Motion to Suppress Evidence for Material-Obstruction Statute Violation

In People v. Johnson, 384 Ill. App. 3d 409, 414, 893 N.E.2d 275, 280, 323 Ill. Dec. 261 (2008), the Court affirmed the grant of defendant's motion to suppress evidence seized after a traffic stop for a violation of the the material-obstruction statute. In Johnson, 384 Ill. App. 3d at 410, 893 N.E.2d at 278, the arresting officer looked at defendant's car from the rear and the side at night and saw an air freshener shaped like two life-sized cherries hanging from the defendant's rearview mirror. The officer estimated the air freshener was two inches wide but had no training regarding the meaning of "material obstruction." Johnson, 384 Ill. App. 3d at 410-11, 893 N.E.2d at 277. The material-obstruction statute reads as follows: No person shall drive a motor vehicle with any objects placed or suspended between the driver and the front windshield which materially obstructs the driver's view. 625 ILCS 5/12-503(c) (West 2004).