In his assigned case in the Criminal Appeals
Clinic in the fall of 2020, Granger Gridley argued on behalf of our client that
the trial court erred in denying a pre-trial motion to quash arrest and
suppress evidence because the police did not have probable cause to arrest
based on an officer’s observation of a single exchange of money for an unknown
object. On December 6, 2021, the appellate court issued an opinion agreeing
with our position in People v. Freeman, 2021 IL App (1st)
200053. The court found that the officer’s observation gave him grounds for an
investigatory stop, but not the warrantless search he conducted. Because the
State could not prove the charges without the improperly seized evidence, the
court reversed the conviction outright.