People v. Clark

Following a bench trial in the circuit court of Cook County, defendant Martell Clark was found guilty of unlawful possession of a controlled substance (720 ILCS 570/402(c) (West 2006)) and sentenced to 13 months’ probation. On appeal, defendant contends that the State failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he had knowing possession of the contraband found in his car. In a supplemental brief, defendant contends that his motion to suppress that evidence should have been granted because the search of his car was valid neither as an inventory search nor as a search incident to arrest.

On…