People v. Statham

• Decision Date: 23 January 1991
• Docket Number: No. 1-89-2133,1-89-2133
• Citation: 568 N.E.2d 183,154 Ill.Dec. 183,209 Ill.App.3d 352
• Parties: , 154 Ill.Dec. 183 The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. John STATHAM, Defendant-Appellant.
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois

Page 183

568 N.E.2d 183

209 Ill.App.3d 352, 154 Ill.Dec. 183

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellee, v. John STATHAM, Defendant-Appellant.

No. 1-89-2133.

Appellate Court of Illinois First District, Third Division.

Jan. 23, 1991.

Walsh & Neville, Ltd., Chicago (Ronald F. Neville, Anne B. Kokoris, of counsel), for defendant-appellant.

Jack O'Malley, State's Atty., Chicago (Renee Goldfarb, James E. Fitzgerald, Asst. State's Attys., Jean T. McGuire, of counsel), for plaintiff-appellee.

Presiding Justice CERDA delivered the opinion of the court:

Defendant, John Statham, was found guilty after a bench trial of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver. (Ill.Rev.Stat.1985, ch. 56 1/2, par. 1401(a)(2).) Defendant was sentenced to six years' and six months' imprisonment and was fined $1,000. Defendant argues on appeal that: (1) the trial court erred in denying his motion to quash the arrest and to suppress the evidence because the trial court erroneously ruled that defendant had the burden to prove coercion and also ruled that the initial stop and the detention of defendant's suitcase were not seizures; and (2) the trial court erred in finding that the State proved defendant's knowing possession of a controlled substance beyond a reasonable doubt.

Defendant moved to quash his arrest and the search warrant and to suppress the evidence obtained as a result of the search of his suitcase.

Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) Special Agent Larry Johnson testified at the hearing on the motion to suppress that on September 18, 1985, he and DEA Agent Bob Fulkerson were assigned to O'Hare airport to watch arriving passengers for the purpose of narcotics interdiction. He did not receive any specific information prior to monitoring defendant's arriving flight from Denver. Denver was a "transshipment city" which he defined as a large city through which a large quantity of narcotics is moved to smaller areas. He first observed defendant probably three or four minutes after defendant left the plane and approximately one-half hour before he approached defendant in the baggage claim area. His attention was first attracted to defendant as he walked by because of the manner in which he looked for one or two seconds at Johnson and Fulkerson who were sitting in the concourse.

Johnson and Fulkerson followed defendant to the baggage claim area, and defendant twice turned around and looked in their direction. Defendant met a man at the end of the concourse, shook his hands, and conversed with him for five or ten seconds. Both men rode the escalator down, and as they stepped off the escalator, the other man motioned towards the baggage claim area. He left, and defendant walked to the baggage claim area where he picked up a maroon Samsonite brand suitcase.

At approximately 1 p.m., Johnson and Fulkerson walked along with defendant as he walked out of the baggage claim area and when they reached the vestibule area they identified themselves as federal officers. They were dressed casually, and they did not display weapons. They showed defendant their credentials and asked if they could speak with him. They stood in a vestibule area about 12 by 12 feet between a double set of automatic doors that opened when one stepped on the mats. They did not stand between defendant and the exit doors, and defendant stood eight feet from the exit door.

Defendant stopped walking through the exit doors after the officers approached him. The officers' voices were not raised above conversational tones. Fulkerson asked defendant if he had identification, and defendant produced a plastic card in the name of John C. Statham. Fulkerson asked defendant if he had a driver's license, and defendant said he left it at home. Fulkerson asked him if he had an airline ticket, and defendant said that he had left it on the "airport." Fulkerson asked defendant what he was doing at the airport, and defendant said he had flown in from Phoenix, Arizona.

Fulkerson looked at the identification sticker on defendant's suitcase and noticed that it stated Jeff Driscoll and that it had an address in Phoenix. Fulkerson asked defendant why the name on the sticker was different, and after a moment of hesitation defendant said he had the wrong suitcase. Fulkerson then suggested that they go back to the baggage area and try to find defendant's baggage.

As defendant was picking up the suitcase to return to the baggage claim area, Fulkerson observed an airline ticket in the outside pocket of defendant's carry-on bag. Fulkerson asked defendant if he could see the ticket, and defendant handed the ticket to him. The name on the ticket was Jesse Drisco. Johnson observed that the ticket was for one-way travel from Phoenix to Denver to Chicago and was purchased with $155 cash on the same day of travel. The ticket was returned to defendant, and defendant was told he was free to leave at that point. Fulkerson would not have followed defendant. Defendant was told on two different occasions that he was free to leave, but if defendant had wanted to leave, the officers would have had to decide whether to detain the suitcase.

Fulkerson left the vestibule to see if he could speak with the man who had met with defendant. He had a suspicion that the bag contained illegal narcotics because of the untruthfulness of defendant's answers and because defendant had arrived from the southwest.

Johnson testified that he remained with defendant when Fulkerson left. Defendant was still free to leave but he did not ask to leave. Johnson asked defendant if he had some additional identification, and defendant removed from his wallet an Illinois driver's license with an Illinois address, a social security card, and a western telephone company credit card. Defendant now stated that someone in Phoenix had given him the suitcase to bring to Chicago. Johnson asked defendant about the bulge in his pants pocket, and defendant said it was his keys. Upon his request, defendant showed him the keys and later removed a Samsonite suitcase key. The key and the suitcase appeared new and so Johnson believed that the key might belong to the suitcase.

Fulkerson explained to defendant that he did not have to allow them to search his luggage. Defendant allowed them to search his shoulder bag, but he did not let them search his suitcase. Fulkerson searched the shoulder bag but did not find any contraband. Fulkerson told defendant that they had reason to believe that there were narcotics in the suitcase and that it was being detained until a drug detecting dog could sniff it. Ten minutes elapsed from the time they first spoke to defendant and until the time they detained the suitcase. Defendant then left the airport.

A narcotics dog sniffed suitcases in a lineup and barked at defendant's suitcase. Johnson obtained a warrant for the search of the suitcase which was opened with defendant's key. Inside the suitcase was a box which contained a plastic bag of cocaine that had been placed inside other plastic bags along with coffee grounds. The suitcase contained no clothing.

Fulkerson's testimony was similar to Johnson's testimony. In addition, he testified to the following. Fulkerson's curiosity was aroused by the suitcase, by defendant's glance over his shoulder, and by defendant's arrival from Denver, a transshipment point. He had arrested numerous people who carried new medium hard shell Samsonite suitcases that contained drugs. Defendant was told that the officers were conducting a drug investigation but that he was not under arrest. Defendant did not appear nervous and did not express a desire to stop the conversation and leave. The vestibule area where they stopped contained an elevator to the upper level and an automatic door that led into the terminal. Fulkerson stood two and one-half feet to four feet away from defendant. Defendant's movement was not blocked.

Fulkerson observed a sticker on the suitcase that had the name Jeff Driscoll and a Phoenix address. He asked defendant if he was traveling under his name, and defendant stated that he often used other names when traveling. He asked defendant from where he was traveling, and defendant stated Phoenix. Defendant denied talking to someone on the escalator. The suitcase was detained because of the previously mentioned factors and because defendant had lied.

Defendant testified that when he arrived on September 19, 1985, he did not meet anyone at the airport except Fulkerson and Johnson who stopped him and said they would like to ask him a couple of questions. Fulkerson stood between defendant and the exit door that was in front of defendant. Johnson stood to defendant's left and faced defendant. The doors on the second mat were wide open. Fulkerson and Johnson were taller and larger than defendant, and one of them had handcuffs on his belt. Neither one of the officers touched defendant. Six or seven people walked past defendant during his conversation with Fulkerson. Defendant asked Fulkerson what he wanted to know and why was he being stopped. Fulkerson replied that they were doing a federal drug investigation and that he would like to ask defendant a few questions. He pointed down to his belt which had a U.S. stamp on it, and defendant believed that Fulkerson was a law enforcement officer.

Fulkerson asked defendant what he was doing in Chicago, and defendant said that he was going to visit his son. Fulkerson asked defendant if he had a driver's license, and defendant said no. Defendant pulled out his wallet and found an Illinois state identification card which he handed over to Fulkerson. He also had a social security card and a Mountain Bell telephone card in his wallet, but he did not produce a driver's license. Fulkerson asked defendant if he had an airline ticket, and defendant said that he thought he had left it on the airplane. Fulkerson asked defendant why the name on the suitcase did not match the name on the...