delivered the opinion of the court:
Defendant, Johnathan D. Crotty, was charged with unlawful delivery of a controlled substance in violation of section 401(c)(2) of the Illinois Controlled Substances Act (Act) (720 ILCS 570/401(c)(2) (West 2006)). On November 30, 2006, the trial court granted defendant’s motion to suppress evidence. The State moved for reconsideration, and the trial court denied that motion on January 12, 2007. The State filed a certificate of impairment and timely appealed the trial court’s order, pursuant to Supreme Court Rule 604(a)(1) (210 Ill. 2d R. 604(a)(1)). 1 We reverse and remand.
On June 20, 2006, defendant was charged by complaint with one count of unlawful delivery of a controlled substance (720 ILCS 570/ 401(c)(2) (West 2006)) for delivering more than 1 gram but less than 15 grams of cocaine on May 5, 2006, in Naperville. On August 28, 2006, defendant moved to suppress evidence, alleging that Naperville police detectives improperly interrogated him after he invoked his right to counsel.
The trial court heard defendant’s motion on November 30, 2006. Detective Richard Arsenault of the Naperville police department testified for the State. On May 5, 2006, around 4 p.m., Detective Arsenault was at the Naperville police department jail, where he had two people in custody as a result of a drug investigation. He and another detective met with defendant in an interview room in the jail. Detective Arsenault read defendant his Miranda rights from a preprinted form and had defendant initial next to each right if he understood it. Detective Arsenault then asked defendant to read a waiver and to sign it if he wanted to speak with the detectives. Defendant signed the waiver and initialed each right on the form. Defendant denied any involvement in the crime that Detective Arsenault was investigating. Detective Arsenault asked to look at defendant’s cellular phone and defendant consented. Detective Arsenault located a phone number that he recognized on the phone, and he confronted defendant with it. Defendant said that he did not know how the number had gotten into his phone and that possibly the codefendant had stored the number in his phone. Defendant then asked to speak with an attorney before any further questioning.
After defendant requested an attorney, Detective Arsenault terminated the interview and returned defendant to his cell. Detective Arsenault went to his office, which was at the other end of the building. Detective Arsenault discussed with other members of his narcotics unit whether any search warrants would be executed in relation to defendant’s case. None of the officers involved were near defendant’s cell after he invoked his right to counsel. Approximately IV2 hours after the termination of the interview, Detective Arsenault was summoned to the jail because defendant was asking to speak with somebody. At approximately 5:40 p.m., Detective Arsenault proceeded to the jail, and defendant asked him what was happening at that point. Defendant asked what the process that he would be going through consisted of. Detective Arsenault told defendant that at that point, an assistant State’s Attorney would be contacted and would review the facts of the case. He further told defendant that if he were charged, he would be transported to the Du Page County jail and in the morning he would have to appear in front of a bond court judge. He told defendant that the bond court judge would set a bond for him. Defendant then told Detective Arsenault that he wanted to talk again. Detective Arsenault advised defendant that he previously stated that he wanted an attorney and that he would not speak with him. Defendant responded that he wanted to talk to Detective Arsenault again. At that point, Detective Arsenault contacted Detective Kammerer and asked him to return to the jail because defendant wanted to speak to them.
When Detective Kammerer returned to the jail, the detectives presented defendant with a new Miranda waiver form and again advised him of his Miranda rights. They asked defendant to initial the Miranda form if he understood the rights and to sign the waiver if he chose to do so. Defendant initialed the second Miranda form and signed the second waiver. The detectives then interviewed defendant for the second time and defendant gave a statement. Detective Arsenault denied that any of his interactions with defendant involved threatening language, promises, or yelling. On cross-examination, Detective Arsenault stated that he was not certain that he informed defendant when he would appear in front of a bond court judge if he were charged. However, Detective Arsenault stated that, if he did, he would have told defendant that it would take place sometime in the morning. When defendant said that he wanted to speak to him again, Detective Arsenault believed that he wanted to talk about the investigation and not about the process and that this was the reason Detective Arsenault called Detective Kammerer and re-Mirandized defendant.
On redirect, Detective Arsenault denied giving defendant any information related to the strength of his case, the evidence that was being gathered, or the status of any search warrants. He also did not provide any information regarding any statements that the codefendant made.
After hearing the testimony and the parties’ arguments, the trial court stated that it found People v, Flores,
On December 26, 2006, the State moved for reconsideration and argued that Detective Arsenault did not interrogate defendant when he answered his question. On January 12, 2007, the trial court heard the motion for reconsideration and denied it. On appeal, the State argues that this court should not follow Flores, because it was an “aberration on the legal landscape” of the body of law surrounding Miranda v. Arizona,
When reviewing a trial court’s ruling on a motion to suppress evidence, we apply a two-part standard of review. We review the trial court’s findings of historical fact and reverse those findings only if they are against the manifest weight of the evidence, and we review de novo the trial court’s ultimate legal ruling as to whether suppression is warranted. People v. Cosby,
A criminal defendant has a constitutional right to counsel at all custodial interrogations, as provided by both the United States and the Illinois Constitutions. U.S. Const., amends. V, XIV; Ill. Const. 1970, art. I, §10; Flores,
The Edwards rule is designed to prevent the police from badgering a defendant into waiving his previous assertion of his right to counsel. People v. Woolley,
The Bradshaw decision set forth a two-prong analysis for applying the Edwards rule. Woolley,
Bradshaw was the pinnacle case in the development of the law surrounding custodial interrogations, and it contains facts comparable to the case at bar. In Bradshaw, the defendant was brought to the police station for questioning regarding a vehicular manslaughter. Bradshaw,
The defendant moved to suppress his statements, arguing that they had been obtained in violation of his fifth amendment rights. The trial court denied that motion, and the appellate court reversed. Bradshaw,
Following Bradshaw, the Illinois Supreme Court decided People v. Olivera,
Police conducted a lineup in which the defendant was identified by two witnesses. Detective Kato removed the lineup members except for the defendant, who then asked what had happened. Detective Kato responded by telling the defendant that he had been “positively identified.” Olivera,
Upon further review of Bradshaw and Olivera, we believe that Chief Justice Bilandic’s dissent in Olivera has merit. See also People v. Miller,
Later, in Woolley, Justice Bilandic did not apply the analysis used in Olivera and instead applied the two-prong analysis set forth in Bradshaw. In Woolley, the defendant was being held for questioning separately from another witness who had identified the defendant as a shooter in a murder case. Woolley,
The supreme court determined that the trial court properly considered whether the defendant, after invoking his right to counsel, initiated further conversation with the police in a manner evincing a willingness for a generalized discussion about the investigation. Woolley,
Later, in Flores, the First District held that the defendant’s inquiry and the police response were strikingly similar to those in Olivera. In Flores, the defendant invoked his right to counsel and approximately four hours later, requested to use the restroom. Flores,
In applying the first prong of Bradshaw, we find that defendant’s inquiry was nearly identical to the inquiry made in Bradshaw. The Bradshaw defendant’s question of “ ‘what is going to happen to me now?’ ” is substantively the same as defendant’s inquiry as to the process he was facing. The Supreme Court determined that the defendant’s question indicated his willingness and desire to engage in a generalized discussion about the investigation, unlike an inquiry about restroom use, a drink of water, telephone use, or other matters routine to the custodial relationship. Bradshaw,
Even if we were to find that defendant’s inquiry as to the process he was facing was not a communication that initiated contact with authorities about the investigation, defendant initiated contact again when, in response to Detective Arsenault’s answer, he stated that he wanted to talk to him again. A similar scenario was recently addressed by the Fourth District. In People v. Outlaw,
The second prong of the Bradshaw analysis involves determining whether defendant knowingly and intelligently waived his right to counsel when he initiated contact with Detective Arsenault after earlier invoking his right to counsel. The trial court did not specifically address this issue, because it relied on the incorrect analysis of Olivera and Flores, which essentially expounded a requirement that an officer re-Mirandize a defendant after he initiates contact, instead of determining whether defendant knowingly and intelligently waived his rights. A waiver of Miranda rights is valid where (1) the decision to relinquish the rights was voluntary in the sense that it was not the product of intimidation, coercion, or deception, and (2) it was made with a full awareness of the nature of the rights being abandoned and the consequences of the decision to abandon them. People v. Scott,
In Bradshaw, there was little doubt as to validity, as the detective responded to the defendant’s inquiry with an advisement of his rights, and the defendant was re-Mirandized before submitting to the polygraph exam that ultimately resulted in incriminating evidence. However, as Chief Justice Bilandic pointed out in his Olivera dissent, Bradshaw did not hold that an officer is required to remind the defendant of his right to counsel when the defendant initiates contact with authorities about the investigation. Again, we consider Outlaw. In Outlaw, the court considered the fact that the statements that the defendant sought to suppress were made after he asked to speak to the detectives without his lawyer and after he was re-Mirandized. Outlaw,
Whether defendant knowingly and intelligently waived his right to counsel must be determined by the trial court on remand, by considering the totality of circumstances via the Bradshaw analysis. We note that the trial judge who conducted the suppression hearing is no longer sitting in the trial court, and this case will necessarily be assigned to a new judge. Where the original judge made no credibility determinations in the prior proceeding, the successor judge may rely on the transcripts of the proceeding in lieu of a proceeding de novo if the parties agree to stand on the transcripts of the prior proceeding. See Anderson v. Kohler,
Based on the foregoing reasons, we reverse the judgment of the circuit court of Du Page County and remand for further proceedings.
Reversed and remanded.
ZENOFF, EJ., and McLAREN, J., concur.
Notes
We note that this court held in People v. Marker,
