People v. Lopez

• Decision Date: 19 June 2008
• Docket Number: No. 103768.,103768.
• Citation: 892 N.E.2d 1047,229 Ill.2d 322
• Parties: The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee, v. Mariano LOPEZ, Appellant.
• Court: Illinois Supreme Court

892 N.E.2d 1047

229 Ill.2d 322

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee, v. Mariano LOPEZ, Appellant.

No. 103768.

Supreme Court of Illinois.

June 19, 2008.

Mark W. Solock, Chicago, for appellant.

Lisa Madigan, Attorney General, Springfield, Richard A. Devine, State's Attorney, Chicago (James E. Fitzgerald, Alan J. Spellberg, Michelle Katz, Hareena Meghani-Wakely, Assistant State's Attorneys, of counsel), for the People.

OPINION

Justice FITZGERALD delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion:

Defendant, Mariano Lopez, was charged with first degree murder, armed robbery, home invasion, attempted aggravated arson, and aggravated unlawful restraint. He gave a handwritten statement confessing to the crimes, which was used against him at trial. Defendant was convicted in the circuit court of Cook County and sentenced to a total prison term of 23 years. The appellate court affirmed. 367 Ill. App.3d 817, 305 Ill.Dec. 666, 856 N.E.2d 471. We granted defendant's petition for leave to appeal (210 Ill.2d R. 315) and now consider whether the trial court erred in denying defendant's motions to quash arrest and suppress evidence. For the reasons that follow, we reverse and remand.

BACKGROUND

On the morning of July 14, 1998, police responded to a report of a burglary at the apartment of the victim, Hector Andrade. Upon entering the apartment, police found the victim's dead body on the living room floor in a pool of blood. The victim had been stabbed numerous times and his arms, legs, and head were bound with duct tape. A large-blade knife was found near his body. The apartment smelled of gas, burned-out cigarettes were found near the body and on top of an entertainment center, and the apartment appeared to have been ransacked. Defendant, who was 15 years old at the time, gave both oral and written statements confessing to his part in the crime.¹ Prior to trial, defendant filed motions to quash arrest and suppress the oral and written statements he made to authorities. The trial court conducted separate hearings on defendant's motions to quash arrest and suppress statements.

The evidence presented at the hearing on defendant's motion to quash demonstrated that detectives went to defendant's apartment at approximately 12 p.m. on July 28, 1998, after defendant's name was brought up while detectives were investigating the victim's murder. Defendant testified that he was asleep when two police officers arrived at his apartment. His mother woke him, and he went into the kitchen. One officer was standing in the kitchen and the other officer was in the doorway of the apartment. The officer in the kitchen told defendant to put his shoes on because they were going to the police station. The officer grabbed defendant and said, "You're going with us." The officer also pushed defendant two to three times, but did not push hard. The officers did not tell defendant they were investigating a homicide; they told him they wanted to ask him questions about gangs. Although one of the officers was speaking to defendant's mother in Spanish, he did not tell defendant's mother that she could accompany defendant to the police station. Defendant stated that he went with the officers because, "I thought I had to go." When the officers escorted defendant out of the back door of his apartment, he noticed that another police officer was waiting outside with his gun drawn. Defendant stated that he was placed in the backseat of an unmarked police car but was not handcuffed. Both officers sat in the front seat. The third officer followed behind in a marked squad car. The officers accompanying defendant did not draw their guns at any time.

When he arrived at the police station, defendant was placed in a room and questioned about Hector's murder. Defendant testified that he was in the room for three to four hours and was questioned "all the time" he was in the room by three officers, except "[t]here would be like two minutes they would go out and they would come right back." He explained that he was only left alone for a short period of time and the officers never left to investigate any of the information he provided to them. Defendant was not handcuffed during this questioning, but the door to the room was closed, and defendant believed it was locked from the outside with a slide lock. Defendant was never told that he was free to leave and defendant did not feel that he was free to go. Defendant did not see his parents until he signed the handwritten statement admitting to the crime. After he gave the signed confession, he was allowed to see his father. Defendant's father then signed the statement in defendant's presence. Defendant stated that he was allowed to use the restroom and was offered food, although he did not accept any.

Defendant's mother, Maria Luisa Garcia, testified that she was at home with defendant, who was sleeping in his bedroom, and her 18-year-old daughter, who was sleeping in the living room, when two men knocked on the door. She answered the knock and one man said, in Spanish, that he was a detective and then asked about her son. The detective announced, "I'm going to take him." He also said: "I come for Mariano. I'm going to ask him some questions. * * * He has to cooperate with us." Garcia stated that she did not respond to the detective; in fact, she did not speak to him at all. Even though Garcia did not invite the detective in and did not give him permission to enter, he and the other man walked into the kitchen area of her apartment. The other man did not identify himself and Garcia did not know whether he was a police officer. She thought he was "American" but could not be sure of his race.

Garcia explained that the apartment was "very small." When the detective and the other man entered the kitchen, defendant heard them and came into the kitchen, without being called. The detective ordered defendant to put his shoes on and said, "Let's go." According to Garcia, the officers stood in her kitchen for approximately 30 minutes, without speaking to her, while defendant got dressed and put his shoes on. When defendant was ready to leave, the detective gave defendant a slight push, but "didn't hurt him." The detective and the other man then took defendant out of the apartment. Defendant was not handcuffed.

Garcia initially stated that she asked the detective "where are you taking him, why are you taking him," but the detective would not answer. Later, Garcia testified that she never spoke to the detective after their initial conversation at the door of her apartment and that he never spoke to her. Garcia indicated that the detective never advised defendant that he did not have to go and never told Garcia that she could accompany her son. Garcia did not ask if she could accompany her son to the police station. Further, she did not give detectives permission to take her son, although she did not object. The detective gave Garcia a business card with his name and telephone number before leaving with defendant.

Garcia testified that her daughter remained in the living room and never entered the kitchen while the detectives were there. Garcia initially testified that her daughter was sleeping during this time, but later testified that her daughter was in a hurry to get to work and, therefore, did not participate in the encounter with the detectives at the apartment.

Garcia stated that she contacted her neighbor, Lydia Villanueva, after the detectives left with defendant. Villanueva speaks English and Garcia asked her to call the number left by the detective. Garcia did not attempt to call herself because she does not speak English and because she was crying and upset. Villanueva came over at around 3 p.m. and called the number on the detective's business card. Villanueva spoke to a detective, who told her that "he could not say anything." After that initial call, Villanueva called the police station more than five times to inquire about defendant. She could not get any information.

Garcia testified that her husband returned home from work around 6:30 p.m. She did not have any information about her son or his whereabouts at that time. Garcia explained that her husband left and went to look for defendant because "this detective would not tell us anything." Garcia first indicated that she did not see any police officers again that day. However, when asked a second time, Garcia testified that a detective called her at 9 p.m. and asked permission to return to her apartment to search it. She gave him permission. At 10 p.m., the same men who came to her apartment earlier in the day returned and searched. At that point, Garcia's husband had returned after unsuccessfully attempting to locate defendant at various police stations. After they searched and were unable to find anything, the detectives offered to bring her to the police station to see her son. She did not go because she was too upset. Her husband went instead.

Defendant's father, Mariano Lopez, Sr., testified that he was at work and was not aware of the events of the day until he came home at 6:30 p.m. His wife did not call him at work to inform him that defendant had been taken to the police station. When Lopez arrived at his apartment, Villanueva was there. She told him that she had spoken to the police three or four times and they said that police officers would bring defendant home. At about 8 p.m., Villanueva called the police again. After that call, Lopez still did not know where his son was, so he went to a police station on Racine and another station on Damen looking for him. At the Racine station, Lopez asked officers to help him contact Detective Al Bautista, whose name was on the business card left with Garcia, but the officers refused to assist him. They also refused to help him locate his son. Lopez did not ask any officers at the Damen station to help him find Detective Bautista. He only asked if his son was there.

Lydia Villanueva...