Court Opinion

ID: 9519116
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 01:09:14.792676+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:43:46.222030
License: Public Domain

Mr. JUSTICE STOUDER, dissenting: I disagree with the majority’s holding the police acted within their statutory authority in detaining the defendant for the alleged parole violation and in making the subsequent inventory search from which evidence was developed to support the conviction. I believe the so-called dentention was an arrest without legal authorization. Accordingly, the fruits of the inventory search following this illegal arrest were not admissible and the conviction should be reversed. The majority does not expressly characterize the taking of defendant to the police station and the holding of her until the next day as an arrest. They concede the language of the arrest statute (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1973, ch. 38, par. 107 — 2) permits no reasonable interpretation authorizing the warrantless search for a parole violation since the parole violation in question here is not an offense as defined in the Criminal Code in the sense of constituting a violation of a penal statute (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1973, ch. 38, par. 2 — 12 and par. 102 — 15). I agree with this position of the majority. In view of this position, it seems to me the reasoning employed to support the approval of the officer’s conduct is inadequate. As an initial observation I would note the failure of the majority to decide whether the defendant was or was not arrested creates an ambiguity tending to confuse rather than resolve the issues. Of course if the defendant was not arrested then any consideration of the arrest statute would be irrelevant. According to the majority, the officer’s conduct is justified by the provision of the Unified Code of Corrections which states that a peace officer may detain an alleged parole violator until a warrant for his return to the Department of Corrections can be issued. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1973, ch. 38, par. 1003 — 14—2(c).) My position, harmonious with what I consider the only reasonable reading of the Unified Code of Corrections provision, is that the term “detain” is not the same as “arrest” and the provision necessarily must be read to refer to detention after a lawful arrest. In other words, if a parolee is lawfully arrested for an “offense,” as defined in the Criminal Code, after such lawful arrest he may be “detained” for an alleged parole violation until the parole officer can take over. The legislature has specified in the arrest statute (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1973, ch. 38, par. 107 — 2) the circumstances under which a peace officer may effect an arrest. There is no provision, as the majority concedes, regarding arresting a parolee for an alleged parole violation. By all definitions and theories of arrest there can be little dispute but that the police officer’s conduct constituted an arrest in the usual and customary manner. If this be true then the authority “to detain” in the Corrections Act must by synonymous with or include the authority “to arrest.” The majority relies on the following provision: “* ° 0 A sheriff or other peace officer may detain an alleged parole or release violator until a warrant for his return to the Department [of Corrections] can be issued.” (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1973, ch. 38, par. 1003 — 14—2(c).) Reading this provision in conjunction with the arrest statute, it seems if the legislature meant to authorize peace officers to arrest parolees for alleged parole violations they might have included it in the arrest statute. Furthermore, the use of the word detain rather than arrest in the Code of Corrections provision indicates the legislature meant something other than arrest. In addition, the legislature could have easily stated peace officers have the authority to arrest parole violators for alleged parole violations yet they did not choose to do so. The authority to arrest parolees for alleged violations of their parole was specifically granted to the supervising officer within the Department of Corrections to issue a warrant. (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1973, ch. 38, par. 1003 — 14—2(c).) A cardinal rule of statutory construction is that where different words are used in the same statutory provision such words are deemed to have different meanings unless a contrary intention is manifest. Since the statute refers to arrest warrants, it follows that the authority “to detain” must mean something different unless other language makes it clear that no difference in meaning was intended. If a different meaning is harmonious with the other provisions of the statute then such meaning should be employed and as applied to the facts of this case the authority “to detain” should not be deemed to mean or include the authority “to arrest.” In this connection it should be noted that the relation between parole officers and parolees is a different relation than that between peace officers and parolees. The former is considered somewhat akin to parens patriae since there is some basis that the authority of a parole officer in relation to his parolee justifies a broader scope of authority and more flexibility in the officer’s conduct. The provision in the Code of Corrections granting the authority to peace officers to detain alleged parole violators allows peace officers to hold a parolee who has been lawfully arrested. This would permit the parolee’s retention in custody where the State elects not to prosecute the criminal charges and also may prevent the parolee’s release on bond. The condition precedent to the peace officer holding or detaining the parolee must be a lawful arrest. Nowhere in the Code is there authority for a peace officer to arrest a parolee for an alleged parole violation. In summary, I believe the defendant was arrested for a parole violation, not a criminal offense, and that such arrest was without legal authority. Accordingly, any evidence seized as a result of the illegal arrest should have been suppressed.