People v. Earley

• Decision Date: 19 April 1991
• Docket Number: No. 5-88-0659,5-88-0659
• Citation: 570 N.E.2d 1235,212 Ill.App.3d 457
• Parties: , 156 Ill.Dec. 513 The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Susan EARLEY, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois

Page 1235

570 N.E.2d 1235

212 Ill.App.3d 457, 156 Ill.Dec. 513

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Susan EARLEY, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 5-88-0659.

Appellate Court of Illinois Fifth District.

April 19, 1991.

Kenneth R. Boyle, Director, Stephen E. Norris, Deputy Director, Debra A. Buchman, Staff Atty., Special Prosecutor, Office of the State's Attys. Appellate Prosecutor, Mount Vernon, for plaintiff-appellant.

Daniel M. Kirwan, Deputy Defender, John T. Hildebrand, Asst. Defender, Office of the State Appellate Defender, Mount Vernon, for defendant-appellee.

Justice LEWIS delivered the opinion of the court:

The State appeals the circuit court's granting of the defendant's, Susan Earley's, motion to quash arrest and to suppress evidence. At the hearing on the defendant's motion, the court considered only the evidence concerning the defendant's arrest; therefore, the sole issue raised on appeal is whether the circuit court's determination, that the police had neither reasonable, articulable facts justifying the stop of the defendant nor probable cause to arrest her, was against the manifest weight of the evidence.

The facts presented at the hearing on the defendant's motion to quash arrest are as follows: Joyce Dillon, the defendant's sister, testified that the defendant and Frank Dunn came to stay overnight at her home on Wednesday, September 16, 1987. The next day, the defendant and Dunn went to Kentucky and returned to Dillon's home on Friday, September 18, 1987, while Dillon was at work. The defendant and Dunn spent Friday evening with Dillon at her home; however, at some time during the evening, the defendant and Dunn went to Carbondale, Illinois, to return a video machine. While the two were gone, Dillon searched their luggage.

Dillon explained that her reason for searching the defendant's and Dunn's luggage was that she and her family were concerned that the defendant had been using drugs over the past few months. Dillon stated that she herself was a recovered alcoholic, that she had been sober for the past seven years, and that she further did not believe in "narcotics and abuse." Dillon testified that she was familiar with persons who were in emotional "flux" due to substance abuse through her affiliation with Alcoholics Anonymous. Because of her concerns, Dillon decided to search the defendant's and Dunn's luggage for drugs.

Dillon went into the room which the defendant and Dunn were sharing, and she first searched the defendant's train case or cosmetic bag. She stated she went through each bottle and parcel thoroughly, but she found nothing. Dillon next searched a black carry-on tote bag. Inside this tote bag were men's socks and underwear, but when Dillon searched the side pocket of this case, she found five or six small, transparent, heat-sealed plastic packages containing a white powder substance. She also found a rolled-up baggage claim ticket with the packages. Dillon believed these packages contained cocaine, for, as she stated, she doubted anyone would heat-seal baby powder inside such packages. Because there were several bags of the substance present, she decided that one would not be missed and removed it from the tote bag. Dillon did not search the remainder of the luggage in the bedroom, as she had found what she was looking for and because she was concerned that the defendant and Dunn would return shortly.

Dillon went into her kitchen and showed her husband what she had found in the tote bag. They discussed what she had found for several minutes, following which Dillon called her mother in California to ask her mother what she should do. Dillon testified that her mother called Dillon's brother, who was a volunteer at the sheriff's office in Henry County, Illinois. After her mother had discussed the problem with Dillon's brother, Dillon's mother called Dillon and advised her to call the Illinois State Police Headquarters in DuQuoin, Illinois. Dillon called the Illinois State Police somewhere between 9 and 10 p.m. that evening. She told the police that the defendant and Dunn were staying with her and that she had found what she thought was a narcotic in their luggage. The police dispatcher told Dillon that Sergeant Lichliter would meet her at the bank where Dillon worked the next morning.

At approximately 8 a.m. on September 19, 1987, Sergeant Lichliter met Dillon in the bank's parking lot in Carbondale. She explained to Lichliter that she had not seen her sister using drugs, but she suspected drug use, which prompted her to search her sister's and Dunn's luggage. Dillon showed Lichliter the package she had removed from the luggage and gave the bag to Lichliter. Dillon told Lichliter that she had found the substance in the man's tote bag, and that she had not found anything in the defendant's train case. She and Lichliter talked at length, for it seemed to Dillon that Lichliter wanted to reassure himself that Dillon's actions were not motivated by revenge or other ill feelings towards her sister.

Dillon asked Lichliter not to search her home, and she asked that he attempt to stop the defendant and Dunn on the road in the car. Lichliter asked Dillon when the defendant and Dunn would be leaving, but Dillon did not know. Dillon gave Lichliter a description of the defendant's car, and she admitted that there was a chance that she had given the police the defendant's license plate number. Lichliter told Dillon that he would contact her again.

After Lichliter left Dillon, at about 9 or 9:30 a.m., Dillon received a telephone call at the bank from Special Agent Ed Thrailkill. She gave Thrailkill the same information she had given Lichliter. Thrailkill asked her if she would sign a consent form to search her home, and he said he would come by the bank and see her.

Following Thrailkill's telephone call, Dillon's husband called. He told Dillon that the defendant and Dunn were getting ready to leave and to return to the defendant's home in Kewanee, Illinois. Dillon's husband indicated that the defendant and Dunn planned on stopping by the bank at lunch time to see Dillon and to say goodbye. Dillon said her husband was vague because the defendant and Dunn were present, but that he was trying to tell Dillon that they were leaving.

Shortly after talking to her husband on the phone, Thrailkill again called her. Thrailkill told her that the police were watching her home, and he asked her if there was a reason that the defendant and Dunn would leave. Dillon explained to Thrailkill that her husband had called her and told her that the defendant and Dunn were leaving, but that they were meeting her at the bank for lunch. Dillon admitted on cross-examination that she told the police she thought the luggage she had searched was in the defendant's car.

Dillon met with Thrailkill at the bank just prior to 11 a.m. that morning. He inquired as to where the defendant and Dunn would have gone, but Dillon could not tell him. Thrailkill went to his car and sat for awhile, during which time the defendant and Dunn pulled into the drive-through window of the bank. When the defendant and Dunn did so, Thrailkill pulled his car in front of the defendant's car and Lichliter blocked the car from behind to prevent them from leaving.

Sergeant Ray Lichliter testified that he had been employed by the Illinois State Police for 27 1/2 years. On the morning of September 19, 1987, he was dispatched to see Joyce Dillon at a bank in Carbondale. He arrived at the bank at approximately 8:40 a.m. Lichliter corroborated Dillon's testimony regarding her concerns about her sister, her suspicion of drug usage, and her subsequent search of the defendant's and Dunn's luggage. Lichliter did not recall Dillon stating that she did not find anything in the defendant's train case, but he did recall her stating that she had found the packet in the man's luggage. Lichliter confirmed that Dillon gave him a packet containing a white substance, which he determined from his past experience to be cocaine. Lichliter testified that he had seen cocaine before, and that he had attended drug identification courses given by the Illinois State Police.

After talking with Dillon, Lichliter contacted the police headquarters and talked to the duty sergeant. The duty sergeant contacted Special Agent Thrailkill at the Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI). The duty sergeant also called Master Sergeant Cook. Subsequently, Lichliter talked to Thrailkill by phone, and he advised Thrailkill of his and Dillon's conversation at the bank. Lichliter told Thrailkill about the evidence he had been given, of his belief that the substance was cocaine, and of the fact that there was more of the substance in Dillon's home.

Lichliter went to Dillon's home where he met Master Sergeant Cook. When they arrived, the defendant's car was gone. Thereupon, Lichliter contacted Thrailkill through the DuQuoin Police Headquarters, and Lichliter was told by Thrailkill that the defendant and Dunn had left to return home, but that they might return to Dillon's home. Lichliter patrolled the area for 30 to 45 minutes, and thereafter, he returned to Carbondale. He arrived at the bank about 11:35 a.m., and shortly after he arrived, the defendant and Dunn pulled into the bank. Lichliter drove his car into the bank's drive-through lane and blocked the defendant's car from behind. Lichliter saw Thrailkill pull his car in front of the defendant's car. Lichliter stated that he knew the car that they had blocked was the defendant's, as he had been given a description of the car, he had had the license plate number, and he had run a check on the license plate number through DuQuoin prior to the stop. Lichliter admitted that he did not know what was in the defendant's car at the time of the stop, but that he believed the car contained controlled substances.

Lichliter stated that he asked Dunn for his driver's license when he first approached the car,...