People v. Lambert
People v. Lambert
Opinion
¶ 1 In November 2014, the defendant, James R. Lambert, was involved in an automobile collision on the Brookport Bridge, which spans the Ohio River between Massac County, Illinois, and McCracken County, Kentucky. The defendant was initially charged in McCracken County with offenses stemming from the incident, but the charges were later dismissed on the grounds that the accident had actually occurred in Illinois. After the defendant was subsequently charged with similar offenses in Massac County, he filed a motion to suppress evidence that had been obtained by the McCracken County sheriff's department. Following a hearing, the circuit court entered an order partially granting the defendant's motion to suppress. The State appeals, and for the reasons that follow, we reverse that portion of the circuit court's judgment.
¶ 2 FACTS
¶ 3 In
Illinois v. Kentucky
,
¶ 4 In February 2016, a Massac County grand jury indicted the defendant on two counts of aggravated driving under the influence of alcohol ( 625 ILCS 5/11-501(d)(1)(A), (C) (West 2014)), one count of obstructing justice ( 720 ILCS 5/31-4(a)(1) (West 2014)), one count of unlawful possession of cannabis ( 720 ILCS 550/4(b) (West 2014)), and one count of unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia ( 720 ILCS 600/3.5(a) (West 2014)). In March 2017, the defendant filed his motion to suppress. In December 2017, the cause proceeded to a hearing on the motion, where the following evidence was adduced.
¶ 5 On the afternoon of November 11, 2014, Deputy Jerry Jones and Sergeant David Shepherd of the McCracken County sheriff's department were dispatched to the Brookport Bridge to respond to a reported head-on collision involving a pickup truck and a car. Officers Nick Myrick and Chris Hines of the Brookport, Illinois, police department also responded to the reported collision and assisted the Kentucky officers. Jones and Shepherd were the only witnesses called at the suppression hearing, but the parties stipulated that Myrick would have testified that he and Hines were the first officers to arrive at the scene of the accident.
¶ 6 It was undisputed that the Brookport Bridge is approximately a mile long and that the defendant's accident occurred on the Illinois side of the bridge along a curve "over dry land in Illinois." It was also noted that the curve where the accident occurred was a "bad location" that had been the scene of numerous prior collisions. The record indicates that the defendant is a resident of Kentucky and has prior convictions for driving under the influence of alcohol.
¶ 7 Jones testified that when he arrived at the scene of the accident, he saw the defendant and his female passenger, Katrina Warren, standing by the truck that had been involved in the crash. Jones then observed the defendant throw something off the bridge. Jones asked Myrick and Hines to look under the bridge, and on the dry land below, they discovered a small bag of marijuana, a pipe with marijuana residue, and a pack of rolling papers. Jones took possession of the items and later booked them into evidence.
¶ 8 Jones testified that the car that had collided with the truck sustained "quite a bit of damage" and that its female occupant had to be removed from the vehicle so that she could be transported by ambulance to a local hospital. The record indicates that the ambulance had been dispatched from Kentucky. Jones indicated that Warren had sustained minor injuries and was also taken to a hospital for medical treatment. After the scene of the accident was "cleared," Jones spoke with Warren at the hospital, and she advised him that the defendant had been driving the truck at the time of the collision. Jones testified that Warren also had an observable "seat belt burn" that was consistent with a passenger injury.
¶ 9 Shepherd testified that when he had spoken with the defendant on the bridge, the defendant exhibited slurred speech and was unsteady on his feet. There was also an odor of alcoholic beverage about the defendant's person, and his eyes were red and glassy. Apparently, the defendant claimed that he had not been driving. Shepherd arrested the defendant for possessing the contraband recovered from under the bridge and transported him to the McCracken County jail. Before leaving Illinois, Shepherd read the defendant his
Miranda
rights (
Miranda v. Arizona
,
¶ 10 At the McCracken County jail, after Shepherd was advised that Warren had identified the defendant as the driver of the truck, Shepherd cited him for driving under the influence of alcohol and administered a horizontal gaze nystagmus test. Shepherd testified that the defendant had refused to submit to further field sobriety tests and had also refused to submit to chemical testing of his blood, breath, or urine.
¶ 11 It was undisputed that all of the law enforcement officers who responded to the collision on the Brookport Bridge believed that the accident had occurred within Kentucky's jurisdiction. Jones testified that prior to "this case," there had been "an agreement with Illinois to where Kentucky would police every bit of the bridge[,] and Illinois would conduct maintenance on every bit of the bridge." Jones indicated that the agreement as to the policing of the entire bridge had been abandoned after the Kentucky charges against the defendant had been dismissed. Jones acknowledged that he had "never seen a written agreement" and had only been advised of the agreement's existence. The agreement had nevertheless provided "the assumptions"
that the officers had previously "operated upon." Jones testified that the Kentucky charges against the defendant had been dismissed on jurisdictional grounds based on "the case law" regarding "the low[-]water mark" of the Ohio River. Jones indicated that there were now signs on the bridge "delineating where that mark is."
¶ 12 Shepherd testified that he had worked for the McCracken County sheriff's department for 21 years and that "up until this case," the curve in the bridge had historically been considered Kentucky's jurisdiction. Shepherd explained that he had personally "worked numerous collisions in that curve," but the McCracken County sheriff's department did not work them anymore.
¶ 13 Following the hearing on the defendant's motion to suppress, the parties submitted memorandums in support of their respective positions regarding the evidence that had been obtained by the Kentucky officers. Referencing sections 107-3 and 107-4 of Code of Criminal Procedure of 1963 ( 725 ILCS 5/107-3, 107-4 (West 2014)), the defendant emphasized that the present case did not involve a "fresh pursuit" situation and that the Kentucky officers had exercised authority that "went well beyond the authority that a private citizen would have in making a citizen[']s arrest." The defendant argued that "[a]ll of the actions of the Kentucky officers were improper, if not illegal."
¶ 14 In response, the State maintained, among other things, that even assuming that the defendant's extraterritorial arrest had resulted in a violation of his constitutional rights, suppression of the evidence obtained by the Kentucky officers was not warranted under the "good faith" principles generally recognized in
People v. LeFlore
,
¶ 15 In March 2018, the circuit court entered a written order finding that all of the officers who had responded to the defendant's accident had "believed that the Kentucky officers had jurisdiction of any incident that occurred on the Brookport Bridge," which "was a mistake of fact." The court found that because of that mistake of fact, the Kentucky officers had taken charge of the accident scene. The court determined that the Kentucky officers' authority to make an arrest in Illinois was the limited authority afforded a private citizen pursuant to section 107-3. See
People v. Lahr
,
¶ 16 DISCUSSION
¶ 17 At the outset, we note that the State does not challenge the circuit court's
finding that the Kentucky officers exceeded the statutory authority that they had under the circumstances. The State also concedes for the sake of its argument on appeal that the defendant's extraterritorial arrest violated the fourth amendment and that the exclusionary rule applies. But see
People v. Fitzpatrick
,
¶ 18 On appeal from a circuit court's granting of a motion to suppress evidence, the court's findings of fact are given great deference and will only be reversed if they are against the manifest weight of the evidence.
People v. Bonilla
,
¶ 19 "The fourth amendment of the United States Constitution, applicable to the states through the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment, guarantees to all citizens the right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures."
In re Lakisha M.
,
¶ 20 Article I, section 6, of the Illinois Constitution of 1970 ( Ill. Const. 1970, art. I, § 6 ) contains a search-and-seizure clause similar to the fourth amendment's, which is interpreted "in 'limited lockstep' with its federal counterpart."
LeFlore
,
¶ 21 To deter unlawful police conduct and thereby effectuate the fourth amendment's guarantee against unreasonable searches and seizures, the United States Supreme Court created the exclusionary rule.
Arizona v. Evans
,
Notably, "the abuses that gave rise to the exclusionary rule featured intentional conduct that was patently unconstitutional."
Herring v. United States
,
¶ 22 "The fruit-of-the-poisonous-tree doctrine is an outgrowth of the exclusionary rule providing that 'the fourth amendment violation is deemed the "poisonous tree," and any evidence obtained by exploiting that violation is subject to suppression as the "fruit" of that poisonous tree.' "
People v. Burns
,
¶ 23 Importantly, because the suppression of evidence will often work to suppress the truth and effectively pardon the commission of a criminal offense, application of the exclusionary rule requires that the deterrent benefit of suppressing the evidence outweigh the substantial social costs. See
Davis v. United States
,
¶ 24 The good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule is a judicially created rule providing that evidence obtained in violation of a defendant's fourth amendment rights will not be suppressed when the police acted with an objectively reasonable good-faith belief that their conduct was lawful or when their conduct involved only simple, isolated negligence.
Bonilla
,
¶ 25 The good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule recognizes that the purpose of the exclusionary rule is not served where the evidence sought to be suppressed was obtained as a result of "nonculpable, innocent police conduct."
Id. at 240,
¶ 26 The good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule also recognizes that police officers should not be penalized for errors made by other officials upon whom they must rely to execute their duties and responsibilities. See
Davis
,
¶ 27 In
People v. Carrera
,
¶ 28 Turning to the merits of the State's claim, as previously indicated, although Myrick and Hines were the first officers to arrive at the scene of the defendant's accident, they did not assume control of the situation. Instead, they assisted Jones and Shepherd, who did assume control. Jones testified that prior to "this case," there had been an agreement between Illinois and Kentucky providing that "Kentucky would police every bit of the bridge[,] and Illinois would conduct maintenance on every bit of the bridge." Shepherd testified that he had worked for the McCracken County sheriff's department for 21 years and that "up until this case," the curve in the bridge where the defendant's accident occurred had historically been considered Kentucky's jurisdiction. Shepherd further indicated that the McCracken County sheriff's department had been dispatched to the Illinois side of the bridge to work "numerous collisions in that curve" while the agreement was in effect. Jones explained that after the McCracken County charges against the defendant had been dismissed, signs had been placed on the bridge delineating the boundary between Kentucky and Illinois, and the agreement had been terminated.
¶ 29 Although it is not clear whether the agreement was formal or informal, it appears that prior to this case, the agreement had amicably governed the jurisdiction of the Brookport Bridge for at least 21 years without ever being questioned or challenged. Because the agreement represented the relevant legal landscape that existed at the time, all of the officers who responded to the defendant's accident believed that Kentucky had jurisdiction over any incident that occurred on the bridge. Mistaken or not, that belief was objectively reasonable, because prior to this case, Kentucky had been exercising such jurisdiction. Furthermore, while the agreement was in effect, there were no signs on the bridge marking the territorial boundary line between Kentucky and Illinois.
¶ 30 Under the circumstances, all of the officers who responded to the defendant's accident acted with an objectively reasonable good-faith belief that their conduct was lawful, and by merely responding to the accident and working it as they had always worked accidents on the bridge, none would have suspected otherwise. They also acted as well-trained officers would be expected to act; the officers from Kentucky who were dispatched to handle the accident responded and took charge, and the Brookport officers who responded to assist had generously assisted. The officers did not deliberately violate the defendant's rights and only later learned that he had been subject to an extraterritorial arrest. A reasonably well-trained officer would not have believed that his or her conduct was improper under the circumstances.
¶ 31 On appeal, the defendant intimates that because Illinois v. Kentucky was decided nearly 30 years ago, a reasonably well-trained officer should have known that because Kentucky's northern border did not extend past the Ohio River's low-water mark as it was in 1792, the curve in the Brookport Bridge was Illinois territory. The defendant relatedly argues that the present case demonstrates recurring negligence on the part of the police. We disagree. Not only do the defendant's claims suggest that the responding officers had a duty to determine whether Illinois v. Kentucky affected the validity of the longstanding agreement regarding the policing of the bridge, it presumes that Illinois v. Kentucky worked to immediately dissolve the agreement.
¶ 32 Although it is axiomatic that a reasonably well-trained officer would be expected to know the boundaries of the areas that he or she is ordered to police, the officer does not establish those boundaries and does not have the authority
to do so. Police officers are "entitled to rely on traditional sources for the factual information on which they decide and act" (
Scheuer v. Rhodes
,
¶ 33 Here, it was not the responding officers' responsibility to determine whether
Illinois v. Kentucky
might have changed the legal landscape that had been governed by agreement, nor was it their responsibility to locate and mark the Illinois-Kentucky boundary line on the Brookport Bridge. See 605 ILCS 5/2-202, 4-201.12 (West 2014); 625 ILCS 5/11-301, 11-303 (West 2014);
¶ 34 Ultimately, despite the fact that the Court's decree in
Illinois v. Kentucky
was entered in 1995, it is not surprising that the agreement was not dissolved and that the signs delineating the boundary between Illinois and Kentucky were not posted until after the defendant was successful in having the McCracken County charges against him dismissed in the present case. While it may take years or even decades to
emerge, such a challenge will certainly give notice of the need for such changes. See,
e.g.
,
Benham v. State
,
¶ 35 Lastly, because there are now signs on the Brookport Bridge marking the boundary line between Illinois and Kentucky and because the McCracken County sheriff's department no longer polices the Illinois side of the bridge, it is unlikely that an extraterritorial arrest like the defendant's will reoccur. As previously noted, "[r]eal deterrent value" is a " 'necessary condition for exclusion' " (
Davis
,
¶ 36 As noted, when partially granting the defendant's motion to suppress, the circuit court found that all of the officers who had responded to the scene of the accident had mistakenly believed that Kentucky had jurisdiction over any incident that occurred on the Brookport Bridge. The court did not consider, however, whether the responding officers had acted with an objectively reasonable good-faith belief that their conduct was lawful, whether the officers' mistake of fact was reasonable, whether a reasonably well-trained officer would have known that his conduct was illegal in light of all of the circumstances, or whether excluding the evidence at issue had any deterrent value. Because the exclusion of evidence is a court's "last resort" (
Burns
,
¶ 37 Affirmed in part and reversed in part; cause remanded.
Justices Welch and Moore concurred in the judgment and opinion.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.