BARRY EUGENE SMITH, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Barry Eugene Smith appeals his conviction on two grounds: whether the trial court erred in admitting testimony from an undercover officer who illegally recorded conversations in Smith's home, and whether denial of his motion for sentence reduction was an abuse of discretion. The appellate court affirmed, holding that testimony by the officer who directly participated in the conversations was admissible despite the warrantless recording, and that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to modify the sentence after notice of appeal was filed.
The court held that testimony by an undercover officer who personally participated in conversations with the defendant is admissible despite the warrantless recording, as the defendant assumes the risk that the officer will disclose the conversation; the officer's participation does not constitute an invasion of privacy in the constitutional sense. The court also held that the trial court lacked jurisdiction to modify the sentence under Rule 3.800 after notice of appeal vested exclusive jurisdiction in the appellate court, though the defendant may re-file the motion within 60 days after the appellate mandate.
[1] Testimony by a police officer who personally participated in a conversation with a defendant is admissible, even if the conversation was illegally electronically surveill…
[2] A defendant assumes the risk that an undercover officer will reveal the contents of a conversation, and such revelation does not constitute an invasion of privacy or an "…
Previewing 2 of 4 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“The defendant without question assumed the risk that this officer might betray the defendant's trust and reveal, as he did, the contents of this conversation to the outside world. That, in our view, is a reasonable risk which any person assumes when he talks to anyone as the speaker has it within his power to gauge whether to take such a risk based upon his personal assessment of the person to whom he is talking.”
Establishes the legal principle that a defendant assumes the risk of disclosure when speaking to an undercover officer, making testimony by that officer about the conversation contents admissible despite warrantless recording.
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceSmith was charged following an undercover police officer's conversations with him in his home. The officer secretly recorded these conversations, viol…
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JOANOS, Judge.
Appellant raises two points on appeal: (1) Whether the trial court erred in refusing to suppress testimony by an undercover police officer who illegally taped the conversation he had with the defendant in the defendant’s home, and (2) Whether the trial court’s denial of defendant’s motion for reduction of sentence was an abuse of discretion. We affirm on both points.
Although the warrantless electronic surveillance of the defendant’s conversations was in violation of both Article I, § 12 of the Florida Constitution and § 934.06, Florida Statutes, this case does not involve the admission of either the tapes of those conversations or testimony by persons who were monitoring the conversations. The question presented to this Court involves the admissibility of testimony by the police officer who personally participated in conversations with the defendant.
The principal Florida case in the area of warrantless electronic eavesdropping is State v. Sarmiento, 397 So. 2d 643 (Fla.1981). The Court in Sarmiento reversed the conviction because the testimony of the monitoring officers was improper, but the admittance of testimony by an undercover agent concerning the contents of his conversation with the defendant was expressly approved:
The defendant without question assumed the risk that this officer might betray the defendant’s trust and reveal, as he did, the contents of this conversation to the outside world. That, in our view, is a reasonable risk which any person assumes when he talks to anyone as the speaker has it within his power to gauge whether to take such a risk based upon his personal assessment of the person to whom he is talking. As such, there was no invasion of the defendant’s privacy (and thus no, “interception” in the constitutional sense) for the officer to listen to and later testify, as he did, to the content of the defendant’s conversation in the home.
See also Odom v. State, 403 So. 2d 936, (Fla.1981), where the Court held that admission of the tape itself is improper but left in tact the admission of testimony by the confidential informant who participated in the taped conversation.
The second point on appeal deals with an unusual situation concerning the defendant’s sentencing. The defendant plead nolo contendere and the trial judge pronounced his sentence (nothing unusual, so far). After sentence was pronounced, however, the trial judge told the defendant that he informed both defense counsel and the State Attorney what defendant could do in order for the judge to consider modification. Defendant was further informed by the judge that defendant had 60 days to make a decision. Defendant was told that “whether you want to go back to your wife and you want your job then is going to depend upon you, not the Court.”
Defendant argues on appeal that he kept his end of the “bargain” by agreeing to cooperate with the authorities, but that the trial judge then refused to perform his part of the agreement by denying defendant’s motion for reduction of sentence. We must affirm the trial court’s denial of the motion for reduction of sentence for jurisdictional reasons. When defendant filed the motion under Rule 3.800, Fla.R.Crim.P., notice of appeal had already been filed with this Court. Since notice of appeal vested exclusive jurisdiction in the appellate court, the trial court did not have jurisdiction to correct or modify his initial sentence. Kelly v. State, 359 So. 2d 493 (Fla. 1st DCA 1978). Rule 3.800 does, however, give the defendant an opportunity to re-file his motion for reduction of sentence within 60 days after receipt of this Court’s mandate. Although we do not have a sufficient record to evaluate the factual basis for defendant's claim, we do note that if the allegations are true his contention is not without arguable merit. See Williams v. State, 341 So. 2d 214 (Fla.2d DCA 1977) and cases cited therein.
AFFIRMED.
SHAW, J., and VICTOR M. CAWTHON, Associate Judge, concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
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Wolfson v. State, 437 So. 2d 174 (Fla. 2d DCA 1983)…e appellate mandate. However, the appeal itself removes jurisdiction from the trial judge, thereby eliminating his authority to change the sentence while the appeal is pending. Kelly v. State, 414 So. 2d 1117 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982); see Smith v. State, 407 So. 2d 399 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981), pet. for rev. denied, 417 So. 2d 330 (Fla.1982). Since appellant’s convictions were on appeal to this court on the date the probation order was entered and we had not relinquished jurisdiction for any purpose, the trial judge di…
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State v. Williams, 780 So. 2d 1031 (Fla. 1st DCA 2001)…fy) sentence were filed pursuant to Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.800(c). The trial court loses jurisdiction to rule on such a motion while a direct appeal is pending. E.g., Nelson v. State, 724 So. 2d 1202 (Fla. 2d DCA 1998); Smith v. State, 407 So. 2d 399 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981). We treat the state’s appeal as a petition for a writ of certiorari. E.g., State v. Blue, 603 So. 2d 648, 649 (Fla. 5th DCA 1992) (a petition for a writ of certiorari is the proper method by which to challenge as beyond its juris…
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Stewart v. State, 817 So. 2d 1056 (Fla. 1st DCA 2002)…issued when the appellant was resentenced, and because the case was thus still pending on appeal the trial court did not have jurisdiction for resentencing at that time. See Knapp v. State, 741 So. 2d 1150 (Fla. 2d DCA 1999); [*1057] Smith v. State, 407 So. 2d 399 (Fla. 1st DCA 1981), rev. denied, 417 So. 2d 330 (Fla.1982). The challenged sentence is therefore vacated, and the case is remanded for resentencing. ALLEN, C.J., MINER and WEBSTER, JJ., concur.…
Previewing 3 of 4 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- State v. Sarmiento, 397 So. 2d 643 (Fla. 1981)
- Odom v. State, 403 So. 2d 936 (Fla. 1981)
- Ulysses R. Kelly, Jr. v. State, 359 So. 2d 493 (Fla. 1st DCA 1978)
- Kaden Tierney v. Studenski, 341 So. 2d 214 (Fla. 4th DCA 1976)
- Williams v. State, 341 So. 2d 214 (Fla. 2d DCA 1976)