Honors Scholar Class Project:
People of the State of Illinois v. Roy I. Caballes
The honors scholars class of 2005 assisted Attorney Ralph
E. Meczyk in the writing and filing of a brief in opposition to a petition
for writ of certiorari to the United States Supreme Court. The students
filed the petition on March 1st, 2004, on behalf of respondent Roy I.
Caballes. The question at issue in the petition is whether the Fourth
Amendment requires reasonable, articulable suspicion in order to justify
using a drug-detection dog to sniff a vehicle during a legitimate traffic
stop. Mr. Caballes was arrested and charged with one count of cannabis
trafficking after a drug-detection dog alerted troopers to drugs in the
trunk of his car. Mr. Caballes was pulled over for speeding. The trooper
checked respondent's record with the police dispatcher, questioned respondent,
discussed an unrelated matter with another officer and then proceeded
to write the speeding ticket. In the meantime, another trooper had been
dispatched to the scene with a drug-detection dog which subsequently found
drugs in the respondent's car.
Respondent moved to suppress the drug evidence at trial.
The trial court denied the motion and found Caballes guilty. Caballes
appealed the motion to suppress the evidence and the Illinois Appellate
Court affirmed. The Illinois Supreme Court reversed the decision, holding
that the behavior of the state troopers unreasonably expanded the scope
of the traffic stop under the standards articulated in Terry v. Ohio,
392 U.S. 1 (1968).
The petition for writ of certiorari is currently on the
Supreme Court's docket. More information on the status of the case can
be found at http://origin.www.supremecourtus.gov/qp/03-00923qp.pdf
Procedural History:
http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=us&vol=000&invol=03-923
In the News:
Gary Mays, "Search-and-seizure ruling draws mixed reaction," Journal Standard, March 4, 2004.
Steven R. Merican, DuPage County Bar Association,
January 2004. http://www.dcba.org/legal/case_law0104.htm
Newsbrief, "Traffic Stop Not a License for Criminal
Investigation, Illinois Supreme Court Says," Stop the Drug War
Org. http://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/313/trafficstop.shtml
Abdon M. Pallasch, "Illinois Supreme Court Curbs Police
Powers in Car Searches," Chicago Sun-Times. November 21,
2003.
http://www.hemp.net/news/index.phtml?article=1069861961
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