People v. Davis
2019 IL App (1st) 181492
| Ill. App. Ct. | 2019Background
- Officers Pankey and Smith observed Terrence Davis talking on his phone while driving; Smith ran Davis’s name and learned his driver's license was revoked.
- About 30 minutes later officers flagged Davis to stop; Davis walked up, was told his license was revoked and did not produce a license or an insurance card.
- Sgt. O’Keefe ordered Davis arrested for driving on a revoked license, handcuffed him, and placed him in a squad car; several bystanders offered to move the vehicle but O’Keefe said they could not take an uninsured car and drove the vehicle to the station.
- At the station O’Keefe conducted an inventory search and recovered a firearm from under the driver’s seat; Davis was charged with firearm offenses.
- The trial court granted Davis’s motion to suppress the firearm, finding insufficient evidence that impoundment was statutorily required; the State appealed after filing a certificate of impairment.
Issues
| Issue | Plaintiff's Argument | Defendant's Argument | Held |
|---|---|---|---|
| Validity of the initial stop (Terry) | Officers had reasonable suspicion for a Terry stop | Not meaningfully contested | Not resolved on merits; suppression affirmed on impoundment/inventory grounds |
| Probable cause to arrest for driving with revoked license | Davis’s admissions and records provided probable cause | Not meaningfully contested | Not resolved on merits; suppression affirmed on impoundment/inventory grounds |
| Whether statute required immediate impoundment when driver revoked and no proof of insurance | 625 ILCS 5/6-303(e) mandates immediate impoundment when driver’s license revoked and driver lacks required insurance | Officers never requested proof of insurance; Code does not require driver to volunteer insurance, so statutory trigger unmet | Court held State failed to prove officers requested insurance; Code presumes proof is shown "upon request"; impoundment unlawful |
| Validity of inventory search that uncovered firearm | Inventory was proper incident to impoundment | Inventory was pretext because impoundment unlawful | Inventory search invalid here; suppression of firearm affirmed |
Key Cases Cited
- Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (establishing reasonable-suspicion standard for investigative stops)
- People v. Nash, 409 Ill. App. 3d 342 (review standards for suppression and inventory-search criteria)
- People v. Hundley, 156 Ill. 2d 135 (criteria for valid inventory searches)
- People v. Donoho, 204 Ill. 2d 159 (rules of statutory interpretation)
- People v. Relwani, 2019 IL 123385 (burden shift after defendant makes prima facie showing on suppression)
- People v. Brooks, 2017 IL 121413 (defendant’s initial burden to make prima facie showing on suppression)
- People v. Aleliunaite, 379 Ill. App. 3d 975 (directed finding where defendant fails to make prima facie showing)
- People v. Merritt, 318 Ill. App. 3d 115 (absence of evidence that officer requested insurance is insufficient to prove statutory violation)
- In re Marriage of Johnson, 245 Ill. App. 3d 545 (appellate courts must not speculate beyond the record)