State Criminal Motion to Suppress - Illinois

[COURT CAPTION]

MOTION TO SUPPRESS EVIDENCE AND REQUEST FOR HEARING
(725 ILCS 5/114-12; 725 ILCS 5/114-11; U.S. CONST. AMEND. IV; ILL. CONST. 1970, ART. I §§ 6 & 10)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

I. Notice of Motion ............................................... 2
II. Preliminary Statement ......................................... 3
III. Statement of Relevant Facts .................................. 3
IV. Legal Standards ............................................... 5
V. Argument ....................................................... 6
A. The Warrantless Search Was Unconstitutional .............. 7
B. Any Warrant Obtained Was Facially / Factually Defective .. 8
C. No Applicable Exception or Good-Faith Reliance Exists .... 9
VI. Request for Evidentiary Hearing .............................. 11
VII. Prayer for Relief ........................................... 11
VIII. Verification ............................................... 12
IX. Certificate of Service ....................................... 13
X. Proposed Order ................................................ 14

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I. NOTICE OF MOTION
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To: [Name/Address/Email of State’s Attorney]
PLEASE TAKE NOTICE that on [Hearing Date], at [Time] a.m./p.m., or as soon thereafter as counsel may be heard, the undersigned will appear before the Honorable [Judge’s Name], or any judge sitting in his/her stead, in courtroom [Number] of the [County] County Courthouse, and present Defendant’s Motion to Suppress Evidence, a copy of which is hereby served upon you.

DATED: [Date]

Respectfully submitted,
[DEFENSE COUNSEL NAME]
Attorney for Defendant
[Law Firm] | [Address] | [Phone] | [Email] | ARDC No. [___]

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II. PRELIMINARY STATEMENT
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1. Pursuant to 725 ILCS 5/114-12 (Motion to Suppress Evidence Illegally Seized), 725 ILCS 5/114-11 (Motion to Suppress Confession), and the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, Defendant [DEFENDANT NAME] respectfully moves this Court for entry of an order suppressing all physical evidence, statements, observations, and derivative fruits obtained as a result of the unconstitutional search, seizure, and custodial interrogation described herein.

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III. STATEMENT OF RELEVANT FACTS
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2. On or about [Date], members of the [Law-Enforcement Agency] conducted [describe search/seizure: e.g., “a warrantless stop and search of Defendant’s vehicle”].
3. Officers [Officer Names/Badge Nos.] allegedly recovered [describe evidence: e.g., “approximately 20 grams of a substance purported to be cocaine”] from [location].
4. No warrant had been issued before the search, and Defendant did not consent to the search or seizure.
5. [Optional: If a warrant was obtained:] Alternatively, officers obtained Warrant No. [___] issued by Judge ☐ on [Date]. The supporting complaint/affidavit contained material misstatements and omissions, including but not limited to [list].
6. Defendant was taken into custody and interrogated without the benefit of Miranda warnings and without counsel present, resulting in the statements the State now seeks to admit. Suppression of these statements on voluntariness grounds is sought under 725 ILCS 5/114-11 (Motion to Suppress Confession), a statute separate from the physical-evidence suppression sought under 725 ILCS 5/114-12.
7. Defendant timely files this Motion before trial, as required by 725 ILCS 5/114-12(c) and 725 ILCS 5/114-11(g), because the opportunity to do so previously existed and Defendant was aware of the grounds for the Motion at the time of filing.

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IV. LEGAL STANDARDS
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8. Under 725 ILCS 5/114-12(b), the defendant bears the burden of proving that the search or seizure was unlawful. When the search was conducted without a warrant, the defendant must first establish that the search was warrantless; the burden then shifts to the State to justify the warrantless search by demonstrating that it fell within a recognized exception to the warrant requirement. See People v. Gipson, 203 Ill. 2d 298 (2003).
9. Warrantless searches are per se unreasonable unless they fall within a narrowly drawn exception. Katz v. United States, 389 U.S. 347 (1967).
10. If the search violated the Fourth Amendment, the court must separately decide whether the evidence is subject to exclusion. Section 114-12(b) addresses a statutory good-faith exception for specified warrant reliance and certain arrests under a later-invalidated law. The Illinois Supreme Court has also applied a good-faith exception for objectively reasonable reliance on binding appellate precedent. People v. LeFlore, 2015 IL 116799, ¶¶ 27, 66. The statutory exception is not the only possible ground for admitting evidence after a violation.
11. The Illinois Constitution's search-and-seizure clause is interpreted in limited lockstep with the federal clause. People v. LeFlore, 2015 IL 116799, ¶ 16. People v. Krueger, 175 Ill. 2d 60 (1996), rejected good-faith reliance on a statute later declared unconstitutional; LeFlore distinguished that holding when it applied the precedent-reliance exception. 2015 IL 116799, ¶¶ 63-66.

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V. ARGUMENT
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A. The Warrantless Search Was Unconstitutional

12. Officers lacked probable cause or reasonable articulable suspicion to justify the stop and ensuing search.
13. [Describe facts negating probable cause, e.g., “Defendant’s mere presence in a high-crime area coupled with nervous behavior does not supply probable cause.”]
14. No exigent circumstance, search-incident-to-arrest rationale, or other delineated exception applies.

B. Any Warrant Obtained Was Facially or Factually Defective

15. Even if the State relies on Warrant No. ☐, suppression remains warranted because:
    a. The affidavit omitted material exculpatory facts;
    b. Considering the informant's basis of knowledge, veracity, corroboration, and all other circumstances together, the affidavit did not establish a fair probability that evidence would be found at [PLACE];
    c. The items to be seized were not described with particularity as required by the Fourth Amendment and Ill. Const. art. I, § 6.

16. The resulting search was therefore unauthorized and unconstitutional.

C. No Exclusionary-Rule Exception Applies

17. Leon’s good-faith exception is inapplicable where the warrant is “so lacking in indicia of probable cause as to render official belief in its existence entirely unreasonable” or where officers act in objectively unreasonable reliance.
18. Here, Officer [Name] supplied demonstrably false statements (Ex. B) and failed to verify key details, defeating good-faith.
19. No good-faith or other applicable exception to exclusion saves the challenged evidence on these facts; suppression is therefore warranted.

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VI. REQUEST FOR EVIDENTIARY HEARING
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20. Pursuant to 725 ILCS 5/114-12(b), Defendant requests a full evidentiary hearing at which the judge shall receive evidence on any issue of fact necessary to determine the Motion; upon Defendant's prima facie showing that the search or seizure was unlawful, the burden shifts to the State to justify it, consistent with People v. Gipson, 203 Ill. 2d 298 (2003). Any order granting or denying this Motion shall state the findings of fact and conclusions of law on which it is based, as required by 725 ILCS 5/114-12(e).

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VII. PRAYER FOR RELIEF
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WHEREFORE, Defendant respectfully prays that this Court:
a. Grant this Motion in its entirety;
b. Suppress all physical evidence, testimony, and statements obtained as a result of the unconstitutional search, seizure, and interrogation;
c. Bar any derivative fruits under the “fruit-of-the-poisonous-tree” doctrine;
d. Order any such further relief as this Court deems just and appropriate.

DATED: [Date]

Respectfully submitted,
______________________________
[DEFENSE COUNSEL NAME], Esq.
Attorney for [DEFENDANT NAME]
[Law Firm / Address / Phone / Email / ARDC No.]

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VIII. VERIFICATION
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I, [DEFENSE COUNSEL NAME], being first duly sworn on oath, state that I have read the foregoing Motion to Suppress Evidence, that I have discussed the factual content with my client, and that to the best of my knowledge, information, and belief, the facts alleged therein are true and correct.

_______________________________
[DEFENSE COUNSEL NAME]

Subscribed and sworn before me on this ___ day of __________, 20__.

_______________________________
Notary Public

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IX. CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE
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The undersigned certifies that on [Date], he/she served a true and correct copy of the foregoing Motion to Suppress Evidence upon the [County] County State’s Attorney by [method: e-filing / hand delivery / email], in accordance with Illinois Supreme Court Rules 11 and 12.

_____________________________
[DEFENSE COUNSEL NAME]

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X. PROPOSED ORDER
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ORDER

THIS MATTER coming before the Court on Defendant’s Motion to Suppress Evidence, the Court being fully advised in the premises, IT IS HEREBY ORDERED:

☐ The Motion is GRANTED. All evidence obtained on [Date] by [Law-Enforcement Agency] and all derivative fruits are hereby SUPPRESSED and excluded from use in the above-captioned matter.

☐ The Motion is DENIED for the reasons stated on the record.

☐ The Court sets an evidentiary hearing on __________, 20__, at ______ a.m./p.m.

ENTERED: __________, 20__

_______________________________________
Judge, Circuit Court of [County] County, Illinois