JAMES A. RAND, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 2d DCA | 1986-03-14
No. 85-1076
CAMPBELL, A.C.J., and FRANK, J., concur.
484 So. 2d 1367 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (1986) Caution
Cited by 20 cases

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Synopsis

James Rand was charged with cannabis possession and filed a motion to suppress evidence obtained via search warrant. The appellate court held that the search warrant's supporting affidavit was fatally deficient because it failed to allege the specific time when marijuana was observed on Rand's premises, and the good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule did not apply given the officer's six years of experience drafting such affidavits.


Holding

The affidavit was insufficient because it failed to allege the specific time when the marijuana was observed on the premises. The good-faith exception under United States v. Leon did not apply because the deputy officer, with over six years of experience drafting search warrant affidavits and knowledge that such temporal specificity was critical, could not be said to have acted in objectively reasonable reliance on a warrant he himself knew was facially deficient.


Headnotes

[1] An affidavit supporting a search warrant must allege the specific time or times when an informant observed illegal activity.

[2] An officer's reliance on a search warrant is not objectively reasonable when the supporting affidavit is facially deficient regarding the time of observation of contraban…

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Key Quotes

“an affidavit supporting a search warrant must contain the specific time or times when the informant observed the illegal activity”

Establishes the governing legal standard for sufficiency of search warrant affidavits

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Facts & Procedural History

Rand was charged with manufacturing or possessing cannabis in excess of twenty grams. A search warrant was issued based on an affidavit stating only t…

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Opinion of the Court
SANDERLIN, Judge.

SANDERLIN, Judge.

Appellant James A. Rand was charged in a one count information with the manufacture or possession of cannabis in excess of twenty grams in violation of sections 893.-13(l)(a) and (e), Florida Statutes (1983). Appellant filed a motion to suppress evidence seized pursuant to a search warrant on the basis that the affidavit supporting the warrant failed to allege sufficient probable cause. After a nonevidentiary hearing, the trial judge granted appellant’s motion. Later, however, the trial judge advised counsel for appellant and the state that he had changed his mind and retracted his order granting the motion to suppress. An evidentiary hearing was then held, after which the trial judge denied appellant’s motion. Appellant pled no contest to the charge, reserving his right to appeal the denial of his motion to suppress evidence. The trial court found appellant guilty as charged and placed him on probation for five years. This timely appeal followed. We agree with appellant that the trial court erred in denying his motion; therefore, we reverse appellant’s conviction and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

The affidavit in support of the warrant issued here reads in pertinent part:

1. That within the last ten days he [the affiant] interviewed two confidential informants who claimed to have observed marijuana growing at a location on Pine Road in Lee County, Florida_ (emphasis supplied)

The affidavit contained no allegation of when the informants observed the marijuana on appellant’s premises.

In King v. State, 410 So. 2d 586 (Fla. 2d DCA 1982), we held that an affidavit supporting a search warrant must contain the specific time or times when the informant observed the illegal activity. Id. at 587. The affidavit held insufficient in King stated only that the officer met and received his information from the informant within the last six days of the date of the affida vit. There was no allegation regarding the date the illegal activity occurred.

There is no meaningful distinction between the affidavit in question here and the one held insufficient in King. Accordingly, we hold that the affidavit in support of the search warrant issued in the present case was insufficient for failing to allege the specific time or times when the marijuana was observed on appellant’s premises.

The state urges that even if we find the affidavit insufficient, we should nevertheless affirm the trial court’s order on the basis of the so-called “good-faith” exception to the exclusionary rule enunciated in U.S. v. Leon, — U.S. -, 104 S.Ct. 3405, 82 L.Ed.2d 677 (1984). In Leon, the Supreme Court held that the exclusionary rule should not be applied to evidence obtained as a result of an illegal search when the officer conducting the search acts in “objectively reasonable reliance” on a warrant issued by a “detached and neutral magistrate” that is subsequently determined to be defective or invalid.

Under the Leon analysis, the crucial issue in the present case is whether the deputy acted with “objectively reasonable reliance” on the warrant which he obtained and then executed.

The deputy who sought the warrant issued here had been drafting affidavits for search warrants for over six years. Further, he testified that he knew it was critical to the validity of a warrant for the supporting affidavit to contain an allegation of when the contraband was observed on the premises. Despite this admission, he also testified that he thought the affidavit and warrant issued here were valid.

Under these facts, we are unable to hold that the deputy acted in “objectively reasonable reliance” on this warrant which he himself admitted was facially deficient for failing to allege when the contraband was observed on the premises. See Leon, 104 S.Ct. at 3422.

Accordingly, we decline to apply the Leon good-faith exception to the exclusionary rule to the facts of this case. We, therefore, hold that the warrant issued here was invalid insomuch as its supporting affidavit failed to allege probable cause and, as such, the trial court erred in denying appellant’s motion to suppress evidence. Appellant’s judgment and sentence are hereby REVERSED and the case REMANDED for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.

CAMPBELL, A.C.J., and FRANK, J., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • State v. Vanderhors, 927 So. 2d 1011 (Fla. 2d DCA 2006)
    …(Cl) observed the contraband or provide the dates when the controlled buys and surveillance occurred. In reaching this conclusion, the trial court relied on this court’s decisions in Getreu v. State, 578 So. 2d 412 (Fla. 2d DCA 1991); Rand v. State, 484 So. 2d 1367 (Fla. 2d DCA 1986); and King v. State, 410 So. 2d 586 (Fla. 2d DCA 1982). A search warrant must be based on probable cause supported by an affidavit. Art. I, § 12, Fla. Const. To establish probable cause, the affidavit must set forth two elements:…
    1 / 2
  • Sonny E. Brown v. State, 561 So. 2d 1248 (Fla. 2d DCA 1990)
    …CA 1988) (Good faith exception did not apply where affiant did not personally check information regarding the Cl’s reliability and had not verified information from investigator to whom the Cl was to have given reliable information.); Rand v. State, 484 So. 2d 1367 (Fla. 2d DCA 1986) (Officer could not reasonably rely on a warrant where the affidavit contained no allegation of when contraband was observed on the premises and the deputy knew it was critical to warrant’s validity). Thus, reliance on the warrant…
  • ST. Angelo v. State, 532 So. 2d 1346 (Fla. 1st DCA 1988)
    …nt in failing to demonstrate probable cause. It fails to establish the informant’s credibility and basis of knowledge. Compare Vasquez v. State, 491 So. 2d 297 (Fla. 3d DCA 1986); Wallace v. State, 442 So. 2d 1066 (Fla. 1st DCA 1983); Rand v. State, 484 So. 2d 1367 (Fla. 2d DCA 1986). At most, the statements made in the affidavit indicate that someone else other than the affiant considered the informant to be reliable, but there was no corroboration of reliability from an independent source. Davis v. State, 34…

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