7 Ways to Help Determine If An Illegal Arrest Had Taken Place

In People v. Young 206 Ill. App. 3d 789, 800, 564 N.E.2d 1254, 151 Ill. Dec. 592 (1990), the court considered the following facts to determine if an illegal arrest had taken place: (1) whether the defendant was asked to wait in the public waiting room at the police station; (2) whether the defendant was put in an interrogation room with the door closed; (3) whether the defendant was released or told he was free to leave after he was questioned by a police officer, even though he had not implicated himself; (4) whether the defendant spent the night in a room with no sleeping facilities; (5) whether the defendant was denied telephone calls; (6) whether the defendant was in the police station for an extended length of time before making a statement; (7) whether the defendant was briefly questioned only once after the initial interview. Young, 206 Ill. App. 3d at 800-01. The Young court held that under such circumstances a reasonable person would conclude that he or she was not free to leave. Young, 206 Ill. App. 3d at 801.