J.R.H., A CHILD, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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The court held that the officer exceeded the scope of the Florida Stop and Frisk Law by questioning the juvenile about the contents of his satchel without probable cause or Miranda warnings.
[1] A law enforcement officer's authority to search a person temporarily detained under a stop and frisk statute is limited to the extent necessary to disclose the presence o…
[2] An officer's inquiry into the contents of a small bag found on a detained person exceeds the scope of a lawful pat-down search for weapons if the officer does not have pr…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAn officer approached two youths in a parking lot, patted them down, and then questioned them further without Miranda warnings. The officer asked abou…
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BOARDMAN, Judge.
J.R.H., a child, appeals his adjudication of delinquency and his placement on a suspended commitment program, contending that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress. We agree and reverse.
Officer Paul Truesdale, who was on routine patrol, observed appellant and another boy standing next to a moped in an unlighted area of the parking lot of a funeral home at 8:50 p.m. on January 16, 1982. According to Truesdale, there had been recent burglaries in the vicinity, although not at the funeral home itself, and he therefore approached the youths and asked them to identify themselves and explain their presence in the parking lot. They complied, appellant explaining that he owned the moped they had been riding, that the moped had malfunctioned, and that they had pulled into the parking lot to repair it.
Truesdale then patted both boys down for weapons and found a screwdriver in appellant’s back pocket. The officer also found a folding buck knife attached to the moped’s blinker. After completing the pat-down, apparently satisfied that the boys no longer posed any danger to him in terms of carrying any concealed weapons, Truesdale “began engaging both subjects in conversation” which he described as “not authoritative at all” while he “was writing the Moped up for a records check.” The boys were not free to leave until the records check had been completed, but Truesdale had not advised them of their Miranda rights.
This conversation lasted no more than five minutes. Truesdale then noticed a brown suede satchel, which was about the size of the palm of his hand, attached to appellant’s belt and asked appellant what was in it. One of the boys responded, “Okay, you got me,” and the satchel and its contents were turned over to Truesdale. The satchel contained five hand-rolled cigarettes which Truesdale suspected contained marijuana, and he thereupon arrested appellant. Only then did he advise appellant of his Miranda rights.
It is clear that at no time prior to disclosure of the marijuana cigarettes did Trues-dale have probable cause to arrest or search appellant for any offense. We need not and do not decide whether Truesdale’s initial approach, pat-down, and records check on the boys constituted a valid Terry1 stop. Assuming arguendo that it did, Truesdale went beyond the scope of the Florida Stop and Frisk Law, Section 901.151, Florida Statutes (1981). That section authorizes a law enforcement officer to detain a person “for the purpose of ascertaining the identity of the person temporarily detained and the circumstances surrounding his presence abroad which led the officer to believe that he had committed, was committing, or was about to commit a criminal offense,” § 901.151(2), and, if the officer “has probable cause to believe that any person whom he has temporarily detained ... is armed with a dangerous weapon and therefore offers a threat to the safety of the officer,” to “search such person ... only to the extent necessary to disclose, and for the purpose of disclosing, the presence of such weapon.” § 901.151(5) (emphasis supplied).
In the first place, we believe, based on Truesdale’s testimony and the surrounding circumstances, that Truesdale did not have the probable cause required under section 901.151(5), In the Interest of G.T., 387 So. 2d 485 (Fla. 4th DCA 1980), to believe, upon noticing the small bag, that it contained a dangerous weapon that would render appellant a threat to his safety. Moreover, in any event, Truesdale’s inquiry exceeded the extent of inquiry or search permitted by the statute. At most, Truesdale could have asked appellant if the bag contained a dangerous weapon or could have conducted a pat-down search of the bag. He was not entitled to inquire further than that into the nature of its contents or to conduct a full-scale search of the bag.
Inasmuch as appellant and his companion were being officially detained by Truesdale in his capacity as a law enforcement officer and knew they were not free to leave, and inasmuch as they had not been informed of their Miranda rights, it cannot be seriously argued that the evidence is clear and convincing that the youths’ response to his question about the satchel was voluntary. Hunt v. State, 371 So. 2d 205 (Fla. 2d DCA 1979); see also Bailey v. State, 319 So. 2d 22 (Fla.1975). Thus the search of the satchel and the seizure of its contents were noncon-sensual and illegal, and appellant’s motion to suppress should have been granted. Hunt.
Accordingly, the trial court’s order adjudicating appellant delinquent is REVERSED and the cause REMANDED with directions to discharge appellant.
OTT, C.J., and CAMPBELL, J., concur. . Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968).
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State v. Rizo, 463 So. 2d 1165 (Fla. 3d DCA 1984)…cause. Royer. Thus, the photo obtained during the unlawful detention is inadmissible on that ground, Davis v. Mississippi, 394 U.S. 721, 89 S.Ct. 1394, 22 L.Ed.2d 676 (1969); see Terrell v. State, 429 So. 2d 778 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983); J.R.H. v. State, 428 So. 2d 786 (Fla. 2d DCA 1983); Pirri v. State, 428 So. 2d 285 (Fla. 4th DCA), review denied, 438 So. 2d 834 (Fla.1983), without consideration of the taint arising from the initial unlawful stop. Wong Sun; Lewis. Holding that the state failed to meet its burde…
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Jenkins v. State, 685 So. 2d 918 (Fla. 1st DCA 1996)…officer asked what appellant had in the bag and, when appellant pulled the bag away, the officer “grabbed” it and looked inside. I find this scenario equally lacking in any indication of probable cause to search the bag. See, e.g., J.R.H. v. State, 428 So. 2d 786 (Fla. 2d DCA 1983) (search, or inquiry regarding contents, of bag not justified following investigative stop after defendant provided requested identification and reason for being in area). In short, as I read the majority’s justification for affir…
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State v. Gary, 466 So. 2d 1199 (Fla. 3d DCA 1985)…officers in question unjustifiably went into the purse without first conducting a prior external pat-down for weapons, which is required (and would have revealed that she was not carrying a firearm as the police supposedly feared). J.R.H. v. State, 428 So. 2d 786 (Fla. 2d DCA 1983); Jamison v. State, 455 So. 2d 1112 (Fla. 4th DCA 1984); Fraley v. State, 374 So. 2d 1122 (Fla. 4th DCA 1979); sec. 901.-151(5), Fla.Stat. (1983); see Baldwin v. State, 418 So. 2d 1219 (Fla. 2d DCA 1982); Blackburn v. State, 414 So…
Previewing 3 of 7 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (U.S. 1968)
- Bailey v. State, 319 So. 2d 22 (Fla. 1975)
- Hunt v. State, 371 So. 2d 205 (Fla. 2d DCA 1979)
- In the Interest of G. T., 387 So. 2d 485 (Fla. 4th DCA 1980)