People v. Montgomery ( 2007 )


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  •                                                            NO. 5-06-0344
    N O T IC E
    Decision filed 09/13/07. The text of
    IN THE
    this dec ision m ay b e changed or
    corrected prior to the              filing of a
    APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS
    P e t i ti o n   for     Re hea ring   or   the
    disposition of the same.
    FIFTH DISTRICT
    ________________________________________________________________________
    THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, ) Appeal from the
    ) Circuit Court of
    Plaintiff-Appellant,                ) St. Clair County.
    )
    v.                                     ) No. 03-CF-84
    )
    CHAD MONTGOMERY,                       ) Honorable
    ) Milton S. Wharton,
    Defendant-Appellee.                 ) Judge, presiding.
    ________________________________________________________________________
    JUSTICE WEXSTTEN delivered the opinion of the court:
    The State appeals from the circuit court's order granting the defendant's motion to
    suppress statements. For the reasons that follow, we affirm.
    BACKGROUND
    In 2003, the defendant, an 18-year-old resident of Arnold, Missouri, was charged with
    burglarizing a locksmith business located in Cahokia, Illinois. The defendant later moved
    to suppress inculpatory statements that he had made to officers from the Arnold police
    department and the Cahokia police department. In 2005, at a hearing on the defendant's
    motion to suppress, the following evidence was adduced.
    In January 2003, the defendant lived with his parents at their home in Arnold,
    Missouri. As a local firefighter, the defendant's father, Lloyd Montgomery, was acquainted
    with many of the local police. On the evening of January 21, 2003, acting on information
    implicating the defendant in a series of thefts and burglaries, Officer Gerald Abernathy of
    the Arnold police department contacted Lloyd and advised him that he wanted to search the
    defendant's room for stolen property. At approximately 9 p.m., Lloyd consented to the
    1
    search, and numerous items of stolen property were subsequently found and seized. The
    defendant, who was present during the search, was then transported to the Arnold police
    department, where he gave a series of incriminating statements. The recovered stolen
    property ultimately led to the solving of more than 90 crimes, all of which occurred in
    Missouri with the exception of the Cahokia burglary.
    Officer Abernathy testified that the defendant was read his Miranda rights (Miranda
    v. Arizona, 
    384 U.S. 436
    , 
    16 L. Ed. 2d 694
    , 
    86 S. Ct. 1602
    (1966)) in Lloyd's presence while
    Lloyd was filling out a consent-to-search form. Abernathy indicated that Lieutenant Wieland
    of the Arnold police department was also present. Abernathy did not testify that the
    defendant waived or indicated that he understood his Miranda rights after they were read to
    him, and although available, Lieutenant Wieland was not called to testify. Abernathy stated
    that the defendant was cooperative during the search and agreed to go to the police station
    for questioning. Abernathy acknowledged that the defendant was not given a choice on
    where the questioning would occur. Abernathy stated that the defendant was placed in an
    interview room at the station while the recovered stolen property was being unloaded and that
    the room's door was left partially open. Had the door been shut, he explained, the defendant
    would not have been able to open it from inside the room. The subsequent interview
    occurred in the same room and was videotaped. Abernathy initially testified that the
    defendant read and signed a Miranda waiver form at the beginning of the interview but later
    acknowledged that he and Detective Robert Streckfuss had interviewed the defendant for
    several hours before giving him a Miranda waiver form to read and sign. Prior to reading
    and signing the waiver, the defendant confessed to numerous thefts and burglaries, "made
    a statement that he had broken into a locksmith business in Illinois," and described the
    location of the business. At around 2 a.m. on January 22, the defendant read and signed a
    Miranda waiver form and began writing a statement recounting what he had already
    2
    admitted. The defendant completed the written statement at 3:20 a.m. and was formally
    arrested and booked shortly before 4 a.m. Breaks were taken during the course of the
    interview.
    Detective Robert Streckfuss of the Arnold police department testified that he was a
    detective on January 21, 2003, and that he transported the defendant from the defendant's
    house to the police station. The defendant was then placed in an interview room while he
    and Officer Abernathy unloaded the recovered stolen property. Streckfuss indicated that the
    interview room's door was shut while the property was being unloaded, but he stated that the
    defendant would have been able to open the door from inside the room. Streckfuss testified
    that when later questioned, the defendant was not initially given the Miranda warnings
    because they were conducting an "informal interview" and because he was under the
    impression that Abernathy had previously advised the defendant of his rights at the house.
    Streckfuss did not indicate that he was also under the impression that the defendant had
    acknowledged or waived his rights at the house, nor did he indicate that he was under the
    impression that the defendant had agreed to give a statement. Streckfuss stated that the
    defendant had been interviewed for two to three hours before he was given a Miranda waiver
    form. Streckfuss recalled that the defendant initially denied committing any crime, but
    Streckfuss did not recall telling the defendant that "the rules were going to change" if he
    persisted in his denials. The defendant signed the Miranda waiver form before writing his
    "formal statement." Streckfuss acknowledged that they "waited" to give the defendant a
    Miranda waiver form "until after he confessed to everything," including the Cahokia
    burglary. Streckfuss estimated that including the "several breaks" that were taken, the entire
    interview process lasted approximately 4½ hours. Following the defendant's arrest at
    approximately 4 a.m., the defendant was placed in a jail cell, and Streckfuss contacted the
    Cahokia police department. A dispatcher with the Cahokia police department advised
    3
    Streckfuss that someone would get back to him. Streckfuss acknowledged that he advised
    the defendant to cooperate with the Cahokia police.
    Detective David Landmann of the Cahokia police department testified that he
    contacted Detective Streckfuss shortly after 8 a.m. on January 22. Streckfuss explained that
    the defendant was in custody and had confessed to burglarizing a locksmith business in
    Cahokia. Landmann was familiar with the crime and proceeded to the Arnold police
    department. Shortly before 11 a.m., Landmann read the defendant his Miranda rights in the
    interview room and gave him a Miranda waiver form. The defendant signed the form before
    providing Landmann with a written statement regarding the Cahokia burglary. Officer
    Abernathy was present while Landmann interviewed the defendant.                  Landmann
    acknowledged that prior to commencing an interview with a suspect "in custody," he always
    administers the Miranda warnings and obtains the suspect's signature on a Miranda waiver
    form.
    Lloyd Montgomery testified that when he signed the consent-to-search form, Officer
    Abernathy, Lieutenant Wieland, and the defendant were present but that Abernathy did not
    advise the defendant of his Miranda rights. After the search was complete, the officers told
    the defendant that he "had to go down to the station to answer questions." Lloyd asked if he
    could accompany the defendant but was told that he could not and would have to come down
    to the station the following morning.
    The defendant testified that before January 21, 2003, he had never had any contact
    with the police and had never "been in trouble." The defendant stated that following the
    search of his house, he was told that he had to go to the Arnold police department to answer
    questions and was given no choice in the matter. The defendant stated that he was placed in
    an interview room, the door was closed, and he was unable to open the door when he
    attempted to do so. The defendant stated that his attempt to open the door could be seen on
    4
    the videotape of the initial interview. Around 11 p.m., Abernathy and Streckfuss entered the
    room and began questioning him. He was not advised of his Miranda rights at the time and
    was not familiar with the rights. The defendant testified that when he denied committing the
    crimes in question, the officers became angry and told him that they were "going to have to
    change the rules" if he was not going to be honest with them. The defendant eventually
    agreed to tell them everything, and his confession included admitting his involvement in the
    Cahokia burglary. Around 2 a.m., the defendant read and signed a Miranda waiver form, but
    prior thereto, he had neither been advised of nor waived his Miranda rights. The defendant
    further stated, "[B]y then[,] I had told them everything that I had done." Streckfuss later told
    the defendant that he should tell the Cahokia police the truth. At 4 a.m. the defendant went
    to sleep, but he was awakened three hours later so that he could be interviewed by
    investigators from St. Louis County. His interview with the St. Louis County investigators
    lasted several hours. He was then interviewed by the Cahokia police.
    At the hearing, defense counsel contended that the defendant's statements should be
    suppressed because the Arnold police delayed administering the Miranda warnings until after
    the defendant had confessed. At the same time, defense counsel twice stated that the
    defendant was not alleging any wrongdoing on the part of the Cahokia police. When
    granting the defendant's motion to suppress the statements that he had made to both the
    Arnold police and the Cahokia police, the circuit court concluded that the statements had
    been obtained in violation of Miranda v. Arizona, 
    384 U.S. 436
    , 
    16 L. Ed. 2d 694
    , 
    86 S. Ct. 1602
    (1966). Referring to Officer Abernathy's inability to "recall clearly," Lieutenant
    Wieland's failure to testify, and Lloyd's unimpeached testimony, the court indicated that it
    was resolving the dispute regarding whether the defendant had been read his Miranda rights
    at his home in favor of the defendant. The court also noted that the defendant had been
    questioned for several hours before Miranda warnings were given and that the warnings were
    5
    given only "after he had agreed to make a formal statement." The court further determined
    that the subsequent interview by the Cahokia police "was directly associated and related to
    the first interrogation" and that the two could not "be segregated." Lastly, finding that the
    defendant's statements had not been obtained by "force, mistreatment, or coercion," the court
    ruled that they could be used for impeachment purposes pursuant to Harris v. New York, 
    401 U.S. 222
    , 
    28 L. Ed. 2d 1
    , 
    91 S. Ct. 643
    (1971). The State filed a timely notice of appeal.
    STANDARD OF REVIEW
    When reviewing a circuit court's ruling on a motion to suppress evidence, great
    deference is accorded the court's factual findings, and those findings will be reversed only
    if they are against the manifest weight of the evidence; ultimate questions of law, however,
    are reviewed de novo. People v. Sutherland, 
    223 Ill. 2d 187
    , 196-97 (2006). "A factual
    finding is against the manifest weight of the evidence when the opposite conclusion is clearly
    evident or the finding is arbitrary, unreasonable, or not based in evidence." Samour, Inc. v.
    Board of Election Commissioners of the City of Chicago, 
    224 Ill. 2d 530
    , 544 (2007).
    ANALYSIS
    The rule of Miranda v. Arizona, 
    384 U.S. 436
    , 467-79, 
    16 L. Ed. 2d 694
    , 719-27, 
    86 S. Ct. 1602
    , 1624-30 (1966), requires the suppression of statements made by a defendant in
    response to custodial police interrogation unless preceded by a statement of basic
    constitutional rights, including the right to remain silent, and a waiver of those rights. People
    v. Peterson, 
    372 Ill. App. 3d 1010
    , 1018 (2007). In Oregon v. Elstad, 
    470 U.S. 298
    , 309-18,
    
    84 L. Ed. 2d 222
    , 232-38, 
    105 S. Ct. 1285
    , 1293-98 (1985), however, the Supreme Court held
    that where an initial statement is "technically" obtained in violation of Miranda and thus
    rendered inadmissible, a subsequent statement obtained in compliance with Miranda is not
    per se inadmissible "absent deliberately coercive or improper tactics in obtaining the initial
    statement." The Elstad Court reasoned that it would be "an unwarranted extension of
    6
    Miranda to hold that a simple failure to administer the warnings, unaccompanied by any
    actual coercion or other circumstances calculated to undermine the suspect's ability to
    exercise his free will, so taints the investigatory process that a subsequent voluntary and
    informed waiver is ineffective for some indeterminate period." 
    Elstad, 470 U.S. at 309
    , 84
    L. Ed. 2d at 
    232, 105 S. Ct. at 1293
    . The Elstad Court explained that "[a] subsequent
    administration of Miranda warnings to a suspect who has given a voluntary but unwarned
    statement ordinarily should suffice to remove the conditions that precluded admission of the
    earlier statement" and that the "relevant inquiry" in those instances is whether the statements
    were voluntarily made. 
    Elstad, 470 U.S. at 314-18
    , 84 L. Ed. 2d at 
    235-38, 105 S. Ct. at 1296-98
    . The defendant in Elstad made an unwarned inculpatory admission in response to
    a comment made by an officer who was taking him in for questioning, the defendant later
    gave a full written confession after receiving and waiving his Miranda rights, and the trial
    court suppressed the initial admission but allowed the introduction of the written statement
    into evidence. 
    Elstad, 470 U.S. at 301-02
    , 84 L. Ed. 2d at 
    227-28, 105 S. Ct. at 1288-89
    .
    Determining that the trial court had properly ruled, the Elstad Court summarized its holding
    as follows: "[A] suspect who has once responded to unwarned yet uncoercive questioning
    is not thereby disabled from waiving his rights and confessing after he has been given the
    requisite Miranda warnings." 
    Elstad, 470 U.S. at 318
    , 84 L. Ed. 2d at 
    238, 105 S. Ct. at 1298
    .
    In Missouri v. Seibert, 
    542 U.S. 600
    , 604-17, 
    159 L. Ed. 2d 643
    , 650-58, 
    124 S. Ct. 2601
    , 2605-13 (2004) (plurality opinion of Souter, J., joined by Stevens, Ginsburg, and
    Breyer, JJ.), a plurality of the Supreme Court held that when Miranda warnings are
    administered in the midst of an interrogation rather than at its commencement, the relevant
    inquiry is whether it would be reasonable to conclude that, under the circumstances, the
    warnings effectively advised the suspect of his right to remain silent. In Seibert, the
    7
    statements at issue had been obtained by the deliberate use of a two-stage or "question first
    and warn later" technique, i.e., the Miranda warnings were strategically withheld until after
    the defendant had confessed, and then after a waiver of the Miranda rights had been
    obtained, the defendant was questioned again. 
    Seibert, 542 U.S. at 604-11
    , 
    159 L. Ed. 2d
    at
    
    650-54, 124 S. Ct. at 2606-10
    . The Seibert plurality reasoned that the employment of that
    technique frustrated Miranda: "[I]t is likely that if the interrogators employ the technique of
    withholding warnings until after interrogation succeeds in eliciting a confession, the
    warnings will be ineffective in preparing the suspect for successive interrogation, close in
    time and similar in content." 
    Seibert, 542 U.S. at 613
    , 
    159 L. Ed. 2d
    at 
    655, 124 S. Ct. at 2610
    . The plurality observed, "Upon hearing warnings only in the aftermath of interrogation
    and just after making a confession, a suspect would hardly think he had a genuine right to
    remain silent, let alone persist in so believing once the police began to lead him over the
    same ground again." 
    Seibert, 542 U.S. at 613
    , 
    159 L. Ed. 2d
    at 
    655-56, 124 S. Ct. at 2611
    .
    Rejecting the State's argument that confessions obtained by use of a two-step interrogation
    strategy are admissible under the authority of Elstad, the plurality noted that in Elstad, the
    initial failure to administer the Miranda warnings was inadvertent, the defendant's initial
    inculpatory statement was made during a brief encounter in his living room which was not
    intended to be an interrogation, and the questioning that later occurred at the police station
    presented a "markedly different experience from the short conversation at home." 
    Seibert, 542 U.S. at 614-15
    , 
    159 L. Ed. 2d
    at 
    656-57, 124 S. Ct. at 2611-12
    . Thus, in Elstad, "the
    Miranda warnings could have made sense as presenting a genuine choice whether to follow
    up on the earlier admission." 
    Seibert, 542 U.S. at 615-16
    , 
    159 L. Ed. 2d
    at 
    657, 124 S. Ct. at 2612
    . The plurality concluded that "a series of relevant facts *** bear on whether
    Miranda warnings delivered midstream could be effective enough to accomplish their object:
    the completeness and detail of the questions and answers in the first round of interrogation,
    8
    the overlapping content of the two statements, the timing and setting of the first and the
    second, the continuity of police personnel, and the degree to which the interrogator's
    questions treated the second round as continuous with the first." 
    Seibert, 542 U.S. at 615
    ,
    
    159 L. Ed. 2d
    at 
    657, 124 S. Ct. at 2612
    . Applying that analysis to the situation before it, the
    plurality found that the statements at issue were properly suppressed. 
    Seibert, 542 U.S. at 616-17
    , 
    159 L. Ed. 2d
    at 
    657-58, 124 S. Ct. at 2612-13
    .
    Concurring in the judgment, Justice Kennedy narrowed the approach taken by the
    Seibert plurality. 
    Seibert, 542 U.S. at 618-22
    , 
    159 L. Ed. 2d
    at 
    659-62, 124 S. Ct. at 2614-16
    (Kennedy, J., concurring). Justice Kennedy noted that the plurality's multifactor test to
    determine the effectiveness of warnings delivered in the midst of an interrogation "applies
    in the case of both intentional and unintentional two-stage interrogations," and Justice
    Kennedy concluded that "this test cuts too broadly." 
    Seibert, 542 U.S. at 621-22
    , 
    159 L. Ed. 2d
    at 
    661, 124 S. Ct. at 2616
    (Kennedy, J., concurring). Justice Kennedy wrote: "The
    admissibility of postwarning statements should continue to be governed by the principles of
    Elstad unless the deliberate two-step strategy was employed. If the deliberate two-step
    strategy has been used, postwarning statements that are related to the substance of
    prewarning statements must be excluded unless curative measures are taken before the
    postwarning statement is made." 
    Seibert, 542 U.S. at 622
    , 
    159 L. Ed. 2d
    at 
    661, 124 S. Ct. at 2616
    (Kennedy, J., concurring). Such "curative measures" might include allowing "a
    substantial break in time and circumstances between the prewarning statement and the
    Miranda warning" and giving "an additional warning that explains the likely inadmissibility
    of the prewarning custodial statement." 
    Seibert, 542 U.S. at 622
    , 
    159 L. Ed. 2d
    at 
    661, 124 S. Ct. at 2616
    (Kennedy, J., concurring). Because in Seibert a question-first/warn-later
    strategy was deliberately used and no curative measures were taken, Justice Kennedy
    concurred in the plurality's judgment. 
    Seibert, 542 U.S. at 622
    , 
    159 L. Ed. 2d
    at 661-62, 
    124 9 S. Ct. at 2616
    (Kennedy, J., concurring).
    In the absence of a majority opinion, a holding of the Supreme Court is generally
    considered the position taken by the members who concurred on the narrowest grounds.
    Marks v. United States, 
    430 U.S. 188
    , 193, 
    51 L. Ed. 2d 260
    , 266, 
    97 S. Ct. 990
    , 993 (1977).
    In United States v. Williams, 
    435 F.3d 1148
    , 1157 (9th Cir. 2006), the court applied the
    Marks rule to Seibert and held, "[A] trial court must suppress postwarning confessions
    obtained during a deliberate two-step interrogation where the midstream Miranda warning–in
    light of the objective facts and circumstances–did not effectively apprise the suspect of his
    rights." The Williams court then noted, "In situations where the two-step strategy was not
    deliberately employed, Elstad continues to govern the admissibility of postwarning
    statements." 
    Williams, 435 F.3d at 1158
    ; accord United States v. Stewart, 
    388 F.3d 1079
    ,
    1090 (7th Cir. 2004). Agreeing with the Seibert plurality's observation that the true intent
    of an officer will rarely be candidly admitted, the Williams court further held, "[I]n
    determining whether the interrogator deliberately withheld the Miranda warning, courts
    should consider whether objective evidence and any available subjective evidence, such as
    an officer's testimony, support an inference that the two-step interrogation procedure was
    used to undermine the Miranda warning." 
    Williams, 435 F.3d at 1158
    . Again merging the
    analyses of the Seibert plurality and Justice Kennedy's concurrence, the Williams court
    directed that in determining the effectiveness of a midstream Miranda warning, courts should
    consider the following: "(1) the completeness and detail of the prewarning interrogation, (2)
    the overlapping content of the two rounds of interrogation, (3) the timing and circumstances
    of both interrogations, (4) the continuity of police personnel, (5) the extent to which the
    interrogator's questions treated the second round of interrogation as continuous with the
    first[,] and (6) whether any curative measures were taken." 
    Williams, 435 F.3d at 1160
    .
    In the present case, the State argues that we should reverse the circuit court's
    10
    suppression order under the principles enunciated in Elstad because there is no indication
    that the Arnold police deliberately employed a two-step interrogation technique when
    questioning the defendant. The defendant responds that Seibert should apply because the
    record supports a finding that the police deliberately withheld the Miranda warnings until
    after he confessed. We agree with the defendant. We further believe that Williams sets forth
    a well-reasoned approach to the resolution of the controversy. But see United States v.
    Carrizales-Toledo, 
    454 F.3d 1142
    , 1151 (10th Cir. 2006) (suggesting in dicta that, the Marks
    rule notwithstanding, the plurality opinion might represent the controlling holding of
    Seibert); Martinez v. State, 
    204 S.W.3d 914
    , 918-20 (Tex. App. 2006) (holding that, the
    Marks rule notwithstanding, "the plurality opinion [in Seibert] is more persuasive and
    therefore governs").
    Here, the circuit court found that the defendant had been questioned for several hours
    before Miranda warnings were given and that the warnings were given only "after he had
    agreed to make a formal statement." The court determined that the defendant had not been
    given the Miranda warnings at his home prior to the search, and the record supports an
    inference that Officer Abernathy and Detective Streckfuss deliberately employed a two-step
    interrogation technique when obtaining the defendant's confessions. Cf. People v. Lopez, 
    367 Ill. App. 3d 817
    , 825 (2006) (rejecting the defendant's Seibert claim on the ground that there
    was "no evidence" that the Miranda warnings were withheld until after a confession had been
    secured); 
    Williams, 435 F.3d at 1161
    (remanding where the reviewing court was "unable to
    determine on the record" whether the interrogators purposefully delayed giving the Miranda
    warnings until after a confession had been secured). We find most significant Streckfuss's
    acknowledgment that they "waited" to give the defendant a Miranda waiver form "until after
    he confessed to everything," including the Cahokia burglary. As stated in Williams: "Once
    a law enforcement officer has detained a suspect and subjects him to interrogation–as was
    11
    the case in Seibert and is the case here–there is rarely, if ever, a legitimate reason to delay
    giving a Miranda warning until after the suspect has confessed. Instead, the most plausible
    reason for the delay is an illegitimate one, which is the interrogator's desire to weaken the
    warning's effectiveness." (Emphasis in original.) 
    Williams, 435 F.3d at 1159
    . Streckfuss
    also characterized the lengthy prewarned portion of the initial interview as an "informal
    interview," suggesting that the Miranda warnings were being withheld until the
    commencement of the formal one. In an apparent attempt to justify their failure to provide
    the defendant with a Miranda waiver form at the beginning of the interview, the officers
    suggested that the defendant had been read the Miranda warnings at his home prior to the
    search, but the defendant and his father both denied that was the case, and the trial court
    resolved the issue in the defendant's favor.       Moreover, assuming, arguendo, that the
    defendant had been read the Miranda warnings at his home prior to the search, neither officer
    testified that the defendant waived or even acknowledged receiving his rights at any time
    before the interview commenced.
    Having concluded that the evidence supports an inference that the Arnold police
    deliberately withheld the Miranda warnings until after the defendant confessed, we next
    determine whether the Miranda warnings administered by the Arnold police and later by the
    Cahokia police were effective considering the six aforementioned factors, i.e., "(1) the
    completeness and detail of the prewarning interrogation, (2) the overlapping content of the
    two rounds of interrogation, (3) the timing and circumstances of both interrogations, (4) the
    continuity of police personnel, (5) the extent to which the interrogator's questions treated the
    second round of interrogation as continuous with the first[,] and (6) whether any curative
    measures were taken" (
    Williams, 435 F.3d at 1160
    ). This determination requires us to view
    the "objective evidence" and ask whether the administered warnings "adequately and
    effectively apprised the suspect that he had a 'genuine choice whether to follow up on [his]
    12
    earlier admission.' " 
    Williams, 435 F.3d at 1160
    (quoting 
    Seibert, 542 U.S. at 616
    , 
    159 L. Ed. 2d
    at 
    657, 124 S. Ct. at 2612
    ).
    In the present case, the defendant was given the first Miranda waiver form when he
    agreed to make a written statement after several hours of interrogation, but as described by
    the defendant "by then[,] [he] had told them everything that [he] had done," including the
    Cahokia burglary. When the defendant was later given a Miranda waiver form by Detective
    Landmann, he had already confessed to the Cahokia burglary both orally and in writing. All
    questioning occurred in the same room and, although breaks of varying lengths of time were
    taken, during the same 12-hour period. Streckfuss and Abernathy were both present
    throughout the initial rounds of questioning, and Abernathy was present when the defendant
    was later interviewed by Landmann.         Although Streckfuss was not present when the
    defendant was questioned by Landmann, Streckfuss had previously advised the defendant
    to cooperate with the Cahokia police. The defendant was also awakened from his sleep so
    that he could be interviewed by investigators from St. Louis County before being questioned
    by Landmann. There was never a substantial break in time or a meaningful change in
    circumstances that might constitute a curative measure, and as the circuit court found, the
    interview by the Cahokia police "was directly associated and related to the first interrogation"
    to the extent that the two could not "be segregated." The defendant was never advised that
    his prewarned admissions would be inadmissible in the State's case in chief. Under the
    circumstances, it would have been reasonable for the defendant to regard all the
    interrogations "as parts of a continuum, in which it would have been unnatural to refuse to
    repeat at the [later] stage[s] what had been said before." 
    Seibert, 542 U.S. at 617
    , 
    159 L. Ed. 2d
    at 
    658, 124 S. Ct. at 2613
    .        We therefore conclude that the Miranda warnings
    administered by the Arnold police and the Cahokia police were ineffective under Seibert, and
    accordingly, we affirm the circuit court's order granting the defendant's motion to suppress.
    13
    CONCLUSION
    The record reveals that the present case should be governed by Seibert rather than
    Elstad and that the defendant's statements were rightfully suppressed. We therefore affirm
    the judgment of the circuit court of St. Clair County.
    Affirmed.
    SPOMER and STEWART, JJ., concur.
    14
    NO. 5-06-0344
    IN THE
    APPELLATE COURT OF ILLINOIS
    FIFTH DISTRICT
    ___________________________________________________________________________________
    THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, ) Appeal from the
    ) Circuit Court of
    Plaintiff-Appellant,               ) St. Clair County.
    )
    v.                                    ) No. 03-CF-84
    )
    CHAD MONTGOMERY,                      ) Honorable
    ) Milton S. Wharton,
    Defendant-Appellee.                ) Judge, presiding.
    ___________________________________________________________________________________
    Opinion Filed:        September 13, 2007
    ___________________________________________________________________________________
    Justices:          Honorable James M . Wexstten, J.
    Honorable Stephen L. Spomer, J., and
    Honorable Bruce D. Stewart, J.,
    Concur
    ___________________________________________________________________________________
    Attorneys        Norbert J. Goetten, Director, Stephen E. Norris, Deputy Director, Rebecca E.
    for              McCormick, Staff Attorney, Office of the State's Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor,
    Appellant        730 E. Illinois Highway 15, Suite 2, P.O. Box 2249, Mt. Vernon, IL 62864; Hon.
    Robert Haida, State's Attorney, St. Clair County, 10 Public Square, Belleville, IL
    62220
    ___________________________________________________________________________________
    Attorney         P. Richard Sturgeon
    for              23 South First Street
    Appellee         Belleville, IL 62220
    ___________________________________________________________________________________