People v. Montgomery

              1
NOTICE
Decision filed 09/13/07. The text of
this dec ision may be changed or
corrected prior to the filing of a
Petition for Rehea ring or the
disposition of the same.
NO. 5-06-0344
IN THE
APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS
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