People v. Barnes

• Decision Date: 12 March 1987
• Docket Number: No. 4-86-0357,4-86-0357
• Citation: 106 Ill.Dec. 121,505 N.E.2d 427,152 Ill.App.3d 1004
• Parties: , 106 Ill.Dec. 121 The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. James BARNES, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois

Page 427

505 N.E.2d 427

152 Ill.App.3d 1004, 106 Ill.Dec. 121

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. James BARNES, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 4-86-0357.

Appellate Court of Illinois,

Fourth District.

March 12, 1987.

Steven Skelton, Bloomington, for defendant-appellant.

Donald D. Bernardi, State's Atty., Pontiac, Kenneth R. Boyle, Director, State's Attys. Appellate Prosecutor, Springfield, Robert J. Biderman, Deputy Director, Patrick T. Curran, Staff Atty., for plaintiff-appellee.

Justice LUND delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendant, James Barnes, was found guilty, after a bench trial, by the circuit court of Livingston County of the offense of driving while license suspended (Ill.Rev.Stat.1985, ch. 95 1/2, par. 6-303) and was sentenced to 2 days in jail and ordered to pay a fine and costs, totalling $295. Defendant appeals, alleging the court erred in denying defendant's motion to quash arrest and to suppress evidence. We affirm.

On May 2, 1984, Illinois State Police Officer Richard Hurley was on routine patrol on interstate I-55 and came up behind a red Volkswagen. At that point, he radioed the Illinois State Police Post, District 6, for a computer check on the registration of the vehicle. This is regularly done on a random basis to check the validity of vehicle registrations. District 6 responded that the computer showed the registration was valid, but the owner of the vehicle had a suspended license. Hurley proceeded to pull the vehicle over. The defendant was the driver and did have a suspended license.

Defendant filed a motion to quash arrest and suppress evidence, alleging that Hurley did not have sufficient cause to stop defendant's vehicle. The court, in a well-reasoned opinion, denied the motion, and the defendant was convicted.

The sole issue is whether Officer Hurley had sufficient articulable facts to justify stopping defendant's vehicle by relying on the computer information that the owner of the vehicle had a suspended license.

This decision involves the application of the United States Supreme Court decision in Terry v. Ohio (1968), 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889, and the Illinois statute based on Terry, section 107-14 of the Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963 (Ill.Rev.Stat.1985, ch. 38, par. 107-14). The rule is that it is appropriate for an officer to stop and temporarily question a person when the officer has specific, articulable facts, together with reasonable inferences drawn therefrom, which lead the officer to believe the person has committed or is going to commit an offense. (People v. Jones (1981), 102 Ill.App.3d 246, 57 Ill.Dec. 827, 429 N.E.2d 1101; People v. Slawek (1981), 98 Ill.App.3d 1146, 54 Ill.Dec. 514, 425 N.E.2d 26.) A mere suspicion or hunch is not sufficient to justify a stop. (People v. Fox (1981), 97 Ill.App.3d 58, 421 N.E.2d 1082; People v. Jackson (1979), 77 Ill.App.3d 117, 32 Ill.Dec. 595, 395 N.E.2d 976.) The objective determination to be made is whether the facts available at the moment of seizure warrant a man of reasonable caution in the belief that the action taken was appropriate. 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889; People v. Holdman (1978), 73 Ill.2d 213, 22 Ill.Dec. 679, 383 N.E.2d 155.

In Holdman, our supreme court had an opportunity to decide a similar case. There the police saw a vehicle "associated with" a person for whom they possessed an arrest warrant. The officers pulled alongside the moving vehicle and flashed a light into the interior. A high-speed chase ensued and the vehicle was stopped. The supreme court noted first that it did not believe the light shining constituted a stop. However, the court stated, even if it was a stop, it was permissible for the purpose of investigating possible criminal behavior. "Certainly police officers must be permitted to shine a light into a car they reasonably believe to be associated with a fugitive in an effort to determine if that fugitive is present in the vehicle." People v. Holdman (1978), 73 Ill.2d 213, 221, 22 Ill.Dec. 679, 680, 383 N.E.2d 155, 158.

The current case is closely analogous. Here the car owner is known to possess a suspended driver's license. A...