People v. One 2000 Ford F-350 Pickup Truck
Case Date: 04/14/2003
Court: 2nd District Appellate
Docket No: 2-01-0602 Rel
|
No. 2--01--0602
JUSTICE GILLERAN JOHNSON delivered the opinion of the court: The State sought the forfeiture of a 2000 Ford F-350 pickuptruck, $19,000, and $6,294 after the truck's driver, Troy Aumann(hereafter the claimant), was arrested and charged with possessionof marijuana. The claimant contested the forfeiture. After ahearing, the court ordered the truck and the $19,000 forfeited. The claimant appeals, contending that (1) the truck should not havebeen forfeited because it did not facilitate his possession of themarijuana; and (2) the $19,000 should not have been forfeitedbecause he proved that the $19,000 was for a legitimate purpose andwas not drug proceeds. I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND The following evidence was adduced at trial. On August 2,2000, Illinois State Police Sergeant John Clark saw a white pickuptruck carrying two "four-wheelers" and pulling a trailer, traveling72 miles per hour on Interstate 39. Clark relayed the informationto Trooper Kevin Johnson, who stopped the truck. Johnson told the driver, whom he identified as the claimant,that he would issue him a speeding ticket and asked the claimant toaccompany him to his squad car. Upon entering the car, Johnsondetected a strong odor of cannabis coming from the claimant. Johnson asked the claimant whether he had any cannabis in thevehicle, to which the latter replied, "I don't do that shit." As he completed the citation, Johnson learned that theclaimant had an active warrant for his arrest. The claimant wasaccordingly moved to the backseat of the squad car. Trooper J.E.Clark arrived at the scene and Johnson asked him to confirm hisimpression about the smell of marijuana. J.E. Clark went to speakto the other occupants of the truck and perform a search incidentto arrest. The claimant then admitted that there was a "little bitof cannabis" in the console of his truck. J.E. Clark found a smallamount of marijuana where the claimant had said it would be. A few minutes later, Sergeant John Clark arrived. While hestayed with the claimant, Johnson and J.E. Clark resumed searchingthe truck. Johnson found a glass "one-hitter" pipe and "specks"that in his experience appeared to be marijuana. As Johnsonfinished his search, Clark said that he had found a plastic bagwith a large amount of what appeared to be marijuana and a largeamount of cash. At some point, Johnson also searched a toolbox inthe bed of the truck where he found a duffel bag, underneath whichwas another small amount of marijuana. Johnson returned to the squad car, where the claimantvolunteered that the money and the marijuana were his. He saidthat the money was from a motorcycle that he had recently sold. The claimant also told Johnson that had Johnson "not been going sofast" in searching the duffel bag, he would have found moremarijuana inside. Johnson re-searched the duffel bag and foundfour plastic bags, each containing suspected marijuana and weighinga combined 36 grams. Johnson and Special Agent Mark Thatcher field-tested some ofthe material found in the duffel bag. It tested positive for thepresence of cannabis. Johnson collected $4,600 that was inside theclaimant's wallet and another $1,694 from his pants pocket. Theclaimant told Johnson that another $19,000 was in the trailer. Illinois State Police Inspector Keane Hudson testified that hetransported the claimant's truck to district headquarters. Hecollected suspected marijuana totaling about three grams fromvarious parts of the truck. Those samples were sent to the statecrime lab where they tested positive for cannabis. Thatcher testified that he and Johnson interviewed theclaimant at the Ogle County jail. The claimant told him that hehad sold a 1997 Harley Davidson motorcycle to his uncle, CharlesWilson, for $27,000. The claimant said that he had just receivedthe money that evening. He then purchased 7 |
||||