Defendant was indicted by a grant jury, and was accused of disbursing charitable funds (from Police Explorer Post Program) without authority and for personal benefit, and money laundering. Court erred in granting Defendant's motion in limine to bar, as protected by marital privilege, evidence of electronic communications between her and her deceased husband that the police recovered from his cell phone.Defendant voluntarily waived her marital privilege as to the text messages and emails between her and her deceased husband recovered from his phone.Prior to her arrest, Defendant signed a consent authorizing a "complete search" of her phone, and she did so after consulting with her attorney. Defendant, by her own statements, knew that a "complete' search would have yielded all text messages from her phone, including those she had deleted. (HUDSON and BRENNAN, concurring.)
Illinois Appellate Court
Criminal Court
Marital Privilege