People v. Morgan
| Decision Date | 09 February 2009 |
| Docket Number | No. 4-07-0653.,4-07-0653. |
| Citation | 901 N.E.2d 1049 |
| Parties | The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Robert L. MORGAN, Jr., Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | United States Appellate Court of Illinois |
In March 2007, the State charged defendant, Robert L. Morgan, Jr., with offenses arising out of an incident occurring on March 1, 2007. In July 2007, the trial court granted defendant's motion to suppress, finding the police officers entered defendant's home on the basis of an "invalid warrant" and without consent.
On appeal, the State argues that the trial court erred by suppressing the evidence because (1) the good-faith exception bars application of the exclusionary rule because the officers acted reasonably and were unaware that defendant had cleared his arrest warrant earlier in the day; (2) defendant's father, Robert Leo Morgan, Sr. (Senior), consented to the officers' entry into the residence; and (3) exigent circumstances justified the officers' entry into the residence. The State also requests that the cause be remanded for a hearing on whether defendant's inculpatory statements, made without being advised pursuant to Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966), must be suppressed. Although the trial court erred by finding that an invalid warrant, as a matter of law, rendered all the evidence subject to suppression, we affirm because applying the exclusionary rule here would deter the officers' grossly negligent, reckless, or wilful conduct, so the benefits of excluding the evidence would outweigh the costs. Moreover, neither consent nor exigent circumstances justified the warrantless entry into the home.
On March 12, 2007, the State charged defendant with (1) unlawful possession of a controlled substance (a substance containing cocaine) (720 ILCS 570/402(c) (West 2006)); (2) unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia, a metal smoking pipe, with the intent to use the pipe to inhale cannabis into his body (720 ILCS 600/3.5(a) (West 2006)); and (3) unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia, a multicolored chillum, with the intent to use that pipe to inhale cannabis into his body (720 ILCS 600/3.5(a) (West 2006)). All charges stemmed from an incident occurring on March 1, 2007.
In July 2007, defendant filed a motion to suppress evidence and statements. The motion alleged that the arrest warrant was invalid and the officers had no other valid, lawful reason to be in defendant's residence.
On July 11, 2007, the hearing on the motion to suppress commenced. Senior testified that he owned the home at 1424 Cleveland Avenue in Streator, Illinois. Senior's two sons, defendant and Johnathan, also lived there. Defendant's girlfriend, Ashley Balliez, stayed at the home frequently.
On the evening of March 1, 2007, at approximately 8:30 or 9 p.m., Senior answered a knock on the "back door by the kitchen." The officer at the door stated he had a warrant for defendant's arrest. Senior explained he had bailed defendant out of jail that morning and had the paperwork to show this. The paperwork purportedly showing that Senior had bailed defendant out of jail is not contained in the record on appeal. Senior told defendant, who was in the kitchen, to get the paperwork. Defendant headed upstairs.
The officer asked Senior if he could enter the house. Senior asked the officer if he had a warrant, and when the officer said he did not, Senior told him to get a warrant if he wanted to enter the house. Senior told the officer he would get defendant. As Senior shut the door, the officer shoved the door open, knocking Senior into the kitchen. Three officers came running in and chased defendant upstairs.
Balliez got the paperwork showing the warrant had been taken care of, and Senior saw her give it to either defendant or Johnathan. The officers uncuffed defendant and sent him downstairs to the kitchen. One of the officers remained upstairs. Senior heard one of the officers call about the warrant and learned defendant did not have an outstanding warrant.
Senior testified that while defendant was in the kitchen, an officer came down from upstairs with a Baggie containing purported cocaine. Defendant denied that it was his. The officers told defendant that either he had to say it belonged to him or they would take Johnathan to jail because the Baggie was found in Johnathan's room. Defendant admitted it belonged to him. The officers handcuffed defendant again. The officers asked Senior for permission to search the home. Senior said, "No." The officers escorted defendant out of the house, saying they were taking him to jail. About five minutes later, defendant returned unhandcuffed. Senior never heard the officers give defendant any Miranda warnings.
Jonathan Morgan, defendant's 17-year-old brother, testified that defendant walked into his room with three police officers following him. The officers slammed defendant down on the floor and handcuffed him. Balliez brought Johnathan the paperwork, and Johnathan handed the papers to one of the police officers. Johnathan recalled one of the officers radioing in something.
Johnathan testified that two of the officers and defendant went downstairs. Johnathan saw the third officer searching Johnathan's bedroom with a flashlight, looking under things and picking things up, but not going through any drawers. The officer then sent Johnathan downstairs. The officer did not find anything prior to Johnathan leaving the room. Johnathan denied smoking marijuana in the room that night.
Leland Brooke testified he was a sheriff's deputy in the proactive unit of the Livingston County sheriff's department. (Proactive unit is never defined in the record.) On March 1, 2007, Deputy Brooke and Officer Krippel obtained a list of outstanding La Salle County warrants from the Streator police department. Deputy Brooke explained that every list he had gotten from the police department was printed off that same day, usually in his presence. This one was not printed out that day in his presence. The list contained defendant's name, date of birth, and address. The list is not contained in the record on appeal.
Deputy Brooke and Officer Krippel met Deputy Joshua White at a grocery store and proceeded to defendant's residence. Less than five minutes passed between obtaining the warrant list and arriving at defendant's residence. Deputy Brooke admitted he did not call La Salle County to confirm the validity of the warrant prior to going to defendant's residence.
Deputy Brooke went to the rear of the residence to ensure that no one left out a window. After a few minutes, Deputy Brooke went around the south side of the house and saw a door standing wide open. Officer Brooke could hear struggling inside the residence and heard Officer Krippel say "stop resisting." Deputy Brooke announced "Sheriff's Department" and entered the house. He ran up the stairs and saw defendant handcuffed, standing by a speaker.
Deputy Brooke then called LivCom, the communication center, to verify the validity of the warrant and to advise LivCom that the warrant had been executed. However, Deputy Brooke was told that the warrant was "not valid." Thereafter, someone handed Officer Krippel the paperwork concerning the bail bond.
Deputy Brooke testified he did not see any packaged contraband in Johnathan's room but that "[O]fficer Krippel had picked up a piece of rock cocaine" off the floor. Officer Brooke testified defendant and the other officers went downstairs while he stayed upstairs with Johnathan. Officer Brooke denied searching the room but admitted looking around. Officer Brooke agreed his police report noted he had smelled a strong odor of burnt cannabis in the room. However, he did not see any roach clips, bongs, or cannabis residue. He and Johnathan proceeded downstairs together.
Once downstairs, Deputy Brooke saw defendant sitting at the kitchen table. Deputy Brooke was not present during any questioning of defendant regarding the "rock cocaine." Deputy Brooke testified that Senior consented to a search of the house. Deputy Brooke then asked defendant if there was anything in the house the officers needed to know about. Defendant led the officers upstairs and showed them "another rock" and "a crack pipe" behind the speaker. Defendant admitted they belonged to him. Defendant also led them to a downstairs bedroom where he had a chillum, a pipe used to ingest cannabis, in a bedroom drawer. Deputy Brooke admitted he did not give defendant any Miranda warnings nor did he hear anyone else give defendant Miranda warnings.
Balliez testified that she was in the kitchen when Senior spoke to the officers at the door. Balliez heard Senior tell the officers that he would get the paperwork (pertaining to the bail bond) and to wait there. Balliez saw Senior fall down and three officers ran upstairs. Balliez got the paperwork and gave it to Johnathan on the stairwell. Balliez did not go upstairs to Johnathan's bedroom.
Balliez testified defendant eventually came downstairs to the kitchen, not in the presence of the officers. One of the officers came down and showed defendant a plastic bag containing purported drugs. Another officer came downstairs with Senior. The officers handcuffed defendant and told him he was going to jail if he did not say to whom the drugs belonged. The officers also said Johnathan was going to jail because the drugs were found in Johnathan's room. Defendant admitted the drugs were his. Balliez did not hear the officers read defendant his Miranda rights.
Balliez admitted she had contacted the police a few weeks prior to the hearing about defendant pushing her down and Senior pursuing her when she fled. She denied that incident had influenced her testimony. Balliez testified she and defendant were "[n]ot quite a couple" but were still talking.
Jacob Krippel testified he was a police officer with the Fairbury police...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
People v. Brisco
...had been recently committed; and (6) the police had reason to believe the suspect was on the premises. People v. Morgan, 388 Ill.App.3d 252, 270, 327 Ill.Dec. 316, 901 N.E.2d 1049 (2009). ¶ 36 In the case at bar, the testimony of Officer Stinar, credited by the trial court, establishes both......
-
People v. Bryant
...of the fourth amendment, the State has the burden to prove the good-faith exception applies." People v. Morgan, 388 Ill. App.3d 252, 263-65, 327 Ill.Dec. 316, 901 N.E.2d 1049, 1060 (2009). The obverse of that point of law is that unless a defendant proves a violation of the fourth amendment......
-
People v. Arnold
...after the arrest, to be invalid. See Turnage, 162 Ill.2d at 311, 205 Ill.Dec. 118, 642 N.E.2d 1235; People v. Morgan, 388 Ill.App.3d 252, 260, 327 Ill.Dec. 316, 901 N.E.2d 1049 (2009); People v. Boyer, 305 Ill.App.3d 374, 380-81, 239 Ill.Dec. 124, 713 N.E.2d 655 (1999); People v. Anderson, ......
-
People v. Dawn
...their safety. See People v. Condon, 148 Ill.2d 96, 103, 170 Ill.Dec. 271, 592 N.E.2d 951 (1992); People v. Morgan, 388 Ill.App.3d 252, 269, 327 Ill.Dec. 316, 901 N.E.2d 1049 (2009) (both noting that threat to officer safety might create exigent circumstances). ¶ 26 The officers did not test......
-
To Exclude or Not to Exclude:the Future of the Exclusionaryrule After Herringv. United States
...for unlawful arrest is also agency who subsequently brings the deportationaction, the exclusionary rule is more effective). 178.901 N.E.2d 1049 179.People v. Morgan, 901 N.E.2d 1049 (Ill. App. Ct. 2009). This Illinois appellatedecision provides a good illustration of Herring 's potential li......