People v. Partin

2022 IL App (2d) 210445

221 N.E.3d 550

468 Ill.Dec. 722

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

v.Dustin N. PARTIN, Defendant-Appellee.

No. 2-21-0445

Appellate Court of Illinois, Second District.

Filed June 2, 2022

Aaron Kaney, State's Attorney, of Mt. Carroll (Patrick Delfino, Edward R. Psenicka, and David S. Friedland, of State's Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor's Office, of counsel), for the People.

No brief filed for appellee.

OPINION

PRESIDING JUSTICE BRIDGES delivered the judgment of the court, with opinion.

¶ 1 Defendant, Dustin N. Partin, was charged with possession, with intent to deliver, of 100 grams or more but less than 400 grams of methamphetamine or a substance containing methamphetamine ( 720 ILCS 646/55(a)(2)(D) (West 2018)) and unlawful possession of a firearm by a felon ( 720 ILCS 5/24-1.1(a) (West 2018)).¹ Police found evidence supporting these charges on April 14, 2019, during an inventory search of a truck they stopped in Iowa immediately after observing the driver commit a traffic infraction in Savanna, Illinois. There was an active arrest warrant for the truck's driver, Andrew Westphal. Defendant was the truck's front-seat passenger,² and Jesse Jacobs was the back-seat passenger. The truck was registered to defendant and his wife, Nicole Partin (Nicole). Neither defendant nor Jacobs had a valid driver's license. The police decided to arrest Westphal per the active warrant. Because neither defendant nor Jacobs could lawfully drive the truck from the scene, the police decided to impound the truck pursuant to the Savanna City Code and Savanna Police Department policy. After the police decided to impound the truck, Nicole arrived at the scene before they began their inventory search. She and defendant asked the police if she could remove the truck. The police refused to release the truck to her. After defendant was charged based on contraband found in the truck, he moved to quash his arrest and suppress the evidence seized during the inventory search of the truck. The trial court granted the motion, finding that the Savanna City Code did not require the police to impound the truck and that they should have released it to Nicole, who could have lawfully driven it from the scene. The State filed a certificate of impairment and timely appeals. See Ill. S. Ct. R. 604(a)(1) (eff. July 1, 2017). At issue on appeal is whether the police could constitutionally refuse to release the truck to Nicole when she arrived before the police inventoried the truck. We determine that the police properly refused to release the truck. Thus, we reverse the trial court and remand this cause for further proceedings.

¶ 2 I. BACKGROUND

¶ 3 In his motion to quash his arrest and suppress evidence, defendant argued that the stop and subsequent truck search were unlawful. After opening arguments at the hearing but before the State presented its evidence, the parties stipulated that "there [was] a lack of process," i.e. , there was no warrant for the stop or search of defendant's truck. Defense counsel argued that the absence of a warrant shifted the burden of proof to the State. The trial court clarified, "You think the burden in a motion to suppress shifts because there's a stipulation that there was no warrant?" Defense counsel confirmed that this was his position. The court asked the State if it agreed, and the State asserted that "if [defendant] shows a prima facie case, *** then it does shift the burden and [the State] ha[s] to present evidence why there was an arrest without a warrant." The State continued, "[I]t's up to you, Your Honor, how you want to proceed." The court replied that it would "proceed however you want to," but the court asked for "a case" to support defendant's stance on the burden of proof. The court also asked defense counsel to present testimony that the police had no search or arrest warrants for defendant when they stopped and searched his truck. Defense counsel did not address the court's request for case law but agreed to call the police officers involved in the stop and search.

¶ 4 Counsel called Savanna police officer Randy Craft and Lieutenant Nicholas Meeker, who testified to the circumstances surrounding defendant's arrest on April 14, 2019. Around 9 p.m. on that date, the officers were on patrol in a marked squad car near defendant's home in Savanna. Lieutenant Meeker was familiar with defendant and his truck. He testified that he saw defendant's truck in an alley in a "suspicious area." Lieutenant Meeker explained that his suspicions were "[d]ue to the area's involvement and [defendant's] other cases." Defendant's "other cases" concerned an "investigation for certain criminal activity."

¶ 5 When defendant's truck pulled out of the alley, Lieutenant Meeker directed Officer Craft to follow it. The officers had neither a warrant for defendant's arrest nor a warrant to search the truck. Nevertheless, they followed the truck as it maneuvered through Savanna. When the truck's driver made a turn without signaling, the officers decided to stop the truck. Lieutenant Meeker testified that the "stop was purely traffic." Although he and Officer Craft "wanted to stop the vehicle and identify who was in the vehicle for other investigations," he stated that they had no intent to search the truck. Lieutenant Meeker explained that "we often make contact with vehicles for Vehicle Code violations and then we're able to add the information that we gather to our investigations." He assured that, although "[he] wanted to gather information, *** had there not been a violation[,] we would not have been able to stop the [truck]."

¶ 6 Officer Craft activated the squad car's emergency lights. The truck turned onto the Savanna/Sabula Bridge and eventually stopped at a scenic overlook on the bridge. The scenic overlook is in Sabula, Iowa.³ Lieutenant Meeker ran a registration check on the truck's license plate and learned that Nicole and defendant were registered owners. Lieutenant Meeker then approached the truck's passenger side while Officer Craft approached the driver's side. Lieutenant Meeker testified that defendant was in the front passenger seat, had nothing in his hands, and did not move toward the officers.

¶ 7 After defendant, Westphal (the driver), and Jacobs (the back-seat passenger) gave their names, Lieutenant Meeker asked dispatch to "run" them. Dispatch informed the officers that neither defendant nor Jacobs had a valid driver's license (Lieutenant Meeker testified that he knew from previous encounters with defendant that he did not have a valid driver's license). Specifically, Jacobs's driver's license was revoked. However, the officers were not more specific about the status of defendant's license nor explained why it was invalid.

¶ 8 Lieutenant Meeker testified that he asked Westphal to move the truck back across the bridge and onto Calhoun Street in Savanna. Lieutenant Meeker wanted the truck moved primarily for officer safety reasons and to maintain traffic flow. Westphal voluntarily moved the truck to Calhoun Street.

¶ 9 Lieutenant Meeker described Calhoun Street as a "short approximately half[-]block side street." He said that there were no roadway markings or signs prohibiting or allowing parking on the street.

¶ 10 Officer Craft was shown a photograph of the area on Calhoun Street where the truck was parked. The photograph shows the intersection of Calhoun and Main Streets in the foreground and Calhoun Street in the background. Officer Craft indicated with a red circle where Westphal parked the truck. The truck was parked close to the curb on the right side of Calhoun Street, several yards away from the intersection. It does not appear that the truck would have blocked a driveway or intersection or otherwise impeded traffic. Neither officer was asked whether the truck was legally parked on Calhoun Street.

¶ 11 Once Westphal relocated the truck, Lieutenant Meeker again approached the truck's passenger side. Lieutenant Meeker told defendant that Westphal was under arrest on an outstanding warrant and "that [the police] would be conducting an inventory search and tow of the vehicle." At the time, only police officers were at the scene.

¶ 12 Lieutenant Meeker explained that the Savanna Police Department has a written policy for towing cars (Savanna police policy). Based on that policy, Meeker decided to have the truck towed because Westphal was under arrest and neither Jacobs nor defendant could legally drive the truck. Lieutenant Meeker asserted that, essentially, "[t]he policy states that officers shall conduct an inventory search of vehicles that are being towed at the request of the Savanna Police Department."

¶ 13 After Lieutenant Meeker announced his decision to tow and impound the truck, he asked Westphal to exit the truck—Westphal complied. The officers handcuffed Westphal and placed him in the squad car's back seat. After Westphal was secured, Lieutenant Meeker asked defendant to step out of the truck. Lieutenant Meeker patted down defendant for weapons and found nothing. After removing Jacobs from the truck, Lieutenant Meeker told defendant and Jacobs that they were free to leave. Jacobs left.

¶ 14 Defendant asked Lieutenant Meeker if he could retrieve some personal items from the truck before the truck was inventoried and towed. Lieutenant Meeker allowed defendant to do so. Defendant retrieved his wallet and a second set of keys for the truck. Defendant then locked the truck, advising Lieutenant Meeker that he would unlock the vehicle when the tow truck arrived. Lieutenant Meeker asked defendant for the keys to perform the inventory search. Defendant refused to give Lieutenant Meeker the keys. The officers then explained the Savanna police policy to defendant and its procedures for impounding and inventorying vehicles. They advised defendant that he could be arrested for obstructing the police if he prevented them from inventorying the truck. In response, defendant unlocked the...