Court Opinion

ID: 9714283
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 05:34:35.654727+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:24.979973
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE SCHMIDT, dissenting: The majority holds that it is impermissible for a police officer to run a warrant check on a passenger during a routine traffic stop absent a reasonable, articulable suspicion of criminal activity. It then professes that its holding comports to Illinois v. Caballes and People v. Caballes. 372 Ill. App. 3d at 963. It does not and, therefore, I dissent. A little history of this case seems appropriate. The original order of this court, a 2 to 1 majority (People v. Andrews, No. 3—02—0569 (2004) (unpublished order under Supreme Court Rule 23)) that came to the same conclusion as does the majority here, was vacated by our supreme court in a supervisory order that directed us to reconsider the case in light of Illinois v. Caballes and People v. Caballes. People v. Andrews, 221 Ill. 2d 644, 853 N.E.2d 1230 (2006). “By the logic of Caballes, checking for warrants on a passenger changes the fundamental nature of the traffic stop only if (1) it causes the seizure to last longer than the time reasonably required for such a traffic stop or (2) it infringes upon the passenger’s legitimate interest in privacy.” People v. Roberson, 367 Ill. App. 3d 193, 201, 854 N.E.2d 317, 324 (2006). (Roberson contains an excellent analysis of the issues that I will not repeat here.) There is no evidence in the record before us to support an allegation that the warrant search prolonged the duration of this traffic stop. In fact, as the majority acknowledges, there is no evidence in the record before us indicating how long the traffic stop lasted. Any doubts raised by the incompleteness of the record will he resolved against the appellant. People v. Stewart, 179 Ill. 2d 556, 689 N.E.2d 1129 (1997). Since nothing in the record indicates the duration of the stop was expanded by Officer York’s actions, our next task should be to determine whether his actions infringed upon defendant’s legitimate interest in privacy. If it did not, under Caballes, it could not have impermissibly changed the nature of the traffic stop. Officers have the right to ask citizens questions, even incriminating ones, when the officer has no reasonable, articulable suspicion of criminal activity. People v. Luedemann, 222 Ill. 2d 530, 857 N.E.2d 187 (2006). The Luedemann court acknowledged the theory that “ ‘police officers can approach individuals as to whom they have no reasonable suspicion and ask them potentially incriminating questions’ ” is well settled in the law and has been endorsed by the United States Supreme Court “ ‘any number of times.’ ” Luedemann, 222 Ill. 2d at 549, quoting Florida v. Bostick, 501 U.S. 429, 439, 115 L. Ed. 2d 389, 401, 111 S. Ct. 2382, 2388 (1991). “[T]he law clearly provides that a police officer does not violate the fourth amendment merely by approaching a person in public to ask questions if the person is willing to listen. [Citations.] *** [T]he police have the right to approach citizens and ask potentially incriminating questions.” Luedemann, 222 Ill. 2d at 549, citing Florida v. Bostick, 501 U.S. 429, 439, 115 L. Ed. 2d 389, 401, 111 S. Ct. 2382, 2388 (1991). Officer York was well within his rights in asking defendant for identification. The majority concedes this point. “The existence of an arrest warrant is a matter of public record.” Gist v. Macon County Sheriff’s Department, 284 Ill. App. 3d 367, 377, 671 N.E.2d 1154, 1161 (1996). “[T]he expectation ‘that certain facts will not come to the attention of the authorities’ is not the same as an interest in ‘privacy that society is prepared to consider reasonable.’ ” Illinois v. Caballes, 543 U.S. 405, 408-09, 160 L. Ed. 2d 842, 847, 125 S. Ct. 834, 837-38 (2005), quoting United States v. Jacobsen, 466 U.S. 109, 122, 80 L. Ed. 2d 85, 100, 104 S. Ct. 1652, 1661 (1984). The defendant had no legitimate privacy interest in the fact that an outstanding writ of attachment for his arrest existed at the time of the traffic stop. On the other hand, the majority erroneously characterizes Officer York’s actions in running a warrant check as converting “the stop from a routine traffic stop into an inquiry into defendant’s past misconduct.” 372 Ill. App. 3d at 963. The language and analysis employed by the majority are strikingly similar to that used in People v. Harris, 207 Ill. 2d 515, 802 N.E.2d 219 (2003). The United States Supreme Court has vacated the Harris decision and instructed our supreme court to revisit its analysis in light of Illinois v. Caballes. Illinois v. Harris, 543 U.S. 1135, 161 L. Ed. 2d 94, 125 S. Ct. 1292 (2005). The fact is, a warrant check is a computer check to determine whether there are any current outstanding warrants or writs for the individual’s arrest. Justice Fitzgerald’s dissent in Harris, joined by Justices Thomas and Carman, recognized this. People v. Harris, 207 Ill. 2d at 536 (Fitzgerald, J., dissenting, joined by Thomas and Carman, JJ.). In Illinois, police officers routinely run warrant checks simultaneously through the Law Enforcement Agency Data System (LEADS) and the National Crime Information Center (NCIC). Even 25 years ago, these warrant checks took only moments to complete. Nothing Officer York did changed the nature of this traffic stop from a constitutionally permissible stop to an unconstitutional stop. It was permissible for the officer to ask defendant questions. It was permissible for the officer to run a warrant check. It was proper for the officer to search the defendant’s person once he lawfully arrested defendant pursuant to the outstanding writ. From a commonsense standpoint, to require police to have a reasonable, articulable suspicion of criminal activity to run a warrant check seems somewhat silly. What is the likelihood that police will find a warrant for a crime that a person has just committed or is about to commit? What about the officer who recognizes someone on the street and simply requests a warrant check on the individual without first stopping him? Is that an invasion of the person’s constitutional rights to privacy? In the real world, police officers do this every day. It is a practice which leads to many arrests based on outstanding warrants and writs. As long as the warrant check on the passenger does not unreasonably prolong the traffic stop, I can think of no relevant difference between the warrant check at issue here and one where the officer runs a warrant check on someone the officer recognizes standing on the street or passing by in a car. If the law requires a reasonable, articulable suspicion to check public records as the majority holds here today, both are impermissible. Finally, although I find that no unconstitutional action was taken by Officer York, I feel it necessary to address the “inevitable discovery” issues raised by the State as it appears the majority misconstrues the State’s argument. The majority concludes that since “there was nothing inevitable about the defendant’s arrest for cannabis,” the inevitable discovery doctrine does not cure what the majority incorrectly determined to be an improper search. 372 Ill. App. 3d at 964. The State did not argue simply that the arrest for cannabis was inevitable but rather the warrant check was inevitable, given Officer York’s familiarity with the defendant. This, in turn, made defendant’s arrest based upon the writ inevitable. This was so, even though defendant argued below that the officer’s request for his identification was a fourth amendment violation. That is, the State argued that even if the court found the request for identification constitutionally infirm, the officer knew defendant. The trial court made the specific finding that the officer recognized defendant and would have run a warrant check even without securing defendant’s identification. The State’s “inevitability” argument did not address or anticipate the majority ruling that it was the running of the warrant check, as opposed to requesting identification, where the officer went afoul of the fourth amendment.