RAYMOND HUDNELL, APPELLANT,
v.
THE STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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The court reversed a conviction for carrying a concealed firearm because the weapon was seized during an unconstitutional stop lacking reasonable suspicion, making it inadmissible fruit of an unlawful search.
A firearm seized during a stop based solely on the defendant walking late at night in a warehouse area while curiously looking at businesses is inadmissible as fruit of an unreasonable search and seizure violating the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments and Florida Constitution Article I, Section 12.
[1] A police stop and search based solely on observation of a person walking late at night in a warehouse area while curiously looking at businesses lacks the reasonable susp…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceA police officer stopped the defendant as he walked down the street late at night (11:55 P.M.) with a companion in a Miami warehouse area while curiou…
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PER CURIAM.
The judgment of conviction for carrying a concealed firearm and the order of probation entered thereon are reversed and the cause is remanded to the trial court with directions to discharge the defendant from the cause. The trial court erred in denying the defendant’s pre-trial motion to suppress the firearm seized from the defendant’s person by the police. This weapon, we hold, was inadmissible in evidence because it constituted the fruit of an unreasonable search and seizure conducted in violation of the defendant’s rights guaranteed by the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution and Article I, Section 12 of the Florida Constitution.
The arresting police officer testified below that she stopped the defendant herein as he was walking down the street late at night (11:55 P.M.) with a companion in a Miami warehouse area “curiously looking at the businesses in the area.” (Tr. 4). Plainly, this showing, without more, was insufficient to give rise to anything more than a bare suspicion of criminal activity, thereby rendering the stop and subsequent search of the defendant unreasonable within the meaning of the above constitutional provisions. Sibron v. New York, 392 U.S. 40, 88 S.Ct. 1889, 20 L.Ed.2d 917 (1968); Mullins v. State, 366 So. 2d 1162 (Fla.1978), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 883, 100 S.Ct. 173, 62 L.Ed.2d 113 (1979); Freeman v. State, 433 So. 2d 9 (Fla. 2d DCA 1983); Parker v. State, 363 So. 2d 383 (Fla. 3d DCA 1978); Vollmer v. State, 337 So. 2d 1024 (Fla. 2d DCA 1976), cert. discharged, 347 So. 2d 432 (Fla.1977).
Reversed and remanded.
JORGENSON, J., concurs in the result.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
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W.R.A. v. State, 497 So. 2d 1320 (Fla. 3d DCA 1986)…he was involved in criminal activity, State v. Levin, 452 So. 2d 562 (Fla.1984), affirming, 449 So. 2d 288 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983); Mullins v. State, 366 So. 2d 1162 (Fla.1978), cert. denied, 444 U.S. 883, 100 S.Ct. 173, 62 L.Ed.2d 113; Hudnell v. State, 449 So. 2d 930 (Fla. 3d DCA 1984), nor by a reasonable belief that he was armed. See Redfin v. State, 453 So. 2d 425 (Fla. 5th DCA 1984); Baldwin v. State, 418 So. 2d 1219 (Fla. 2d DCA 1982). The firearm in question should therefore have been suppressed. Reverse…
Authorities Cited
- Sibron v. New York, 392 U.S. 40 (U.S. 1968)
- Mullins v. State, 366 So. 2d 1162 (Fla. 1978)
- Worldwide Church of God, Inc. v. Superior Court of Cal., 444 U.S. 883 (U.S. 1979)
- Pate v. Kentucky, 444 U.S. 883 (U.S. 1979)
- Lucinda Stratton v. McQUEEN, 337 So. 2d 1024 (Fla. 2d DCA 1976)
- Freeman v. State, 433 So. 2d 9 (Fla. 2d DCA 1983)
- Parker v. State, 363 So. 2d 383 (Fla. 3d DCA 1978)
- State v. Vollmer, 347 So. 2d 432 (Fla. 1977)