People v. Montgomery

SUPREME COURT CASES

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State: Illinois

Court: 5th District Appellate

Docket No: 5-06-0344 Rel

Case Date: 09/13/2007

Preview:NO. 5-06-0344
N O T IC E Decision filed 09/13/07. The text of this dec ision m ay b e changed or corrected prior to the P e t i ti o n for filing of a or the

IN THE APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS

Re hea ring

FIFTH DISTRICT ________________________________________________________________________ THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, ) Appeal from the ) Circuit Court of Plaintiff-Appellant, ) St. Clair County. ) v. ) No. 03-CF-84 ) CHAD MONTGOMERY, ) Honorable ) Milton S. Wharton, Defendant-Appellee. ) Judge, presiding. ________________________________________________________________________ JUSTICE WEXSTTEN delivered the opinion of the court: The State appeals from the circuit court's order granting the defendant's motion to suppress statements. For the reasons that follow, we affirm. BACKGROUND In 2003, the defendant, an 18-year-old resident of Arnold, Missouri, was charged with burglarizing a locksmith business located in Cahokia, Illinois. The defendant later moved to suppress inculpatory statements that he had made to officers from the Arnold police department and the Cahokia police department. In 2005, at a hearing on the defendant's motion to suppress, the following evidence was adduced. In January 2003, the defendant lived with his parents at their home in Arnold, Missouri. As a local firefighter, the defendant's father, Lloyd Montgomery, was acquainted with many of the local police. On the evening of January 21, 2003, acting on information implicating the defendant in a series of thefts and burglaries, Officer Gerald Abernathy of the Arnold police department contacted Lloyd and advised him that he wanted to search the defendant's room for stolen property. At approximately 9 p.m., Lloyd consented to the

disposition of the same.

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search, and numerous items of stolen property were subsequently found and seized. The defendant, who was present during the search, was then transported to the Arnold police department, where he gave a series of incriminating statements. The recovered stolen property ultimately led to the solving of more than 90 crimes, all of which occurred in Missouri with the exception of the Cahokia burglary. Officer Abernathy testified that the defendant was read his Miranda rights (Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 16 L. Ed. 2d 694, 86 S. Ct. 1602 (1966)) in Lloyd's presence while Lloyd was filling out a consent-to-search form. Abernathy indicated that Lieutenant Wieland of the Arnold police department was also present. Abernathy did not testify that the defendant waived or indicated that he understood his Miranda rights after they were read to him, and although available, Lieutenant Wieland was not called to testify. Abernathy stated that the defendant was cooperative during the search and agreed to go to the police station for questioning. Abernathy acknowledged that the defendant was not given a choice on where the questioning would occur. Abernathy stated that the defendant was placed in an interview room at the station while the recovered stolen property was being unloaded and that the room's door was left partially open. Had the door been shut, he explained, the defendant would not have been able to open it from inside the room. The subsequent interview occurred in the same room and was videotaped. Abernathy initially testified that the defendant read and signed a Miranda waiver form at the beginning of the interview but later acknowledged that he and Detective Robert Streckfuss had interviewed the defendant for several hours before giving him a Miranda waiver form to read and sign. Prior to reading and signing the waiver, the defendant confessed to numerous thefts and burglaries, "made a statement that he had broken into a locksmith business in Illinois," and described the location of the business. At around 2 a.m. on January 22, the defendant read and signed a Miranda waiver form and began writing a statement recounting what he had already

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admitted. The defendant completed the written statement at 3:20 a.m. and was formally arrested and booked shortly before 4 a.m. Breaks were taken during the course of the interview. Detective Robert Streckfuss of the Arnold police department testified that he was a detective on January 21, 2003, and that he transported the defendant from the defendant's house to the police station. The defendant was then placed in an interview room while he and Officer Abernathy unloaded the recovered stolen property. Streckfuss indicated that the interview room's door was shut while the property was being unloaded, but he stated that the defendant would have been able to open the door from inside the room. Streckfuss testified that when later questioned, the defendant was not initially given the Miranda warnings because they were conducting an "informal interview" and because he was under the impression that Abernathy had previously advised the defendant of his rights at the house. Streckfuss did not indicate that he was also under the impression that the defendant had acknowledged or waived his rights at the house, nor did he indicate that he was under the impression that the defendant had agreed to give a statement. Streckfuss stated that the defendant had been interviewed for two to three hours before he was given a Miranda waiver form. Streckfuss recalled that the defendant initially denied committing any crime, but Streckfuss did not recall telling the defendant that "the rules were going to change" if he persisted in his denials. The defendant signed the Miranda waiver form before writing his "formal statement." Streckfuss acknowledged that they "waited" to give the defendant a Miranda waiver form "until after he confessed to everything," including the Cahokia burglary. Streckfuss estimated that including the "several breaks" that were taken, the entire interview process lasted approximately 4

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