People v. Sylvester
| Decision Date | 26 November 1969 |
| Docket Number | No. 41828,41828 |
| Parties | The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Appellee, v. Adee B. SYLVESTER, Appellant. |
| Court | Illinois Supreme Court |
Starke, Anglin, Wertz & May, Chicago (William C. Starke, Chicago, of counsel), for appellant.
William J. Scott, Atty. Gen., Springfield, and Edward V. Hanrahan, State's Atty., Chicago (James B. Zagel, Asst. Atty. Gen., and Elmer C. Kissane and Michael D. Stevenson, Asst. State's Attys., of counsel), for the People.
Defendant, Adee Sylvester, was convicted in a Cook County bench trial of the crime of possession of narcotics (marijuana). Direct appeal to this court lies because of the presence of constitutional questions allegedly involving search and seizure. The sole issue is the validity of the seizure of the narcotics.
The relevant evidence on the motion to suppress can be summarized as follows: Detective William Tolliver testified that on the morning of September 23, 1967, he had a conversation with Mrs. Charlotte Randall at her home at 6447 South Drexel in Chicago. Detective Edwin Bishop was present at this conversation. Mrs. Randall told them that her home had been burglarized two days earlier and stated that defendant was a friend of hers and that she believed he had committed the burglary.
Mrs. Randall testified that her home was burglarized on September 21 and that a mink jacket and television set were taken. She stated that she talked to Detective Tolliver on September 23 and told him of the burglary and that she believed Adee Sylvester had committed it.
Detective Tolliver subsequently attempted to locate the defendant and consulted with an unidentified male person who directed him to 100 East 63rd Street. About 4:00 P.M. on September 23, officers Tolliver and Bishop approached 1100 East 63rd Street in an unmarked police car. They saw defendant standing on the corner and pulled to the curb near him. The officers noticed that defendant was carrying a brown paper bag about 18 inches high. Officer Bishop was nearest the curb and he called the defendant over to the car. Defendant walked toward the auto, still in possession of the bag, and leaned down to inquire what was wanted of him. Officer Bishop testified he then 'told him he was under arrest and to get in the back of the squad car.' Defendant then straightened up and got into the back seat of the vehicle. At the same time Officer Tolliver got out of the car to make certain that defendant entered. After defendant was in the car, Officer Tolliver re-entered the car, and noticed that defendant no longer had possession of the bag although neither officer observed the defendant part with the gab. Officer Bishop got out of the car and retrieved the bag from a position on the curb inches from the car 'directly in line with the center post of the car.' The defendant stipulated that a police chemist would testify that the bag contained marijuana. A motion to suppress the evidence on the ground that there was no probable cause to arrest the defendant was denied and a bench trial was thereafter held at which defendant was...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
People v. Hoskins
... ... Abandoned property may be seized without probable cause. (1 W. LaFave, Search and Seizure sec. 2.6(b) (1978), citing Mascolo, The Role of Abandonment in the Law of Search and Seizure: An Application of Misdirected Emphasis, 20 Buffalo L.Rev. 399 (1971).) People v. Sylvester (1969), 43 Ill.2d 325, 253 N.E.2d 429, involved an examination of a brown paper bag containing drugs which the defendant had placed on a public street curb immediately before entering a police car. This court stated: ... "In our judgment determination of the validity of the ... ...
-
People v. Basile, 11844
...defendant's home. Under these circumstances, no 'search' resulting in the discovery of Miss Becker ever occurred. (People v. Sylvester, 43 Ill.2d 325, 327, 253 N.E.2d 429, 430.) In Sylvester, it was said "A search implies a prying into hidden places for that which is concealed, and it is no......
-
Carlisle v. State, 6 Div. 987
... ... people to be walking, and merely dropped a bag and kept walking, before he was arrested." However, this is a case where the existence of probable cause ... See also State v. Reed, 284 So.2d 574, 575 (La.1973) ... The appellant, in a similar case, People v. Sylvester, 43 Ill.2d 325, 253 N.E.2d 429 (1969), placed a brown paper bag containing drugs on the curb of a public street immediately before entering a police ... ...
-
People v. Rhoades
...concerning his actions or possessions which were open to plain view of one lawfully in a position to observe them. (People v. Sylvester (1969), 43 Ill.2d 325, 253 N.E.2d 429; see also People v. Bombacino (1972), 51 Ill.2d 17, 280 N.E.2d 697, Cert. denied (1972), 409 U.S. 912, 93 S.Ct. 230, ......