Court Opinion

ID: 9717155
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 06:59:17.983648+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:51.725593
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE HARRISON dissenting: I respectfully dissent. The majority simply states that because the police saw cannabis seeds in plain view in the ashtray, they had probable cause to search the rest of the apartment, including the metal can, even without a warrant. If police have probable cause to search a house but have not obtained a warrant, the search must fall within one of the narrow and specifically delineated exceptions to the warrant requirement. (Thompson v. Louisiana (1984), 469 U.S. 17, 20-21, 83 L. Ed. 2d 246, 250, 105 S. Ct. 409, 411.) The majority is unable to identify any such exception, because none applies in this case. The United States Supreme Court in Thompson and Mincey v. Arizona (1978), 437 U.S. 385, 57 L. Ed. 2d 290, 98 S. Ct. 2408, rejected the contention that there is a “murder scene exception” to the warrant requirement. In both cases, the court found that even though a murder had been committed and police were lawfully on the premises, they could not conduct unlimited searches absent exigent circumstances. If the evidence that a murder has been committed does not permit police to search for other evidence absent exigent circumstances, then surely evidence of illegal possession of cannabis does not permit police to search defendant’s entire apartment, including the metal can, in the present case. The record indicátes no exigent circumstances, and the State has not argued any existed. Furthermore, the majority states the following as its holding: “Since the police were authorized to search without a warrant, no legitimate interest protected by the Fourth Amendment is served by suppressing the evidence seized based on technical defects in the procurement of the unnecessary warrant.” Even if one assumed the search of the metal can during the first entry without a warrant was permissible, the majority’s conclusion that a search warrant was not necessary to discover the stolen property during the second search is groundless. The majority holds that the police could have lawfully searched for and found the stolen property during their first visit to the apartment, after they saw the cannabis seeds in plain view in the ashtray. But the officers did not do so. Instead, they left the apartment, obtained the search warrant, and returned the next day. Once they left the apartment the first time, they needed a warrant to reenter, unless defendant again gave consent to their entry. Thus, the warrant was necessary. That a warrant was obtained does not save the case, however, because that warrant was based upon an illegal search of the metal can. Logic and good conscience require that a search warrant based on illegally obtained information should be invalid as contrary to the protection afforded all citizens by the fourth amendment. The United States Supreme Court in United States v. Karo (1984), 468 U.S. 705, 719, 82 L. Ed. 2d 530, 544, 104 S. Ct. 3296, 3305, stated that information illegally obtained which was included in a warrant affidavit would invalidate the warrant if it proved to be critical to establishing probable cause for the issuance of the warrant. (See also People v. One 1968 Cadillac Automobile VIN #J8316714 (1972), 4 Ill. App. 3d 780, 788, 281 N.E.2d 776, 782.) In the present case, the illegally obtained evidence was the only information used to establish probable cause. Thus, the warrant must be invalid. It may be true that the officers had other legally obtained information which amounted to probable cause. However, the court in Karo held that a warrant issued pursuant to an affidavit containing illegally obtained information would be valid “if sufficient untainted evidence was presented in the warrant affidavit to establish probable cause.” (Emphasis added.) (United States v. Karo (1984), 468 U.S. 705, 719, 82 L. Ed. 2d 530, 544, 104 S. Ct. 3296, 3305. See also People v. Free (1983), 94 Ill. 2d 378, 399, 447 N.E.2d 218, 228-29, cert, denied (1983), 464 U.S. 865, 78 L. Ed. 2d 175, 104 S. Ct. 200.) Here, the untainted information was within the officers’ knowledge, but was not presented in the warrant affidavit. I also feel compelled to address the majority’s reference to the good faith exception of Leon. That decision held the exclusionary rule to be inapplicable to cases where the police reasonably rely on a facially valid search warrant. The court in Leon did not address the issue of a warrant affidavit containing illegally obtained information. However, the decision in Leon suggests an answer to the question before us. The court’s justification for this good faith exception was that the exclusionary rule is designed to deter police misconduct rather than to punish the errors of judges and magistrates. Consequently, where there is no police misconduct, the purposes of exclusionary rule are not served. (United States v. Leon (1984), 468 U.S. 897, 918, 82 L. Ed. 2d 677, 695, 104 S. Ct. 3405, 3419.) In Leon, the facts as stated did not involve any police misconduct, but the court, in setting out the good faith exception, indicated that if the conduct of the police is in any way improper or unreasonable, the exclusionary rule would still apply. In the present case, the initial search of the metal can was illegal. That search was not conducted pursuant to a search warrant. The purposes of the exclusionary rule would be furthered here by exclusion, because it would serve to deter the police from conducting other such illegal searches and from illegally obtaining information for warrant affidavits. See also People v. Joseph (1984), 128 Ill. App. 3d 668, 470 N.E.2d 1303 (rejecting Leon argument and finding exclusion proper due to inaccuracy in police computer information). The court in Leon stated the good faith exception will not automatically apply simply because the police obtain a facially valid warrant and abide by its terms. (United States v. Leon (1984), 468 U.S. 897, 922, 82 L. Ed. 2d 677, 698, 104 S. Ct. 3405, 3421.) There are exceptions to the good faith exception. One such exception is if the police were dishonest or reckless in preparing their affidavit. (468 U.S. 897, 926, 82 L. Ed. 2d 677, 701, 104 S. Ct. 3405, 3423.) See also People v. O’Neill (1985), 135 Ill. App. 3d 1091, 1101, 482 N.E.2d 668, 675.) Omissions of material information have been held to come under this exception. (See People v. Stewart (1984), 105 Ill. 2d 22, 43, 473 N.E.2d 840, 850, cert, denied (1985), 471 U.S. 1131, 86 L. Ed. 2d 283, 105 S. Ct. 2666; People v. Reynolds (1980), 96 Ill. App. 3d 79, 82, 420 N.E.2d 1193, 1196.) The majority has set out the material portions of the warrant affidavit. Missing from this affidavit are two important factors: defendant told the officers that he did not want them to move anything around, and an officer in fact moved the. lid on the metal can to observe its contents. The court considering the warrant application could have easily found that this was an illegal search had it had all the facts. Omitting these facts perhaps was dishonest, but was certainly at least reckless. For the foregoing reasons, I would affirm the trial court’s granting of defendant’s motion to quash the search warrant and suppress the evidence found in the search conducted pursuant to that warrant.