Does a Police Pat-Down Violate the Personal Privacy Clause ?

In People v. Mitchell, 165 Ill. 2d 211, 209 Ill. Dec. 41, 650 N.E.2d 1014 (1995), defendant filed a motion to quash and suppress, arguing that the officer's seizure of cocaine from his person went beyond the scope of a Terry patdown. Mitchell, 165 Ill. 2d at 214. On appeal to the supreme court, defendant argued that the officer's touching of his body fell within the personal privacy clause of section 6. Mitchell, 165 Ill. 2d at 219. Defendant asserted that section 6 goes beyond federal constitutional guarantees with respect to the right of privacy. Mitchell, 165 Ill. 2d at 219. Our supreme court held that an officer's conduct of a Terry stop had traditionally been tested against the bounds of section 6's search and seizure clause. Mitchell, 165 Ill. 2d at 220. Thus, the court held that, although the officer's conduct triggered right to privacy concerns generally, such conduct was more particularly a search and seizure issue. Mitchell, 165 Ill. 2d at 220. The court further held that there was "nothing to support a divergence in the interpretation of our section 6 search and seizure clause from the federal fourth amendment interpretation." Mitchell, 165 Ill. 2d at 219.