Court Opinion

ID: 9740392
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 20:34:24.561778+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:24:18.067888
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE SCHMIDT, specially concurring: I concur with the holding above that the officer’s knowledge of the registered owner’s revoked driving privileges (RDP) supported a Terry stop. I write separately to point out that in my opinion, the Johnson case, upon which defendant and the trial court relied, was wrongly decided. The Johnson court acknowledged that “ ‘[w]hile the facts supporting the officer’s suspicions need not rise to the level of probable cause, they must be based on more than a mere hunch.’ ” People v. Johnson, 379 Ill. App. 3d 710, 712, 885 N.E.2d 358, 360 (2008), quoting People v. Cox, 202 Ill. 2d 462, 467 (2002). It seems obvious that the case turned upon whether the officer’s conclusion that the RDP was not valid on Sunday afternoon was simply a hunch or a reasonable, articulable suspicion. New Webster’s Dictionary defines “hunch” as “an intuition or presentiment.” New Webster’s Dictionary & Thesaurus 188 (1991). The American Heritage College Dictionary defines “hunch” as “an intuitive feeling or premonition.” American Heritage College Dictionary 663 (3d ed. 1993). The Johnson court stated “McGreall was likely correct in believing that Sunday afternoons are times when many RDPs prohibit driving, but that insight was not enough to give rise to reasonable suspicion.” (Emphasis added.) Johnson, 379 Ill. App. 3d at 712, 885 N.E.2d at 360. One needs to think about what the Johnson court said. Three appellate judges acknowledged that the officer “was likely correct” and yet, nonetheless, they labeled his suspicion as a mere hunch. In Johnson, the officer knew that the driver was revoked, had an RDR and was driving on a Sunday afternoon. Apparently, the Johnson court wanted him to know that his RDP was not valid on Sunday afternoon. If the officer had proof positive that defendant’s RDP was not valid on this Sunday afternoon, he would have had enough to convict beyond a reasonable doubt. That is not the type of evidence that is required for a Terry stop. The appellate court in Johnson must have agreed that the officer’s articulated suspicion was reasonable, otherwise, how could it have noted that the officer “was likely correct”? Johnson, 379 Ill. App. 3d at 712, 885 N.E.2d at 360. If, in fact, the officer had nothing more than a hunch, how could three appellate judges unanimously agree that he was likely correct? The Johnson court described a reasonable, articulable suspicion and then labeled it as a mere hunch. In my opinion, the Johnson court, like many Illinois courts, has eroded the concept of reasonable, articulable suspicion. Since the officer might have been wrong and the defendant’s RDP might have been valid, courts simply say that there was no reasonable, articulable suspicion of wrongdoing. Since the issue before us is a fourth amendment issue, the United States Supreme Court is the guiding light for our analysis. The long-prevailing standard of probable cause protects citizens from rash and unreasonable interferences with privacy and from unfounded charges of crime, while giving fair leeway for enforcing the law in the community’s protection. Maryland v. Pringle, 540 U.S. 366, 157 L. Ed. 2d 769, 124 S. Ct. 795 (2003). Probable cause exists when there is fair probability that contraband or evidence of a crime will be found in a particular case. United States v. Grubbs, 547 U.S. 90, 164 L. Ed. 2d 195, 126 S. Ct. 1494 (2006). We have lost sight of the fact that reasonable, articulable suspicion is even a lower threshold than is probable cause. Reasonable suspicion entails some minimal level of objective justification for making a stop: something more than an inchoate and unparticularized suspicion or “hunch,” but less than the level of suspicion required for probable cause. Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 20 L. Ed. 2d 889, 88 S. Ct. 1868 (1968). Reasonable, articulable suspicion is considerably less than proof of wrongdoing by a preponderance of the evidence. United States v. Sokolow, 490 U.S. 1, 104 L. Ed. 2d 1, 109 S. Ct. 1581 (1989). We know that a preponderance of the evidence is that something is more likely true than not. Therefore, to form reasonable, articulable suspicion, the officer does not have to establish that it is more likely true than not that the subject of the stop is guilty of criminal wrongdoing. The Supreme Court has acknowledged that there will be circumstances in which wholly lawful conduct might justify the suspicion that criminal activity is afoot. Reid v. Georgia, 448 U.S. 438, 65 L. Ed. 2d 890, 100 S. Ct. 2752 (1980); United States v. Sokolow, 490 U.S. 1, 104 L. Ed. 2d 1, 109 S. Ct. 1581 (1989). Based on the facts set forth above, the officer clearly had a reasonable, articulable suspicion that the driver was operating in violation of his RDP It would be fair to say that most, but not all, people driving about on Sunday afternoons are not going to or from work. This commonsense observation is undoubtedly what led the Johnson court to conclude that the arresting officer was likely correct. Even had he been wrong and had the defendant actually been going to or coming from work, or going to or coming from the hospital, the brief investigatory stop was supported by reasonable, articulable suspicion and, therefore, constitutionally permissible. See United States v. Sokolow, 490 U.S. 1, 104 L. Ed. 2d 1, 109 S. Ct. 1581 (1989). Again, the concept of reasonable, articulable suspicion presupposes that the detained person’s conduct might very well be innocent. I believe the trial court, as did the Johnson court, held the State to a higher burden than that imposed by the law and, therefore, concur in the judgment to reverse and remand for further proceedings.