Chicago woman challenges La Salle cocaine seizure

A Chicago woman who police said had about 2½ pounds of cocaine during a traffic stop won’t stand for trial Aug. 29. Destine Phillips’ lawyer thinks the drugs were seized in a bad stop and wants the case thrown out.

Phillips, 25, appeared Thursday in La Salle County Circuit Court on her pending drug charge. She faces up to 60 years in prison if convicted of transporting 1,180 grams (2.6 pounds) of purported cocaine seized during a March 29 traffic stop on Interstate 80 near the Interstate 39 interchange near La Salle.

Phillips left the courthouse Friday with a Sept. 4 hearing set on a motion to suppress. Defense lawyer Hallie Bezner argued in a new pleading that Phillips wasn’t read her rights during the traffic stop. That makes the information that Phillips disclosed inadmissible, Bezner said, and nullified the ensuing search and seizure.

Phillips was clocked driving 98 mph and was following another vehicle too closely on westbound Interstate 80, police said, when a state police trooper pulled her over near the I-39 interchange. When Phillips went into her purse to furnish her license and insurance card, the trooper spotted an empty bottle of tequila, which led to a search of the car, police said.

“The trooper searched the passenger compartment of Destine Phillips’ automobile without consent and without a search warrant,” Bezner said, adding later, “It was only after being transferred to the (state police office in La Salle) for processing that Destine Phillips was advised of her Miranda rights.”

Bezner further said the questioning took place in a custodial setting – Phillips was asked to sit in the rear of the police cruiser – which means Phillips’ statements could not be given freely and voluntarily unless she was read her rights and agreed to waive them.

A reply brief from the La Salle County State’s Attorney’s Office is pending.

Phillips is out of custody. Although La Salle County prosecutors wanted her jailed not only for the purported drugs but because of her record – Phillips, at age 14, shot two women, killing one – but Chief Judge H. Chris Ryan Jr. decided that the juvenile record counted less heavily in deciding whether to grant pretrial release. Phillips has completed her sentence on that charge.