Summary
The Supreme Court of Illinois held that police had probable cause to arrest Marilyn Love after observing circumstances indicating a drug transaction and seeing that she was concealing an object in her mouth. The court concluded that ordering her to spit out the object was a permissible search incident to a lawful arrest, reversed the appellate court, and reinstated her conviction.
Topics
Practice areas
Questions Presented
- Whether the officers had reasonable suspicion to detain Love during a Terry stop.
- Whether the officer's order that Love spit out the object in her mouth constituted a search.
- Whether the officers had probable cause to arrest Love, thereby making the order and seizure permissible as a search incident to a lawful arrest.
Holdings
- The officers' observation of circumstances appearing to be a drug transaction supplied reasonable suspicion to detain Love and conduct a Terry stop.
- The officer's imperative order that Love spit out the object in her mouth constituted a search and was not voluntary consent.
- The officers had probable cause to arrest Love, and the order that she spit out the object was constitutionally permissible as a search incident to a lawful arrest.
Key quotations
“However, Officer Olson's statement that the defendant should "spit out what she had in her mouth" was an imperative, not an interrogatory.” (*16)
“Reasonable suspicion ripened into probable cause to arrest, and Officer Olson's order to the defendant was a search incident to a lawful arrest.” (*18)
Factual background
At approximately 1:50 a.m., Chicago police officers conducting narcotics surveillance saw a man give currency to a person on a bicycle, who then directed the man toward Love. The officers saw Love remove an object from her mouth and hand it to the man. When the officers approached, Love had difficulty answering a question because something was in her mouth, and an officer ordered her to spit it out; officers recovered a roll-like object bearing 16 small plastic bags that tested positive for cocaine.
Procedural history
During a bench trial in the Cook County circuit court, Love moved orally to suppress cocaine recovered after police ordered her to spit objects from her mouth. The circuit court denied suppression and convicted her of possession of a controlled substance with intent to deliver. The appellate court reversed, holding that the detention was valid under Terry but the compelled expulsion of the objects constituted an unlawful search. The Illinois Supreme Court granted the State's petition for leave to appeal, reversed the appellate court, and reinstated the conviction.