Court Opinion

ID: 9861457
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-25 00:04:26.479326+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:28:30.610783
License: Public Domain

PRESIDING JUSTICE HOLDRIDGE, dissenting: I respectfully dissent. The officer’s questions to the defendant about the ownership, registration and insurance of the motorcycle were in response to the defendant’s concerns that the motorcycle would be impounded. The issue in this matter is whether, as a matter of law, the officer’s questions concerning impounding the vehicle constituted an interrogation reasonably likely to elicit incriminating evidence. See People v. Abdelmassih, 217 Ill. App. 3d 544 (1991). Here, the defendant’s voluntary statement that he had driven the vehicle was not responsive to the questions concerning ownership, license, registration and insurance on the motorcycle. The offleer’s questions, routine in nature, were not reasonably likely to evoke the statement made by the defendant. I would find, as a matter of law, that the defendant’s statement was not secured in violation of his Miranda rights. People v. Dalton, 91 Ill. 2d 22 (1982). I would therefore reverse the trial court. For the reasons discussed, I respectfully dissent.