Illinois Appeals Court overturns gun conviction, questions legality of Chicago Police Department’s stop-and-frisk strategy

CHICAGO (WLS) — There was strong backlash Friday following an ABC7 I-Team investigation into a controversial Chicago police tactic: searching vehicles during traffic stops, particularly in minority communities.

Critics have called CPD traffic stops “the new stop and frisk,” while law enforcement experts say the stops are essential in combating violent crime across the city.

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Today, the ABC7 I-Team learned that in one of the rare cases where a gun was found during a traffic search, a man convicted of the crime was able to walk free from behind bars after that the state Court of Appeals overturned the conviction and questioned whether the reason for the stop was illegal.

While the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office plans to appeal the decision, as the I-Team first reported this week, State’s Attorney Kim Foxx has proposed a new plan to not charge gun crimes if guns were found during traffic stops for expired license plates, broken turn signals and other minor infractions.

“We don’t think police should be stopping people for reasons other than safety,” Foxx told the I-Team earlier this week.

People vs. Deshaun Carpenter

On a sweltering afternoon in May 2018, Chicago police said they arrested Deshaun Carpenter, 28, for a broken tail light.

In less than 90 seconds, as shown in body-worn camera footage shared with the I-Team, Deshaun Carpenter was arrested and officers began searching his vehicle up and down.

Eventually, an officer peeled back the driver’s seat cushion to find a loaded gun.

Carpenter, who has a criminal record, was arrested for illegal possession of a firearm. He claimed he borrowed the vehicle from his girlfriend’s friend and had no knowledge of the gun located under the driver’s seat.

But after a bench trial, Carpenter was convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison; a conviction which he has since appealed.

“The main challenge here, based on the facts of the case that we presented, was that there was no legitimate basis to arrest Mr. Carpenter, absolutely not,” said Bill Wolf, the attorney for Carpenter.

Last March, the Illinois State Court of Appeals sided with Carpenter, overturning his conviction on the grounds that the state failed to prove that Carpenter knew the gun was there.

The judges also questioned the legality of the stop, citing one of the officers who conducted the traffic stop admitting “under cross-examination that a single broken tail light did not constitute a legal basis for a stop.”

In what they called a “rare opportunity,” the justices invoked their discretion to raise an issue that was not addressed in Carpenter’s appeal: CPD’s use of traffic stops.

“Fundamental justice requires us to raise a vital public safety concern,” the opinion states. “So-called ‘Black driving’ is a pernicious reality that erodes trust in law enforcement and the justice system.”

“The record compels us to ask the question: ‘Would this ruling have proceeded as it did if Carpenter had been white?'” the opinion states.

To read the full decision of the Court of Appeal, click here.

The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office told the I-Team it does not comment on pending litigation but plans to appeal the Carpenter decision.

Despite the appeal, outgoing State’s Attorney Foxx agrees with the court’s criticism of the Chicago police’s traffic stop strategy.

“What these controls have shown is that they are not effective in advancing community safety,” Foxx said. “What they are effectively doing is disenfranchising communities that rely on law enforcement, who also now feel a level of distrust.”

“A new attempt to handcuff the police”

As the I-Team was first to report this week, Foxx proposed stopping prosecuting cases where guns, drugs or stolen property are discovered during “non-security traffic stops public.

According to the draft policy proposal, “non-public safety” reasons include “expired vehicle registration, missing front license plates, license plate illumination or headlight violations, signal lights or tail lights (unless both headlights or both rear brake lights are inoperative. ,),” the document states.

To read the State Attorney’s Office’s proposed plan for traffic stop prosecutions, click here.

Foxx said the policy was written to correct a policing strategy that his research found had not had an impact on public safety.

But this proposal has generated a lot of skepticism.

“This is just another attempt to handcuff the police and prevent them from doing their job and keeping the community safe,” said Bill Kushner, ABC7 police affairs consultant and former chief of the suburban police. “No one I’ve spoken with, either in CPD or in the state’s attorney’s office, thinks this is a good thing.”

The Foxx plan also drew strong objections from Republican State Attorney candidate Bob Fioretti, who held a news conference Friday.

“Kim Foxx’s proposed policy of not prosecuting gun crimes resulting from lawful traffic stops is a dereliction of duty, and it will cost lives in the neighborhoods of those who need protection most,” Fioretti said. “Prosecutors must use every legal tool at their disposal to keep illegal guns off the streets and keep our neighborhoods safe.”

The I-Team requested a response from the Democratic nominee for state’s attorney, but Eileen O’Neill Burke declined to comment on the proposed policy.

Government sources told the I-Team that Attorney Foxx sent the policy proposal to Chicago police.

Officials there tell the I-Team they don’t comment on the proposals, but that Supt. Larry Snelling made it clear that “CPD’s efforts to reduce violent crime do not focus on traffic stops.”

“CPD has seen a significant reduction in traffic stops this year compared to the same time last year,” a Chicago police spokesperson said. “Additionally, our officers receive 4th Amendment training as we emphasize constitutional policing in all of our public safety efforts.”