Court Opinion

ID: 9711437
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 04:31:39.753686+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:23:04.950418
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE KNECHT, specially concurring: I concur in the result because I am persuaded by the majority a reasonable, articulable suspicion of criminal activity existed. I write separately to suggest absent that suspicion, reversal would not be appropriate. Simply put, Deputy Pickett’s questions after the traffic stop was complete impermissibly prolonged Ramsey’s detention — even if only briefly — and those questions changed the fundamental nature of the stop. Under People v. Gonzalez, 204 Ill. 2d 220, 235, 789 N.E.2d 260, 270 (2003), “[i]n the absence of a reasonable connection to the purpose of the stop or a reasonable, articulable suspicion, we must consider whether, in light of all the circumstances and common sense, the question impermissibly prolonged the detention or changed the fundamental nature of the stop.” After the traffic stop was complete, Deputy Pickett asked defendant if he had anything illegal in the truck. Defendant answered no, but Pickett then asked for consent to search the vehicle. Defendant agreed. The majority addresses the facts in Gonzalez but not the analysis and concludes the consent given by defendant was voluntary. The question is not whether the consent was voluntary. The question is whether a law-enforcement officer may, after the traffic stop is concluded, ask the driver whether he has anything illegal in his truck, and when the reply is negative, ask for permission to search. This is not a consensual encounter and facially innocuous dialog. Defendant had been stopped and “seized” by police. He received his warning ticket for a cracked windshield and was told to get the windshield fixed. Then, the focus shifted and he was asked about contraband in his truck. Under any test, this changed the fundamental nature of the stop. We need not apply a stopwatch to the videotape to measure the lapse of time between the end of the traffic stop and the “illegal” reference followed by the request to search. His detention was prolonged, and the nature of the stop changed. Simply because the officer only issued a warning does not thereby render the stop a friendly, consensual encounter. Robinette, 519 U.S. 33, 136 L. Ed. 2d 347, 117 S. Ct. 417, does not resolve the issue in this case. The nuanced analysis in Gonzalez requires us to conclude the questions leading up to consent were not permissible.