STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLANT,
v.
MICHAEL D. MYERS, APPELLEE
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Florida appeals the trial court's suppression of marijuana and paraphernalia found in plain view during a lawful arrest warrant execution. The appellate court holds that the plain view doctrine allowed seizure of the contraband despite a minor delay between removing the suspect and seizing the observed evidence.
The officers lawfully seized the contraband under the plain view doctrine. The three-to-six-minute delay between observing the contraband and seizing it, and the physical removal of the defendant from the room, did not negate the officers' constitutional right to seize evidence observed in plain view during a lawful entry.
[1] Contraband observed in plain view by law enforcement officers lawfully present in a constitutionally protected area may be seized without a warrant.
[2] A brief delay between the observation of contraband in plain view and its seizure does not negate the officers' right to seize it.
Previewing 2 of 3 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“When an officer legally enters a constitutionally protected area and observes contraband in plain view, he may constitutionally seize it without first obtaining a warrant.”
Establishes the plain view doctrine applicable to this case
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceOfficers lawfully entered the defendant's bedroom to execute an arrest warrant. Two officers independently observed an open box protruding from under …
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OTT, Judge.
Appellee was charged with possession of a felony amount of marijuana and paraphernalia. The trial court granted appel-lee’s motion to suppress evidence which officers observed in plain view while executing a warrant for appellee’s arrest. We reverse.
Law enforcement officers lawfully and properly entered appellee’s bedroom for the purpose of executing a warrant for his arrest. Upon entering the room, two officers immediately — albeit independently of each other — observed an open box protruding from under a bed on which appellee was sleeping. Both officers clearly identified a quantity of marijuana seeds in the box. These facts are not disputed. Testimony presented at the suppression hearing is conflicting as to the exact sequence of events that thereafter followed. The trial court found that appellee was taken from the bedroom to the living room and thereafter the box containing the marijuana seeds was removed from the bedroom. We accept, as we must, this finding of fact. It was then discovered that the box also contained drug paraphernalia. Based on the testimony which supports the trial court’s finding and which he obviously believed, a three-to-six-minute delay occurred between defendant being removed from the bedroom and the box being brought out by an officer or officers who remained in the bedroom after appellee was removed to the living room.
The trial court granted appellee’s motion to suppress, reasoning that once appellee was removed from the bedroom the officers no longer had a right to seize the contraband.
Appellee has not challenged the officers’ right to enter the bedroom. When an officer legally enters a constitutionally protected area and observes contraband in plain view, he may constitutionally seize it without first obtaining a warrant. Ensor v. State, 403 So. 2d 349 (Fla.1981). Neither the delay of a few minutes between observance of the contraband and actual seizure nor the physical removal of appellee from the room negated the right of the officers to seize the contraband observed in plain view. Cf. State v. Johnson,. 403 So. 2d 1095 (Fla. 4th DCA 1981).
Accordingly, it was error for the trial court to grant appellee’s motion to suppress.
REVERSED and REMANDED.
GRIMES, A.C.J., and LEHAN, J., concur.
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Citator
Authorities Cited
- Elton E. Ensor v. State, 403 So. 2d 349 (Fla. 1981)
- Beach Enters., Inc. v. La-Gar, Inc., 403 So. 2d 1095 (Fla. 4th DCA 1981)