during a warrantless inventory search. Hundley filed a motion to suppress evidence, which was granted by the trial court. The appellate court affirmed. (227 Ill. App. 3d 1056.) We reverse.
On October 1, 1988, at approximately 10 p.m., State Trooper Anthony Grace was on routine patrol when he came across what appeared to have been a one-car accident. The scene was near the intersection of U.S. Highway 136 and Fountain Creek Road in Hancock County, Illinois. Trooper Grace observed a 1986 blue Mercury automobile in a ditch. A utility pole had been broken off and a part of it was stuck under the car. Downed power lines were lying across the highway. Hundley, the owner and operator of the car, was not present. From an examination of the scene, the trooper was able to conclude that the car had left the traveled portion of U.S. 136, crossed an embankment, crashed through a fence and come to rest in the ditch after colliding with and breaking off a utility pole. Closer inspection of the car revealed that the doors were locked.
Trooper Grace called for a tow truck to remove the vehicle. He then used a mechanical device called a "slim jim" to open the car's locked door. He testified that this was done so that he could shift the transmission into neutral to avoid towing damage.
Since defendant was not present, Trooper Grace conducted an inventory search of the car prior to its removal by the tow truck to an unguarded storage facility. In the course of his search, he found a closed, snap-top cigarette case which he opened. Inside the cigarette case, he found a snorting tube containing cocaine. The trooper testified that he opened the cigarette case because in his experience he had found women often put their drivers' licenses and money in these containers. No purse or other valuables were found in the vehicle. Trooper Grace testified that he prepared an inventory list pursuant to State police policy and gave copies of it to his commanding sergeant and the tow truck operator. No inventory form was introduced into evidence at the suppression hearing. At the conclusion of the hearing, the court received into evidence the State police general order which contains the policy and procedure to be followed during a warrantless inventory search of an impounded vehicle. Identified as section 13 — 4(a)(2) of the General Order of the Illinois State Police, it provides:
"An examination and inventory of the contents of all vehicles/boats towed or held by authority of Division personnel shall be made by the officer who completes the Tow-In Recovery Report. This examination and inventory shall be restricted to those areas where an owner or operator would ordinarily place or store property or equipment in the vehicle/boat; and would normally include front and rear seat areas, glove compartment, map case, sun visors, and trunk and engine compartments."
Trooper Grace's authority for ordering the car towed and impounded is grounded in statute. Ill. Rev. Stat. 1987, ch. 95V2, par. 4-203(d).
An inventory search is a judicially created exception to the warrant requirement of the fourth amendment. (Illinois v. Lafayette (1983), 462 U.S. 640, 77 L. Ed. 2d 65, 103 S. Ct. 2605.) Three requirements must be satisfied for a valid warrantless inventory search of a vehicle: (1) the original impoundment of the vehicle must be lawful (South Dakota v. Opperman (1976), 428 U.S. 364, 49 L. Ed. 2d 1000, 96 S. Ct. 3092); (2) the purpose of the inventory search must be to protect the owner's property and to protect the police from claims of lost, stolen, or vandalized property and to guard the police from danger (Opperman, 428 U.S. 364, 49 L. Ed. 2d 1000, 96 S. Ct. 3092); and (3) the inventory search must be conducted in good faith pursuant to reasonable standardized police procedures and not as a pretext for an investigatory search (Colorado v. Bertine (1987), 479 U.S. 367, 93 L. Ed. 2d 739, 107 S. Ct. 738).
In Florida v. Wells (1990), 495 U.S. 1, 109 L. Ed. 2d 1, 110 S. Ct. 1632, the Supreme Court again affirmed the validity of warrantless inventory searches which follow a standardized police procedure requiring the opening of closed containers in impounded vehicles. Differing on its facts from the instant case, however, in Wells the defendant had been stopped for driving under the influence of alcohol and the trooper forced open a locked suitcase in the trunk of the car. Defendant Wells had given permission to inventory the trunk of the car but had not given permission to the officer to force open the locked suitcase.
The Court held that since the Florida Highway Patrol had no policy whatsoever with respect to the opening of closed containers, the marijuana which was found in the locked suitcase was properly suppressed. The Court stated, however, that police should be allowed sufficient latitude to determine whether a particular container should or should not be opened in light of the nature of the search and characteristics of the container itself.
Considering the applicable law as applied to the facts of the instant case, we believe that the general order of the Illinois State Police is adequate to the situation. More particularly, based on the unique circumstances of the towing of an unattended vehicle following a wreck, we believe that the officer's decision to open the cigarette case, because in his experience he had found women often put their drivers' licenses and money in these containers, was a reasonable exercise of judgment on the officer's part.
Accordingly, the judgments of the appellate court and circuit court are reversed. The cause is remanded to the circuit court for further proceedings.
Judgments reversed; cause remanded.