People v. Vasquez
| Decision Date | 11 February 2009 |
| Docket Number | No. 1-07-0148.,1-07-0148. |
| Citation | 902 N.E.2d 1194 |
| Parties | The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Ruben VASQUEZ, Defendant-Appellee. |
| Court | United States Appellate Court of Illinois |
John R. De Leon & Associates (John R. De Leon, Kelvin D. McCabe, of Counsel), Chicago, IL for Defendant-Appellee.
Richard A. Devine, State's Attorney (James E. Fitzgerald, Marie Quinlivan Czech, of Counsel), Chicago, IL, for Plaintiff-Appellant.
The defendant, Ruben Vasquez, was arrested and indicted for money laundering and possession of a controlled substance. Vasquez filed a motion to quash his arrest and suppress evidence. After a hearing, the court granted the defendant's motion. The State filed a certificate of substantial impairment and presents the following issues for our review: (1) whether police officers had a reasonable suspicion of narcotics trafficking that would justify the investigatory stop of the defendant's vehicle; (2) whether the defendant was under arrest and in police custody when his vehicle was stopped and he signed the consent to search form; and (3) whether the defendant's consent to search authorized the police to remove the bumper of his vehicle. For the following reasons, we affirm.
A. The Suppression Hearing
Robert Spiegel1 testified that on April 19, 2005, he was the front desk clerk at the Sleep-In Motel by Midway Airport. Spiegel was an informant for the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) police team. The HIDTA team did not give Spiegel a formal profile of persons to watch for, but they suggested that he look for guests with the following characteristics: (1) out-of-state guests from Texas, Arizona, California, and Iowa; (2) guests checking into the hotel without knowing how long they were going to stay or only staying for one night; (3) guests paying in cash; and (4) guests not having much luggage. Spiegel explained that he would receive approximately $300 when he called the HIDTA team and informed them about suspicious activity by a guest.
Spiegel further testified that when a guest checked into the hotel and paid in cash, the hotel clerk would ask for the guest's driver's license. The clerk would then put the guest's information into a hotel computer. Spiegel did not register the defendant at the hotel. However, Spiegel looked through the registrations and learned that the defendant was from Texas, paid for his room with cash, and indicated that he was going to stay the night on April 19, 2005 and depart on April 20, 2005. Spiegel called Officer Feliciano and provided him with the defendant's name, address, date of birth, and the type of vehicle the defendant was driving. Spiegel also gave Officer Feliciano a copy of the defendant's driver's license. Spiegel testified that, prior to making the call to Officer Feliciano, he did not see the defendant meet with anyone, pass packages to anyone, or commit any crimes.
On cross-examination Spiegel testified that, before he called Officer Feliciano, he saw the defendant (1) pace in the lobby, (2) walk outside, (3) look around as if looking for someone, (4) look into a silver vehicle (which was later identified as the defendant's vehicle), (5) come back into the hotel, and (6) repeat this activity several times. At one point, the defendant asked Spiegel if there was a pay phone nearby even though Spiegel observed the defendant talking on a cell phone.
On redirect examination, Spiegel testified that it is not uncommon for people to walk up and down the hotel lobby as if waiting for someone. During questioning by the court, Spiegel testified that he received payment for the instant case in November or December of 2005.
Officer Feliciano testified that in April of 2005, he was part of the HIDTA team that went to hotels and retrieved information from hotel clerks. The clerks received a monetary payment that was paid by Cook County when they gave the HIDTA team tips that "worked out." Officer Feliciano explained that the HIDTA team focused on cash paying customers from specific "source states"; however, being a member of a minority group was not one of the factors the HIDTA team considered. On April 20, 2005, Officer Feliciano received a call from Spiegel, who told him that there was a suspicious man named Ruben Vasquez, Jr., pacing around in the hotel lobby, looking around in all directions, and exiting and returning to the hotel. Spiegel also told Officer Feliciano that the defendant asked for a pay phone even though Spiegel saw him on a cell phone. Spiegel told Officer Feliciano the defendant's name, told him that the defendant was from Texas, and described the defendant's vehicle as a Volkswagen Jetta with a Texas license plate.
Officer Feliciano arrived at the hotel at approximately 8:30 a.m., and Spiegel gave him a copy of the defendant's driver's license. Spiegel also gave Officer Feliciano the driver's licenses of three other people unrelated to the instant case. Officer Feliciano called the El Paso Intelligence Center, which is a main computer connected to all United States government agencies, had them "run" the defendant's name and date of birth, and learned that the defendant had two prior arrests for narcotics.
Officer Feliciano testified that none of the four officers following the defendant saw him commit a crime, including a traffic violation. Rather, the officers pulled the defendant over for an investigatory stop with the intent to search his vehicle. One of the unmarked police vehicles pulled the defendant's car over, and the defendant pulled his car into a Marathon gas station. Officer Feliciano was the first officer to speak with the defendant. Officer Feliciano told the defendant that they were conducting a narcotics investigation and believed that the defendant was participating in narcotics transactions. The officers searched the defendant's vehicle for 10 to 15 minutes in the gas station parking lot, but they did not find any contraband, narcotics, or illegal substances. During the search, the defendant and Officer Feliciano stood approximately three or four feet from the back of the defendant's car. The officers did not have a search warrant for the car or an arrest warrant for the defendant.
Officer Feliciano testified that the officers moved to a second location, 4923 South Kildare, and searched the defendant's vehicle. At the second location, the defendant was sitting in a covert leased police vehicle and was free to leave at any time, although Officer Feliciano did not tell the defendant that he was free to leave at any time. The police found money in the defendant's vehicle during the second search.
On cross-examination, Officer Feliciano testified that the defendant had previously been arrested in 2000 and 2001 for possession of and distribution of marijuana and, at the time of the instant offense, he was on parole. Officer Feliciano informed the HIDTA team that he wanted to conduct surveillance at the hotel.
On April 20, 2005, at approximately 9:30 a.m., Officer Feliciano observed the defendant walk from the hotel lobby, look around, walk through the parking lot, look into parked vehicles, and return to the hotel. The officer observed the defendant follow this routine two more times. The defendant emerged from the hotel with a blue suitcase, walked to his car, placed the suitcase in the trunk, and drove out of the parking lot. The surveillance officers followed him. The defendant made a series of turns and essentially traveled in a circle. Every so often the defendant would pull his vehicle to the side of the road, park his vehicle, and wait a few minutes before pulling back into traffic. Officer Feliciano opined that the defendant was conducting countersurveillance in an attempt to see if anyone was following him. Eventually the defendant turned onto 49th Street, exited the vehicle, placed a call on his cell phone, and began walking. At approximately 10:10 a.m., Officer Feliciano observed the defendant emerge from a house located at 4923 South Kildare, get into his vehicle, and drive away. The defendant drove to an Auto Zone store, went inside, and exited the store carrying a white plastic bag. At 10:45 a.m., the defendant reappeared at 4923 South Kildare. According to Officer Feliciano, another officer, Officer Keating, observed another male Hispanic standing by the garage door, observed the defendant enter the garage, and observed the garage door close. Approximately 45 minutes later, the defendant emerged from the garage in his vehicle and traveled down the alley. The officers stopped the vehicle in a Marathon gas station parking lot.
Officer Feliciano testified that when he spoke in Spanish with the defendant at the gas station, he was dressed in civilian clothes, his gun was not exposed, the defendant was not handcuffed, and the tone of the conversation was conversational. Officer Feliciano asked the defendant if he would consent to a search of the vehicle, and the defendant hesitated. Officer Feliciano immediately read the defendant his Miranda rights in Spanish, and the defendant indicated that he understood his rights. Officer Feliciano had a consent to search form written in Spanish. He explained the form to the defendant, and he told the defendant that he had the right to refuse consent. The defendant said that he was willing to cooperate with the police and signed the form. According to Officer Feliciano, no one searched the vehicle until the written consent was signed, and no one threatened or made any promises to the defendant.
As the officers searched the defendant's vehicle, Officer Feliciano spoke with the defendant and asked him where he had been prior to being stopped. The defendant said that he had come from Texas to visit a sick relative, and he gave the officer an address in the 4900 block of South Kildare. The defendant denied that he had parked his...
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