Court Opinion

ID: 9530558
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 04:01:06.143276+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:28:10.223728
License: Public Domain

MR. JUSTICE GOLDENHERSH, concurring: I cannot agree that the warrantless arrest of the defendant was lawful. The testimony shows that he was arrested at noon, on Friday, at his regular place of employment. It cannot be determined from the record how long the police had been possessed of the knowledge which allegedly gave them reasonable grounds to believe that defendant had committed the offense, but the testimony would support the conclusion that the arrest was made at noon on the basis of information obtained in the early morning hours. I fail to see why, instead of effecting a warrantless arrest at noon, the police did not first obtain a warrant and arrest the defendant at 12:15. The factual situations in People v. Jones, 38 Ill.2d 427, and People v. Glenn, 35 Ill.2d 483, cited in support of the conclusion that the arrest was lawful are so completely different from the facts shown by this record that no further discussion of those cases is warranted. In my opinion, Coolidge v. New Hampshire, 403 U.S. 443, 29 L. Ed. 2d 564, 91 S. Ct. 2022, leaves no doubt that the same rationale which proscribes an unreasonable warrantless entry to search for evidence serves to prohibit an unreasonable warrantless arrest. Applicable to both is the following language: “Thus the most basic constitutional rule in this area is that ‘searches conducted outside the judicial process, without prior approval by judge or magistrate, are per se unreasonable under the Fourth Amendment — subject only to a few specifically established and well-delineated exceptions.’ The exceptions are ‘jealously and carefully drawn,’ and there must be ‘a showing by those who seek exemption *** that the exigencies of the situation made that course imperative.’ ‘[T]he burden is on those seeking the exemption to show the need for it.’ ” (403 U.S. 443, 454-5, 29 L. Ed. 2d 564, 576, 91 S. Ct. 2022, 2032.) This record shows no basis for exemption, and I would hold that the warrantless arrest of defendant was unlawful. Despite the unlawful arrest I concur in the result for the reason that the record shows affirmatively that prior to making the inculpatory statements the defendant was adequately advised of his right to remain silent and that these admonitions served to break the causal chain so as to sufficiently attenuate and dissipate the taint of the unlawful arrest. Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 9 L. Ed. 2d 441, 83 S. Ct. 407.