Salyer, In Interest of

• Decision Date: 07 January 1977
• Docket Number: No. 76--99,76--99
• Citation: 358 N.E.2d 1333,3 Ill.Dec. 648,44 Ill.App.3d 854
• Parties: , 3 Ill.Dec. 648 In the Interest of Ricky SALYER, a minor, Respondent-Appellant.
• Court: United States Appellate Court of Illinois

Page 1333

358 N.E.2d 1333

44 Ill.App.3d 854, 3 Ill.Dec. 648

In the Interest of Ricky SALYER, a minor, Respondent-Appellant.

No. 76--99.

Appellate Court of Illinois, Third District.

Jan. 7, 1977.

Robert J. Agostinelli, Deputy State Appellate Defender, Ottawa, for respondent-appellant; G. Joseph Weller, Ottawa, of counsel.

Edward P. Drolet, State's Atty., Kankakee County, Kankakee, for appellee; James E. Hinterlong, Ill. State's Attys. Assn., Robert M. Hansen, Ottawa, of counsel.

ALLOY, Presiding Justice

This is an appeal by a minor, Ricky Salyer, from a proceeding in the Circuit Court of Kankakee County, on a Petition for Delinquency, as a result of which defendant was made a ward of the court and ordered committed to the Department of Corrections. On appeal in this Court, the sole issue raised by the minor is whether the trial court erroneously ruled that respondent's mother validly consented to a search of the bedroom used by the minor in the home owned by the mother.

On September 5, 1975, a Petition for Delinquency was filed in the Kankakee County Circuit Court asking that respondent Ricky A. Salyer be adjudged a ward of the court. The petition alleged that respondent, aged 15, had committed the offenses of theft of property over $150 in value, unlawful possession of cannabis, possession of firearms without an owner's identification card, unlawful possession of hypodermic syringes, and unlawful possession of a controlled substance. The controlled substance allegation was subsequently dismissed on the State's motion. Following an adjudicatory hearing, the trial court found that a prima facie case had been made as to the remaining counts, and declared the respondent Ricky Salyer delinquent. After a dispositional hearing, respondent was ordered committed to the Department of Corrections as we have noted. He was placed on one year's court supervision for driving without a valid driver's license, an offense not alleged by the State, but to which respondent pleaded guilty. The Public Defender represented respondent throughout the proceedings.

The physical evidence introduced at the adjudicatory hearing included bags of marijuana, two hypodermic syringes in a matchbox, an over and under shotgun-rifle, a microscope, and two bunsen burners, all discovered in a search of the bedroom occupied by respondent. There was also introduced into evidence a triple beam scale, which was found in the basement of the home in which respondent resided.

The evidence discovered in the bedroom occupied by the respondent was the subject of a motion to suppress. At the hearing on the motion, prior to the adjudicatory hearing, testimony was taken from respondent Salyer and his mother Cheryl Salyer, and a Village of St. Anne police officer. The police officer related that he received a call from Mrs. Salyer, reporting her automobile missing, at 12:27 A.M. on September 4, 1975. While the officer was interviewing Mrs. Salyer on her front porch, he observed the missing car proceeding down a nearby street. He then pursued and stopped the automobile. The respondent Ricky Salyer had been driving the car and was arrested for driving without a valid driver's license and for a curfew violation.

After the minor Salyer was transported to the County Detention Center, his mother informed the officer that she had found a white canvas bag, which she suspected contained marijuana, in the rear seat of her automobile. Mrs. Salyer then asked the officer to obtain a search warrant for a search of her son's bedroom. The officer told her that a search warrant would not be necessary and had her sign a search waiver. The officer, Mrs. Salyer and a neighbor lady then proceeded into the premises. Mrs. Salyer told the officer that the door would have to be broken into because her son kept it locked. When they arrived at the door, however, they found a combination lock hanging open on the door, and this lock was removed and they entered the room. A search was conducted which produced the items of physical evidence to which we have referred. The officer was also asked to search the basement of the Salyer house which respondent kept locked. The basement key was obtained and the basement was searched and the triple beam scale was found there.

The mother of respondent, Cheryl Salyer, confirmed in her testimony that the search of the bedroom occupied by her 15-year-old son was conducted without a search warrant but with her consent. She testified that she was a divorcee and considered herself the head of the household, consisting of herself, respondent and four other children. She testified that respondent was the only family member who had a bedroom occupied by him alone. She stated that he kept his room locked with a combination lock on the outside and an inside lock. As a result, it was necessary for Mrs. Salyer to knock to gain admittance to respondent's bedroom. Respondent cleaned his own room and brought his laundry out of the room. The only purpose for which his mother would normally enter the room would be to ask her son a question. She stated she had been in the room once or twice in the 3-month period preceding the search.

Mrs. Salyer was paid support money by her ex-husband. She testified that, although there was no formal arrangement between her and the respondent for the payment of any rent, respondent did give her some money to pay utility bills or house rent, when she needed it and when respondent had it. He had given his mother about $200 for these purposes during the preceding summer. Respondent had his own spending money from a summer job and brought his own clothes and most of the furnishings in his bedroom. Mrs. Salyer testified that she had the only key to the house, since she had not 'gotten around' to having any other keys made. The respondent did not pay for food.

Respondent testified that he kept his bedroom locked, and that the combination of the lock was known only to him. He had recorded the combination, among nine other false numbers, on a board above the door. In the month of April 1975, respondent and his mother had argued and his mother had ordered him to leave. He did so, but returned to his mother's house that same night. On the night preceding his early morning arrest, respondent had left his bedroom about 10:00 P.M. He stated that, to preclude having to turn on the light to reopen the bedroom lock and possibly disturbing his mother, he simply 'pushed up' the lock to make it appear locked, without actually locking it.

After the trial court had considered written and oral arguments of counsel, the court ruled against respondent's motion to suppress. In holding that the mother's consent validated the search, the trial court stated that the wording of the Constitution and the Search and Seizure clause prohibits 'unreasonable' searches and that 'unreasonable' as a standard must be looked at with respect to the particular facts. The trial court stated, 'We would rather presume that parents have the right to consent to the search of their children's property, that in this area of juvenile rights, we have not gone quite so far as to say that a juvenile has the right to set off a corner of his parent's home and say that is mine and you have no right to consent to the search.' He further stated that even though the mother had granted her son a certain degree of independence, despite his age, the ultimate authority was still with her.

At the subsequent adjudicatory hearing, the parties stipulated that the State's exhibits included over 30 grams but less than 500 grams of cannabis. Testimony of the principal and a chemistry teacher at the high school in St. Anne established that among the items discovered in the search of respondent's bedroom were various properties stolen from the school. The State also established that respondent had not been issued a firearm...