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People v. Escalante

Case Date: 01/19/2000
Court: 2nd District Appellate
Docket No: 2-98-0592

People v. Escalante, No. 2-98-0592

2nd District, 19 January 2000

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS,

Plaintiff-Appellant,

v.

ROBERTO ESCALANTE,

Defendant-Appellee.

 Appeal from the Circuit Court of Winnebago County.

No. 97--CF--138

Honorable Michael R. Morrison, Judge, Presiding.

JUSTICE McLAREN delivered the opinion of the court:

The State appeals from the trial court's order granting the motion to suppress statements of defendant, Roberto Escalante. We affirm.

Defendant was charged with unlawful use of weapons (720 ILCS 5/24--1(a)(4) (West 1996)). He subsequently filed a motion to suppress the statements he made to Rockford police detective Theotis Glover on January 21, 1997. The original motion contained six grounds upon which defendant sought to suppress his statements; however, defendant withdrew five of the grounds before the hearing, leaving only the allegation that his statement was elicited from him as "the direct result of mental coercion, promises, or threats, and was, therefore, involuntary."

At the hearing, the State called Detective Glover, who testified that he interviewed defendant in the Public Safety Building on January 21, 1997. No one other than defendant and Glover was present during the interview, which lasted approximately 2