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IL: Passenger not being arrested twice told he could leave stuck around and incriminated himself

By John Wesley Hall, Jr.

Defendant was initially seized when the vehicle in which he was riding was stopped, and he was patted down. Nothing was found. When it became apparent the vehicle would be impounded, the officer twice told defendant he could go and he was on his own. The defendant hung around and made incriminating statements which were not the product of a seizure. People v. Robinson, 2009 Ill. App. LEXIS 252 (April 30, 2009)*: Here, even if defendant did not have immediate access to a ride to leave the scene, a reasonable person in the same circumstances still would have felt free to decline the officers' requests. In addition to being told he could leave more than once, defendant chose not to respond to some of the officers' statements/questions, and he further advised Walker to revoke her consent to search the car, demonstrating that defendant himself felt free to decline the officers' requests...continue to full post

Full post as published by Fourth Amendment on May 09, 2009 (boomark / email).