Opinion ID: 741726
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Pre-trial Motion to Quash.

Text: 69 Spreitzer was arrested in conjunction with the Sutton murder on November 5, 1982. Prior to trial, Spreitzer filed a motion to quash the arrest on the grounds that probable cause was lacking at the time the police took him into custody. He also filed a motion to suppress statements he made on November 5 and 8, 1982, as fruits of the unlawful arrest. His statements dealt with his involvement in a number of murders, including that of Linda Sutton. As the Illinois Supreme Court noted, the issue was whether Spreitzer was arrested by the police before or after he had made the incriminating statement which provided the probable cause for his arrest. Spreitzer II, 143 Ill.2d at 215, 157 Ill.Dec. at 469, 572 N.E.2d at 933. 70 Spreitzer himself was the only witness who testified in support of the motion to quash. He testified that he was arrested on November 5, 1982 at 10:30 p.m. near the garage of his mother's house. He testified that during the arrest, Detective Thomas Flynn and his partner asked Spreitzer his name and told him that they wanted to bring him in to ask him some questions. Spreitzer testified that they pushed him against a car in the rear of his mother's house, patted him down and handcuffed him behind his back, placed him in the backseat of a squad car and took him to a police station where he was held in custody for five days and questioned repeatedly. 71 Detective Flynn and Du Page County Sheriff's Detective Warren Wilkosz both testified in opposition to the motion to quash. Detective Flynn testified that he stopped Spreitzer on October 20, 1982, in a van matching the description of a van used in the mutilation assaults of two prostitutes in Chicago. Spreitzer voluntarily went to the police station to be photographed for a photo lineup to be shown to one of the victims. Detective Flynn testified that, as a result of an investigation, Spreitzer agreed to take a polygraph examination on November 5. When Spreitzer failed to show up for the polygraph, he and his partner went looking for Spreitzer. They found him at 7:45 p.m. at his mother's house, and Spreitzer voluntarily accompanied them to the police station to take the polygraph exam at 8 p.m. He said that Spreitzer was not handcuffed or under arrest when he accompanied Flynn to the station. Flynn testified that after the exam, Spreitzer voluntarily accompanied him to another police station for further questioning, during which Spreitzer admitted his involvement in some homicides. Detective Flynn testified that it was only after these admissions that Spreitzer was arrested. The trial court denied the motion to quash based on this evidence, finding that Spreitzer made incriminating statements prior to his arrest, and that these statements provided the probable cause for his arrest. 72