Court Opinion

ID: 9524474
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 02:53:04.4843+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:10:29.451140
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE REINHARD, dissenting: My disagreement with the majority opinion focuses on whether our supreme court’s recent decision in People v. Eichelberger (1982), 91 Ill. 2d 359, 438 N.E.2d 140, should be distinguished as the majority so concludes. In Eichelberger, the court held that under the facts present there the warrantless entry into the defendant’s hotel room for the purpose of effecting an arrest did not violate defendant’s fourth amendment right since the police officers reasonably believed that a felony was being committed in their presence. While the offense which the police officers here considered was occurring in their presence was the nonviolent Class C misdemeanor of minor drinking, I believe the need for prompt action to stop the crime here being committed and to arrest the person or persons responsible constitutes exigent circumstances just as compelling as in a felony case. The guiding principle is reasonableness under the constitutional provisions governing searches and seizures. (People v. Abney (1980), 81 Ill. 2d 159, 173, 407 N.E.2d 543.) Is it reasonable to protect a person from a warrant-less entry into a home and from arrest for a misdemeanor crime he is committing in the presence of police officers when such protection is not available to a person committing a felony in the presence of police officers? I think not. To make such a distinction under the facts here renders law enforcement officers powerless to stop a crime which they see being committed in their presence and requires them to obtain a warrant which may not be readily procurable. To require a warrant allows potential defendants to continue to violate the law or to destroy evidence of that crime. It further inhibits law enforcement agencies in prompt enforcement and administration of their responsibilities. Under the circumstances present here, the officers reasonably believed a crime was being committed in their presence which justified the warrantless entry into the home and the subsequent arrest. As the majority did not consider other arguments advanced by the defendant, I limit my discussion to this one issue.