People v. Hanna
| Decision Date | 27 March 1969 |
| Docket Number | No. 41521,41521 |
| Citation | 247 N.E.2d 610,42 Ill.2d 323 |
| Parties | The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee, v. Thomas HANNA et al., Appellants. |
| Court | Illinois Supreme Court |
Julius Lucius Echeles, Frederick F. Cohn and Jo-Anne F. Wolfson, Chicago, for appellants.
William G. Clark, Atty. Gen., Springfield, and Edward V. Hanrahan, State's Attorney, Chicago (Fred G. Leach, Asst Atty. Gen., and Elmer C. Kissane and Michael Stevenson, Asst. State's Attys., of counsel), for appellee.
Defendants, Thomas Hanna and Theodore Raymond Cooper, following a bench trial in the Cook County circuit court, were found guilty of burglary. Hanna was sentenced to imprisonment for a year and a day, and Cooper was admitted to probation for 3 years with the first 30 days to be served in the House of Correction. Their appeals come directly here on the basis of alleged constitutional violations. The issues are whether probable cause existed for their warrantless arrest and the ensuing search of the car trunk, and whether application of the rule that recent, unexplained possession of stolen property raises a presumption of guilt violates defendant's constitutional right to remain silent.
The latter question is easily disposed of. No objection was made by trial counsel (other than counsel here) at any time on the basis now urged. In fact, counsel for defendants initiated the stipulation that the evidence heard on the motion to suppress be considered as evidence at the trial. Constitutional claims, like other claims, may be waived, and the absence of any prior objection prohibits consideration of the alleged invalidity of the recent, unexplained possession rule. People v. Hubbard, 38 Ill.2d 104, 110, 230 N.E.2d 220; City of Chicago v. Joyce, 38 Ill.2d 368, 371--372, 232 N.E.2d 289.
Resolution of the probable cause issue requires reference to the facts. Essentially uncontroverted are the following: Sergeant Ward of the Evergreen Park police department testified that subsequent to a recent burglary in that community an identified resident living near the burglarized premises reported to the Evergreen Park police that he had seen 2 men in a described auto and heard their conversation which seemed suspicious to him. The car was a 1963 red Ford Falcon with 1966 Illinois license No. 921--183. The record owner of this car proved to be Sandra Blottiaux, known by the police to be the sister of 3 known criminals. Sergeant Ward placed the car under surveillance for about a week prior to April 2, 1966. About 8:00 P.M. that evening he noticed a man he knew to be defendant Hanna and another man he later learned to be Cooper get into the car. He noticed the car had a license plate different from the one earlier seen, and he followed the car north on the Tri-State Tollway until it reached Dempster Street. There it left the tollway and moved east on Dempster Street, stopping at a gas station. The sergeant also stopped at the gas station and learned the 2 men had asked for directions to Skokie. He then called the Skokie police department and told the dispatcher the 2 men were in the vicinity, furnishing their descriptions and a description of the car. He then drove to the Skokie police department headquarters, where he met with Lieutenant Cleburne and gave him all the information which he had regarding both men. Sergeant Ward then returned to Evergreen Park.
Lieutenant Cleburne's testimony corroborated that of Sergeant Ward as to the communication from the latter. Additionally, however, the lieutenant testified that Sergeant Ward told him one of the occupants of the car, Hanna, was a known burglar. This information was relayed by Lieutenant Cleburne to the Skokie officers, following which he called the Niles police department and surrounding communities, giving the same information to them. Sergeant Langder, a Skokie police officer, also testified to the communication with Sergeant Ward, and stated that immediately after receiving the sergeant's telephone call Lieutenant Cleburne instructed 'our cars to call our station and when they telephoned into the station they were given the information in question.' At 10:12 that evening, Sergeant Langder received a call regarding a burglary in process in Skokie. He responded to the call, arriving at a two-story brick home at 10:15 P.M. He there found open about 10 inches a rear window just above a small lean-to shed. He spoke to the caller who stated that he lived one house east and had observed a person, whom he described, standing on top of the lean-to and lifting the window. Sergeant Langder then notified Lieutenant Cleburne of the situation including the description of the subject. This communication was made over the police car radio, i.e., from Sergeant Langder's car to Lieutenant Cleburne's who was also out on a call at that time. The investigation was completed at 11:00 P.M. and at this time Sergeant Langder was advised by radio that Niles detectives had stopped the Falcon auto.
Vigorously attacked is part of the testimony of Niles Police Lieutenant Edward Dennis. He stated that his first knowledge of the auto in question was furnished by 2 separate telephone calls from Lieutenant Cleburne who gave him the information provided by Sergeant Ward and in particular a description of the car and its occupants. Lieutenant Dennis did not testify that he was informed that one of the car's occupants was a known burglar, but he was not specifically questioned as to this. After receiving the second telephone call Lieutenant Dennis testified that he and Niles Sergeant Golbach left the Niles police headquarters and took up a position on Dempster Street. While there Lieutenant Dennis testified that he received a radio message that the car in question had been seen leaving the area of an attempted burglary by a Skokie police officer and was last seen going west on Dempster. It is this testimony regarding the radio message which is challenged by defendants. Lieutenant Dennis did not know which of the 28 Skokie officers on duty that night had furnished the information.
About 35 to 40 minutes after receiving the radio message Lieutenant Dennis and Sergeant Golbach observed and stopped a vehicle containing two white males which fit the description previously given them. Using his flashlight Lieutenant Dennis was able to see a pair of worn leather gloves and a multiple purpose instrument, one use of which was a glass cutter, on the dash board. On the rear floor behind the passenger seat the witness saw a pair of work gloves, a flashlight and a fork with the tongs bent. Lieutenant Dennis looked into the glove compartment, which Sergeant Golbach testified was open, shortly after the passenger, Hanna, was removed from the car and discovered a roll of masking tape and a mallet, the head of which was covered with masking tape. When asked their names and for some identification, Hanna responded by suggesting: 'Let's go down to the station and we'll get this straightened out.'
Other police officers who had arrived to assist aided in transporting defendants and the car to the Niles police station where a locksmith opened the trunk of the car about one-half hour later. In the trunk were articles subsequently identified as taken in a burglary committed earlier that evening in Wilmette, and it is from their conviction of this burglary that defendants now appeal.
Niles Police Sergeant Golbach, who was with Lieutenant Dennis at police headquarters when the 2 telephone calls from Lieutenant Cleburne were received and who was in the squad car with Lieutenant Dennis, also testified. Although he generally corroborated the testimony of Lieutenant Dennis, he did not mention the...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
People v. Henderson
...in testimony do not render that testimony unworthy of belief, but go only to the weight to be given that testimony. (People v. Hanna, 42 Ill.2d 323, 247 N.E.2d 610; People v. Cooper, 69 Ill.App.2d 18, 216 N.E.2d 168.) After a review of all the testimony, we find nothing so improbable so as ......
-
People v. Jackson
...of belief, or destroy the credibility of that witness, but go only to the weight to be given that testimony. (People v. Hanna (1969), 42 Ill.2d 323, 329, 247 N.E.2d 610.) In the instant case these alleged discrepancies are not of such a nature as to render the testimony of Jordan so unreaso......
-
People v. Black
... ... The constitutionally impermissible dilemma which counsel now urges is, in effect, raised for the first time on appeal. Constitutional claims, like other claims, may be waived, and the absence of any prior objection in the trial court prohibits consideration of this point. People v. Hanna, 42 Ill.2d 323, 247 N.E.2d 610 (1969); People v. Hubbard, 38 Ill.2d 104, 230 N.E.2d 220 (1967) ... Page 467 ... Furthermore, it is to be noted that Richard Black's Pro se petition [130 Ill.App.2d 1008] contained both a due process allegation, which alleged knowing use of ... ...
-
People v. Canaday
...L.Ed.2d at 428.) We judge Chambers forecloses any question here regarding the search. We would observe that this court in People v. Hanna, 42 Ill.2d 323, 247 N.E.2d 610, a case closely resembling the one here, on the same rationale rejected the argument the defendants here have The Supreme ......