Court Opinion

ID: 9730057
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 14:59:34.163287+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:26:03.701732
License: Public Domain

SUPPLEMENTAL OPINION ON DENIAL OF REHEARING Mr. JUSTICE WELCH delivered the opinion of the court:  In his petition for rehearing, defendant claims that, in making our decision, we have overlooked the arrival of Mr. Parlette in Room 97. He argues that, even if Carol Hepler had sufficient authority over the suitcases to consent to their seizure, (1) defendant did not assume the risk of her exercise of that authority, because his telephone call to Mr. Parlette vested Parlette with the sole authority over the cases, and (2)-defendant objected to her consent by sending Mr. Parlette to Room 97 to remove the suitcases. Defendant’s latter argument is made for the first time in his petition for rehearing; therefore, it has been waived. Ill. Rev. Stat. 1979, ch. 110A, pars. 341(e)(7), 367(b); People v. Grant (1976), 42 Ill. App. 3d 790, 356 N.E.2d 933, rev’d, on other grounds (1977), 68 Ill. 2d 1,368 N.E.2d 909. The principal source of evidence about Mr. Parlette is the testimony of Agent Llewellyn, for the defendant did not mention Mr. Parlette at the suppression hearing, and Carol Hepler and Agent Clow made only brief references to him. The hearing testimony establishes that Mr. Parlette arrived in Room 97 after the F.B.I. agents arrived, that Carol Hepler signed the consent form after Mr. Parlette’s arrival and that Mr. Parlette was not present in Room 97 when the consent form was signed. Agent Llewellyn testified that “[w]hen Mr. Parlette had come into the room he had received a phone call from Mr. Posey. At that time I believe it was Mr. Scorpione I believe was the name used, asking Mr. Parlette to remove the contents out of that room.” Llewellyn recalled that he and Clow did not vacate the room and instead secured Carol Hepler’s consent to search because he was afraid that Mr. Parlette “would intend to clear out the room.” In response to the court’s questioning, Llewellyn supposed that he and Clow “could have stopped him” from removing anything. From this testimony, it is a reasonable conclusion that Mr. Parlette left Room 97 before Carol Hepler signed the consent form, and that he did so without taking anything with him. Turning to defendant’s first argument, it is urged that Mr. Parlette’s expressed intent to exercise authority over the suitcases is a significant fact in that matrix of objective factors which constitute the circumstances surrounding the consent, and that this fact, in the context of those circumstances, should lead to the conclusion that Carol Hepler did not have sufficient authority over the suitcases to consent to their seizure. It is true, as we have noted above, that the inquiry into the existence of common authority is basically an objective one, and that the defendant’s expectations are irrelevant. (People v. Stacey (1974), 58 Ill. 2d 83, 317 N.E.2d 24). But, the objective criteria indicate that Carol Hepler’s authority over the suitcases was not significantly diluted by Mr. Parlette’s expressed desire to remove them. Carol Hepler was a co-occupant of Room 97, while Mr. Parlette lived next door. She had made use of some of the contents of at least one suitcase, and the other had been opened, perhaps by her, during the morning of the agents’ arrival, when the defendant was not in the room. There is no proof that Mr. Parlette had any contact with Room 97 or the suitcases before the agents arrived. His only connection with the premises searched and the items seized was his telephone directive from the defendant. Neither Mrs. Parlette’s presence in Room 97 nor her past services in watching the room for Carol Hepler were shown to have expanded her husband’s authority over the room or its contents.  When Mr. Parlette’s connections with Room 97 and the suitcases are compared with Carol Hepler’s ties to the same items, it would be apparent to an outside observer that Carol Hepler possessed superior authority over these items. The risk assumed by defendant of Carol Hepler’s consenting to search the room and cases was not significantly reduced by his phone call to Mr. Parlette. Because the objective facts in this case show that Carol Hepler’s access to and use of the premises searched and items seized was much greater than Mr. Parlette’s authority over Room 97 and its contents, we must adhere to our view that Carol Hepler’s common authority to consent to the search in question was not nullified by Mr. Parlette’s attempt to exercise control over the suitcases. Rehearing denied. JONES and HARRISON, JJ„ concur.