People v. Araiza

2020 IL App (3d) 170735

166 N.E.3d 170

445 Ill.Dec. 141

The PEOPLE of the State of Illinois, Plaintiff-appellant,

v.Camile ARAIZA, Defendant-appellee.

Appeal No. 3-17-0735

Appellate Court of Illinois, Third District.

Rule 23 Filed August 5, 2020

Motion to Publish Granted August 27, 2020

Opinion filed August 27, 2020

James W. Glasgow, State's Attorney, of Joliet (Patrick Delfino, David J. Robinson, and Gary F. Gnidovec, of State's Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor's Office, of counsel), for the People.

Scott Pyles and Stephen D. White, of Rathbun, Cservenyak & Kozol, LLC, of Joliet, for appellee.

JUSTICE CARTER delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion.

¶ 1 Defendant, Camile Araiza, was issued two traffic citations for driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI)—one for driving under the influence of alcohol ( 625 ILCS 5/11-501(a)(2) (West 2016)) and one for driving with a breath alcohol content over .08 ( 625 ILCS 5/11-501(a)(1) (West 2016)). Defendant was subsequently notified of the statutory summary suspension of her driving privileges. Defendant filed a petition to rescind the summary suspension, arguing in part that the traffic stop was invalid. The trial court granted defendant's petition to rescind. The State appeals. We affirm.

¶ 2 I. BACKGROUND

¶ 3 On September 9, 2017, Officer Nicholas Clesceri of the Romeoville Police Department initiated a traffic stop of defendant's vehicle. Defendant was arrested for DUI and subsequently received confirmation of a six-month, statutory summary suspension of her driver's license. On September 28, 2017, defendant filed a petition to rescind the summary suspension, arguing, among other things, that she was not violating any law, regulation, or ordinance when she was stopped by Clesceri. On October 23, 2017, a hearing on defendant's petition to rescind took place, at which Clesceri testified and a video from Clesceri's squad car was entered into evidence.

¶ 4 At the hearing, Clesceri testified that on the night of September 9, 2017, he stopped directly behind defendant's vehicle, in a left turn lane (on westbound 135th Street in Romeoville, Illinois). Clesceri testified there was another car "approximately two car lengths" in front of defendant's vehicle in the left turn lane. Clesceri testified that when the red light changed to a green left-turn arrow, the car in front of defendant's vehicle proceeded to turn left, but defendant's vehicle just "sat there." He testified there had been no oncoming traffic when the light changed to the green left-turn arrow. He further testified that after the light cycled to a green light, defendant initially did not move her vehicle but then made a left turn onto Route 53 southbound, running over the rumble strip in front of the median on Route 53 and making a wide left turn directly into the right southbound land of Route 53. He also testified that when defendant was completing the left turn, the passenger-side wheels of her vehicle nearly came in contact with the right-hand curb on Route 53.

¶ 5 The video was played for the trial court, showing that Clesceri had pulled behind defendant's vehicle in the left turn lane, at which time defendant was stopped behind another vehicle at a red light. A green left-turn arrow signal appeared on the stoplight for eight seconds, but defendant's vehicle did not move. During those eight seconds, it took two seconds for a vehicle traveling southbound (on Route 53) to clear the intersection. Another two seconds lapsed before the driver of the vehicle in front of defendant's vehicle began to drive forward and turn left. During the remaining four seconds before the traffic light's green arrow signal changed to a yellow signal, defendant's vehicle did not move forward at all. When the stoplight cycled through a yellow light and then a red light, which took 10 seconds, defendant still did not move her vehicle forward, although there appeared to be approximately one car length of space before the white stop line at the intersection for her to do so. After the signal changed to a solid green light, defendant did not immediately make a left-hand turn. She waited for two vehicles to pass through the intersection in the opposite direction—eastbound on 135th Street. Once those vehicles passed and the intersection was clear, defendant immediately proceeded forward and made a left turn onto Route 53.

¶ 6 The video showed that on the south side of the intersection, on Route 53, a raised median divided the two southbound lanes of Route 53 from the northbound traffic of Route 53. Both ends of the median were painted bright yellow, with an unpainted slightly raised portion of concrete—a rumble strip—extending from the north end of the median toward the intersection.

¶ 7 In regard to the median and the rumble strip, Clesceri testified:

"On Route 53, this is, is a raised median at that point. And then just in front of the raised median, extending a little bit further, is an area that some people call a rumble strip but it is designed to alert a vehicle driving over it, it makes a noise when you do that, that you are approaching the median. That [r]umble strip is within a solid yellow line. That means it is not to be driven over."

¶ 8 Contrary to Clesceri's testimony, it appears from the video that the rumble strip was not "within a solid yellow line." The median was raised several inches and painted yellow on each end. The rumble strip was not painted and was only slightly raised.

¶ 9 In the video, it appears that as defendant made the left turn, the driver-side tires of her vehicle passed over the rumble strip, and she passed through the left lane (of the two southbound lanes of Route 53) and established her vehicle to travel within the right lane (of southbound Route 53). As defendant completed the turn, she drove in the righthand portion of the right lane (of Route 53) and remained within that lane. The passenger-side tires of her vehicle did not hit the right curb when she was completing the turn, and she did not leave the right lane of Route 53.

¶ 10 Clesceri initiated a traffic stop of defendant's vehicle based on his observations. Clesceri requested defendant's license and proof of insurance, which defendant provided. Clesceri returned to his squad car and wrote defendant a citation for failing to obey a traffic control device, specifically the left turn arrow signal, in violation of section 306(a)(2) of the Illinois Vehicle Code ( 625 ILCS 5/11-306(a)(2) (West 2016)). After Clesceri returned to defendant's vehicle, he detected a "strong odor" coming from defendant's breath, observed a "slight reddening of the conjunctiva" of defendant's eyes, and noticed that defendant slurred the word "citation." He testified there "may have been" other slurred words but defendant slurring the word ‘‘citation’’ stuck out in his memory vividly. After administering field sobriety tests and a portable breath test, Clesceri arrested defendant for DUI.

¶ 11 After the evidence was presented at the hearing on defendant's petition to rescind the summary suspension of her driving privileges, the trial court stated, "oftentimes people want to make sure that the intersection is clear even if the arrow is green." The trial court found that the evidence did not show that defendant had driven erratically, noting that defendant had ensured that the intersection was clear before she proceeded through the green light. The trial court granted defendant's petition to rescind for the lack of reasonable grounds for the traffic stop and the arrest.

¶ 12 The State appealed.

¶ 13 II. ANALYSIS

¶ 14 On appeal, the State argues that the trial judge erred in granting defendant's petition to rescind the summary suspension of defendant's driving privileges. The State argues that the trial court erred in concluding that the traffic stop was improper because the trial court used an incorrect legal standard in coming to that determination. Defendant argues the trial court did not err.

¶ 15 "A statutory summary suspension hearing is a civil action where the defendant motorist, as the petitioner, requests the judicial rescission of a suspension, and the State is placed in the position of a civil defendant." People v. Tibbetts , 351 Ill. App. 3d 921, 926, 287 Ill.Dec. 6, 815 N.E.2d 409 (2004). In a petition to rescind, the motorist may challenge the propriety of the traffic stop leading to his or her DUI arrest. People v. Wood , 379 Ill. App. 3d 705, 707, 318 Ill.Dec. 389, 883 N.E.2d 620 (2008). In reviewing a trial court's decision on a petition to rescind a statutory summary suspension, the trial court's factual findings and credibility assessments will be reversed only if the findings are against the manifest weight of the evidence, while its conclusion as to whether the rescission was warranted is reviewed de novo .

People v. Brantley , 2016 IL App (5th) 150177, ¶ 15, 408 Ill.Dec. 727, 66 N.E.3d 519.

¶ 16 Both the fourth amendment of the United States Constitution and article I, section 6, of the Illinois Constitution of 1970 protect individuals from unreasonable searches and seizures. U.S. Const., amend. IV ; Ill. Const. 1970, art. I, § 6. The due process clause of the fourteenth amendment of the United States Constitution extends this constitutional guarantee to searches and seizures conducted by State officials. People v. Gaytan , 2015 IL 116223, ¶ 20, 392 Ill.Dec. 333, 32 N.E.3d 641. Generally, a stop of a vehicle based on a suspicion of violation of the law constitutes a seizure within the meaning of the fourth amendment and is subject to the fourth amendment's reasonableness requirement. Id. ¶ 20. In People v. Hackett , our supreme court stated the following summary of the principles governing the constitutionally of traffic stops:

"Vehicle stops are subject to the fourth amendment's reasonableness requirement. [Citations.] ‘ "As a general matter, the decision to stop an automobile is reasonable where the police have probable cause to believe that a traffic

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