Court Opinion

ID: 9860262
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 23:16:26.584079+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T11:19:44.612147
License: Public Domain

JUSTICE LINDBERG, dissenting: I dissent. In so doing I acknowledge my agreement with the majority that defendant was initially arrested without probable cause and therefore in violation of the proscriptions of Dunaway v. New York (1979), 442 U.S. 200, 60 L. Ed. 2d 824, 99 S. Ct. 2248. Additionally, I agree with the majority that the facts in People v. Vena (1984), 122 Ill. App. 3d 154, 460 N.E.2d 886, are inapposite if for no other reason than the fact that the removal of defendant in the instant case to the police station, as in Dunaway, was for the purpose of interrogation. In Vena, the majority did not view the removal of the defendants to the police station as more intrusive per se than detaining them in the open field or in the squad car. In fact, both the squad car and the station house protected the defendants and the police officers from the blizzard-like weather conditions. It did not appear that the transportation of the defendants to the station house was for interrogation or any other intrusive actions beyond awaiting completion of the investigation of the area just traversed by the defendants. (122 Ill. App. 3d 154, 163, 460 N.E.2d 886, 892.) Therefore, Vena is clearly distinguishable from the instant case. However, I dissent from the majority opinion, because in the instant case I conclude the circuit court of Lake County prematurely determined the question of whether the police had probable cause to arrest defendant for the Indiana solicitation offense. I would reverse the order of suppression and remand the cause for trial and for a new determination of probable cause during the course of the trial or conclude as a matter of law that Hayward’s statements were not the product of police illegality. The lynchpin of the majority’s reasoning in denying probable-cause-to-arrest status to Dari Hayward’s statement accusatory of defendant is that it was not sufficiently the product of free will to have dissipated the taint from defendant’s illegal arrest. (132 Ill. App. 3d at 806, citing United States v. Ceccolini (1978), 435 U.S. 268, 55 L. Ed. 2d 268, 93 S. Ct. 1054; People v. Finch (1980), 86 Ill. App. 3d 493; People v. Dangerfield (1979), 78 Ill. App. 3d 1046.) I disagree with my colleagues for several reasons. I believe they unreasonably construe Hayward’s statement to be involuntary. They appear to misapply the “free will” test of Ceccolini. They do not follow the law relating to live-witness testimony established by Ceccolini. Finally, Hayward’s statements against defendant were not the product of defendant’s illegal arrest. Factually, I do not believe that the colloquy between Sergeant Popplewell and Hayward leads to the conclusion that Hayward’s statement was not the product of his free will. The majority discusses the manner in which Hayward was both arrested and accused of being an accomplice before he “cooperated.” Yet, it was Hayward who first inquired about the reason for the police action. While undertaking to respond, Popplewell took the precaution of giving Hayward the Miranda rights and answered that defendant was a suspect in some homosexual killings and that Hayward was suspected as a possible accomplice. Popplewell asked no questions of Hayward other than his identification and his understanding of the Miranda rights. Hayward then said, “Hey, I have nothing to do with it, I just met the man, *** I am more than willing to tell you anything I know,” whereupon Hayward disclosed defendant’s offer to him of $100 for a sexual act. I conclude that Hayward’s statements were made of his free will in the sense that they were voluntary. As a second factual consideration I note that the majority seems to equate the circumstances under which Hayward made the accusation as being relevant to a Ceccolini “free will” analysis for determining the existence of attenuation of the taint of illegal police activity. As I will discuss next, the factors underlying Hayward’s statement as a live witness appear not to be determinative of that issue. See United States v. Ceccolini (1978), 435 U.S. 268, 276-77, 55 L. Ed. 2d 268, 277-78, 98 S. Ct. 1054,1060. The legal basis for my disagreement with the majority in the instant case lies in the striking factual parallels the instant case bears to Ceccolini and in the Supreme Court’s identification and resolution of its dispositive question. A brief comparison discloses that the police illegality in Ceccolini was Officer Biro’s unwarranted search of an envelope leading to his discovery of the money, policy slips and live-witness evidence. In the instant case, the illegality was defendant’s initial arrest without probable cause. Whether this illegality “led to” Hayward’s live-witness testimony is discussed later in this dissent. In Ceccolini, the illegal search and Officer Biro’s immediate questioning of flowershop-clerk Hennessey is acknowledged by the Supreme Court to be the incident which “requires us, over three years later, to decide whether Hennessey’s testimony against respondent Ceccolini should have been suppressed in his trial for perjury.” (435 U.S. 268, 270, 55 L. Ed. 2d 268, 273, 98 S. Ct. 1054, 1057.) We are confronted with precisely the same exclusionary-rule question as was decided in Ceccolini, although there the illegality was a search and here it is an arrest. Significantly, however, the Supreme Court in Ceccolini appears not to have relied upon the proximate relationship between the incident of police illegality (Biro’s search) and the questioning of clerk Hennessey, which were virtually contemporaneous, but rather upon the continued willingness of Hennessey to cooperate by testifying against Ceccolini at trial many months later. The court said: “The time, place and manner of the initial questioning of the witness may be such that any statements are truly the product of detached reflection and a desire to be cooperative on the part of the witness. And the illegality which led to the discovery of the witness very often will not play any meaningful part in the witness’ willingness to testify.” (Emphasis added.) (435 U.S. 268, 277, 55 L. Ed. 2d 268, 277, 98 S. Ct. 1054,1060.) And later in its opinion, the court noted: “The evidence indicates overwhelmingly that the testimony given by the witness was an act of her own free will in no way coerced or even induced by official authority as a result of Biro’s discovery of the policy slips. Nor were the slips themselves used in questioning Hennessey. Substantial periods of time elapsed between the time of the illegal search and the initial contact with the witness, on the one hand, and between the latter and the testimony at trial on the other.” (Emphasis added.) 435 U.S. 268, 279, 55 L. Ed. 2d 268, 279, 98 S. Ct. 1054, 1062. In making these observations, the court stated that the particular knowledge to which Hennessey testified at trial logically could be traced back to Biro’s discovery of the policy slips. Nonetheless, the court appears to have resolved the attenuation question on the basis of the witness’ free-will testimony at trial after substantial periods of time had passed. The only conclusion that can be drawn from Ceccolini, which controls the instant case, is that the temporal proximity of defendant’s arrest and Hayward’s live-witness accusatory statement is not determinative of the admissibility of the challenged evidence where the live-witness testimony attenuation of the initial taint is at issue. Under Ceccolini, a determination of the existence of probable cause to arrest defendant on the solicitation offense would have to be determined at trial and would turn on whether Hayward would testify of his own free will to facts establishing probable cause for defendant’s arrest for solicitation. On this analysis, therefore, the final resolution of the probable cause issue by the circuit court of Lake County was premature. I would reverse the order of the circuit court of Lake County and remand the determination of the issue of attenuation for trial. I dissent for the further reason that I conclude that the police had probable cause to arrest the defendant for solicitation of prostitution. My disagreement with the majority on this point stems from my belief that Hayward’s statements were not the fruit of defendant’s illegal arrest, and so may properly be considered in making the probable cause determination. The initial traffic stop and the warrant check pursuant to it were both proper. (132 HI. App. 3d at 798.) Consequently, the police legally learned that defendant was a suspect in some homosexual murders. Based on that knowledge, the police took certain actions. They illegally arrested defendant. They also illegally arrested Hayward. The police questioned Hayward about defendant. It was this questioning of Hayward which resulted in the statements giving rise to probable cause to arrest defendant for solicitation for prostitution. Defendant Eyler lacks standing to rely upon the illegal arrest of nondefendant Hayward in seeking suppression of Hayward’s statement. (Rakas v. Illinois (1978), 439 U.S. 128, 58 L. Ed. 2d 387, 99 S. Ct. 421.) Defendant’s illegal arrest thus played no part in the chain of causation resulting in Hayward’s statements, so those statements are admissible in deciding the probable cause question. When they are so considered, it is obvious that probable cause for defendant’s arrest for solicitation for prostitution existed. A hypothetical situation will serve to highlight the point to be made here. If, after the warrant check, the police had correctly concluded that they lacked probable cause to arrest defendant for murder, the proper course would have been to release defendant. However, it would also have been proper to question Hayward about defendant to obtain any information he would be willing to give. Since the police knew defendant was a suspect in some homosexual murders and Hayward was with him, the police almost surely would have questioned Hayward in this way. Upon being informed of the suspected involvement of defendant in homosexual murders, it is likely that Hayward, an apparently law-abiding person, would have told the police what he knew. Defendant then could have been arrested for solicitation for prostitution, and the evidence would have been seized pursuant to a lawful search of the pickup truck. There remains to be considered the consequences of concluding that the police had probable cause to arrest defendant for solicitation for prostitution. Defendant was illegally arrested and, for a time, illegally detained. Probable cause to arrest arose from Hayward’s statements, a source independent of the illegal arrest, so defendant’s subsequent detention was lawful. This also served to purge the taint of the illegal arrest, making evidence properly seized after probable cause arose admissible. (United States v. Brown (7th Cir. 1980), 628 F.2d 1019, 1022.) Under this analysis, the evidence seized pursuant to search warrants on October 1, October 31, and November 22,1983, was admissible. The evidence seized on September 30, 1983, was apparently seized before Hayward made his statements and thus before probable cause arose. This evidence was found in a paper bag inside defendant’s pickup truck. That truck was later searched, after probable cause had arisen, with defendant’s consent. Since the consent was obtained after probable cause had arisen, the consent was not tainted by the prior illegal arrest. (United States v. Brown (7th Cir. 1980), 628 F.2d 1019, 1022.) The search, being consensual, thus was lawful. Since the evidence had been easily discovered during the illegal search, it is clear it would have been discovered during the subsequent consensual search. Therefore, the evidence seized on September 30, 1983, should have been admitted under the inevitable discovery rule. Nix v. Williams (1984), 467 U.S. 431, 81 L. Ed. 2d 377,104 S. Ct. 2501. I would reverse the suppression order of the circuit court of Lake County.