People v. Sunday

• Decision Date: 18 October 1982
• Docket Number: No. 81-802,81-802
• Parties: , 65 Ill.Dec. 461 PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Joseph SUNDAY, Defendant-Appellee.
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois

Page 374

441 N.E.2d 374

109 Ill.App.3d 960, 65 Ill.Dec. 461

PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Joseph SUNDAY, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 81-802.

Appellate Court of Illinois Second District.

Oct. 18, 1982.

Fred L. Foreman, States Atty., Waukegan, Phyllis J. Perko, States Attys. Appellate Service Com'n, Elgin, for plaintiff-appellant.

Lunardi, Roux & Svehla, Steven B. Lunardi, Waukegan, for defendant-appellee.

REINHARD, Justice.

This is an interlocutory appeal taken by the State pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 604(a) (85 Ill.2d R. 604(a)) from a pretrial order granting, in part, defendant's motion to quash a search warrant and suppress evidence seized thereunder. The only issue before us on appeal is whether the trial court erred when it found the search warrant was improperly executed.

The defendant, Joseph Sunday, was charged in a three-count information with unlawful possession of more than 500 grams of a substance containing cannabis (Ill.Rev.Stat.1979, ch. 56 1/2, par. 704(e)), unlawful possession with intent to deliver more than 500 grams of a substance containing cannabis (Ill.Rev.Stat.1979, ch. 56 1/2, par. 705(e)), and unlawful possession of a firearm without having a Firearm Owner's Identification Card (Ill.Rev.Stat.1979, ch. 38, par. 83-2). On June 4, 1981, defendant filed a motion to quash search warrant and to suppress evidence illegally seized which essentially alleged there was no probable cause for the issuance of the search warrant and the search warrant was insufficient on its face. On September 10, 1981, defendant filed a second motion to quash search warrant and to suppress evidence illegally seized together with three affidavits which alleged improper execution of the search warrant and intentional misrepresentations in the complaint for search warrant. An evidentiary hearing was held on these motions on September 18, 1981, at which the following testimony relevant to the issue before us on appeal was adduced.

At 1:40 a.m. on January 17, 1981, a warrant was issued, based on the complaint for search warrant of Officer Robert Smith, a police officer of the Chicago Police Department assigned to the narcotics section of the organized crime division, commanding the search of both the person of the defendant, Joseph Sunday, and his residence, and to seize any marijuana and narcotics discovered as a result of its execution. At approximately 3:30 or 4 a.m. that same day Officer Smith and four other officers went to the defendant's residence, located at 26140 W. Park View in Antioch to execute the warrant. At that time the defendant, his common-law wife, Maxine Gambony, and her 12-year-old daughter, Kimberly Gambony, were asleep in the home which they rented. According to Maxine Gambony, one of the officers, who was in uniform and was holding a gun at his side, rang the doorbell and informed her, when she opened the door, that someone had just broken into the van which was located in front of the residence and perhaps had stolen something from it. The officer told her to get the man of the house and have him come outside to determine whether the purported thief had stolen anything from the vehicle. After she relayed the message to the defendant, he went to the front door, where he encountered an officer, who had his pistol drawn at his side. The officer informed him that an individual had broken into the van and asked the defendant to accompany him to the vehicle.

Maxine Gambony further stated that after the defendant spoke with the officer, the defendant got dressed, while the officer remained outside by the door. After the defendant departed the residence, she closed the door, without locking it, awakened her daughter, and looked out the window but was unable to see anything. The door remained closed for about five minutes before it was reopened. After the five-minute hiatus, three officers, two of whom were in uniform, walked into her home without knocking and told her to get her daughter and sit on the couch. She did not recall whether they had their weapons drawn or whether they told her anything about a search warrant. However, on cross-examination, she admitted that it was possible that they did mention the search warrant.

The defendant testified that as he was walking toward the van, the officer who was accompanying him twisted his arm, threw him against the van, spread his legs, and searched him. When he arrived at the van, the defendant noticed that Officer Robert Smith was standing against the vehicle with his arms and legs spread. Another officer had a gun drawn. The defendant also observed three or four other individuals at the van, two of whom were not dressed in uniform. After they searched him, the officers grabbed each of the defendant's arms and brought him into the house. Upon arriving there, the defendant noticed that a couple of officers were inside the residence but stated that he had not seen them enter the house. According to the defendant, he was not advised at any time--not at the door, not outside by the van, and not in the house after the search--that the officers had a search warrant for him or his house. During cross-examination, however, the defendant acknowledged that, given the fact that he was still sleepy and not fully aware of what was transpiring during the early morning incident, it was possible that the officers had told him that they had a warrant to search the house. He also related that the officers were "right with" him when the officers entered the house; that when they entered the residence after having been outside, the door was ajar; and that the officers just pushed it open and walked in.

Officer Robert Smith testified that when the two uniformed officers went to the defendant's house to tell him that someone had been caught breaking into the van, he (Smith) remained outside with his back toward the house and his hands and feet on the van in a spread-eagle position, because he was supposed to be a prisoner (apparently representing the person whom the police allegedly caught breaking into the van). Although he had his back to the house which was about 20 to 25 feet away, the officer occasionally looked over his shoulder. On those occasions he noticed that the officer at the door did not enter the residence but rather waited outside; that the officer did not have his gun drawn at the door; and that the officer did not draw his weapon during the walk to the van, at least not during the first one-third of the distance, which was the only part of the journey the witness observed.

According to Smith, when the defendant was approximately three feet from him, the officer turned around, produced the search warrant, showed the defendant his badge, and informed the defendant that he was a policeman with a warrant to search the defendant and his house. He then "patted down" the defendant; did not otherwise search him; and neither he nor any of the other officers placed the defendant against the van. The officers and the defendant proceeded to the defendant's residence. Smith, who was accompanied by the defendant, was the first officer to enter the house, and the others followed him inside. The door of the house was open three-quarters of the way. Once inside the house, Smith gave the defendant the warrant, told him to read it so he fully understood it. Although the defendant looked at the warrant, the officer did not know whether the defendant read it.

Officer Smith further testified that normally he would knock on the door and then break it down with a sledge hammer if he received no answer. He did not follow normal procedure in this case because it was 3:50 in the morning, he was aware that a child lived in the house, and he did not want anyone to get hurt. None of the other officers testified at the hearing.

The trial court denied the motions to quash the search warrant on all grounds alleged except paragraphs three and four of the second motion which was directed to the execution of the search warrant and the failure of the officers to "knock and announce" and the absence of exigent circumstances to forego this requirement. The trial court in orally stating his decision made factual determinations that exigent circumstances were not shown; that the officers created a subterfuge to get defendant outside the house; that the officer directly and unequivocally announced he was a police officer, said that he was there for the purpose of a search, and produced the search warrant; that there was no force used in entry into the house; that there was force used to physically secure the defendant outside the house; that the officer "patted down" the defendant rather than searched him; and that the door to the house "may well have been" somewhat open. The court then granted the defendant's motion on the apparent basis that the force used to secure the defendant was equivalant to force used to enter a house which, otherwise, may not be employed without the officers first knocking and announcing their purpose.

The State's sole contention on appeal is that the police substantially complied with the "knock and announce" rule prior to executing the search warrant and, hence, the subsequent search of the defendant's premises was a reasonable one under the fourth amendment to the United States Constitution (U.S. Const., amend. IV), given the particular facts and circumstances of the present case. More specifically, the State asserts that the police lawfully lured the defendant from his house and into their presence to facilitate execution of a search warrant directed against his person; that the police were justified in using a reasonable amount of force to restrain and search or "pat down" the defendant outside the residence; and that the police were not obligated to knock on the door again before entering the residence with the defendant or to repeat the announcement of their authority and purpose to the defendant's common-law...