People v. Taylor

              No. 2--06--0798 Filed: 2-6-09
IN THE
APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS
SECOND DISTRICT
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ) Appeal from the Circuit Court
ILLINOIS, ) of Kane County.
)
Plaintiff-Appellee, ))
v. ) No. 05--CF--2090
))
Honorable
JESSIE J. TAYLOR, ) Patricia Piper Golden and
) Timothy Q. Sheldon,
Defendant-Appellant. ) Judges, Presiding.
JUSTICE BURKE delivered the opinion of the court:
A police officer stopped defendant, Jessie J. Taylor, for violating two traffic offenses:
operating his bicycle without a headlamp and riding it on the sidewalk. Defendant could not post a
$75 bond and did not have a valid driver's license, and the officer took him into custody at the scene.
After defendant was placed in custody, the officer searched defendant incident to the arrest and found
a crack pipe. A later search at the police station revealed a bag of cocaine in defendant's sock.
Defendant filed a motion to quash his arrest and suppress evidence, which was denied. Following a
jury trial, defendant was convicted of unlawful of possession of less than 15 grams of cocaine (720
ILCS 570/402(c) (West 2004)) and unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia (720 ILCS 600/3.5(a)
(West 2004)). Defendant was sentenced to a 2-year prison term for the unlawful possession
conviction and a 180-day jail term for the drug paraphernalia conviction. On appeal, defendant
argues that the trial court erred in denying his motion to quash his arrest and suppress evidence. He