IN RE THE FORFEITURE OF $6,003.00 IN U.S. CURRENCY. DEPARTMENT OF HIGHWAY SAFETY AND MOTOR VEHICLES, APPELLANT,
v.
OSWALD COLEMAN AND JESSIE WILLIAMS, APPELLEES
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The Florida Court of Appeal affirmed a judgment ordering the Department of Highway Safety to return $6,003 seized from Coleman and Williams, holding that the drug courier profile used to justify their traffic stop was too general and unparticularized to establish reasonable suspicion under the Fourth Amendment and Terry v. Ohio.
The court held that the drug courier profile was too general and unparticularized to support a Terry stop under the Fourth Amendment, and because the seized money was not contraband per se, it must be returned to Coleman and Williams.
[1] A law enforcement officer's "drug courier profile" is insufficient, on its own, to establish reasonable suspicion for a traffic stop if it amounts to an unparticularized…
[2] Florida law requires state courts to construe Fourth Amendment rights in conformity with decisions of the United States Supreme Court.
Previewing 2 of 5 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 profile made up by this patrolman did not establish any more than the "unparticularized suspicion or 'hunch'" condemned by the United States Supreme Court in Terry v. Ohio”
Establishes that the drug courier profile failed to meet the particularized suspicion standard required for a lawful Terry stop
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceA highway patrol trooper stopped a vehicle driven by Coleman and occupied by Coleman and Williams traveling northbound on Interstate 95 in the evening…
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DAUKSCH, Judge.
This is an appeal from a judgment ordering the Department of Highway Safety to return to the appellees, Coleman and Williams, money seized by a highway patrol trooper. The patrolman observed Coleman driving a car on the interstate highway and because he and Williams fit that patrolman’s drug courier profile a stop was made. The patrolman testified that although Coleman had not broken any law he stopped him because in his experience persons who fit the profile sometimes carried drugs. The profile devised by the patrolman was similar to the one discussed in United States v. Smith, 799 F. 2d 704 (11th Cir.1986). The same patrolman is involved in both cases.
In this case the Department says the profile consisted of:
1) a late model vehicle;
2) Florida rental tags;
3) two occupants observed initially in the vehicle;
4) the driver appeared to be male;
5) the driver appeared to be approximately 35 years of age;
6) the vehicle was traveling northbound on Interstate 95, a route frequently used by drug couriers;
7) the vehicle was traveling in the evening in an extremely cautious manner;
8) the driver did not look at the trooper as the Appellees’ vehicle passed the patrol car. In Smith the profile was:
The car was travelling 50 miles per hour. The car was occupied by two individuals who were approximately thirty years of age.
The car displayed out of state tags. The driver appeared to be driving overly cautious and did not look in our direction as he proceeded past us. The car was traveling at 3:00 o’clock in the morning.
Id., at 706.
Regarding this federal constitutional issue, the federal court has spoken by way of dictum in Smith. The court of appeals said the profile made up by this patrolman did not establish any more than the “unparticularized suspicion or ‘hunch’ ” condemned by the United States Supreme Court in Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 27, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 1883, 20 L.Ed.2d 889, 909 (1968). Article I, Section 12 of the Florida Constitution requires all courts of this state to construe fourth amendment rights in conformity with the decisions of the United States Supreme Court. Terry allows police stops only where the officer has a reasonable suspicion that the detainee either is committing, has committed or is about to commit a crime. The drug courier profile used in this case is too general and unpar-ticularized to support a Terry stop, so says the federal appeals court. We agree. Perhaps over time and with more experience an adequate, particularized profile can be established to assist the state in identifying with more definiteness the illegal-drug mules on our highways. Drug courier and other criminal profiles are not per se invalid and some have been upheld. U.S. v. Sharpe, 470 U.S. 675, 105 S.Ct. 1568, 84 L.Ed.2d 605 (1985); Florida v. Royer, 460 U.S. 491, 103 S.Ct. 1319, 75 L.Ed.2d 229 (1983); U.S. v. Cortez, 449 U.S. 411, 101 S.Ct. 690, 66 L.Ed.2d 621 (1981) cert, den., 455 U.S. 923, 102 S.Ct. 1281, 71 L.Ed.2d 464 (1982).
Because the money seized is not contraband per se the Department is bound to return it to the persons from whom it was taken.
AFFIRMED.
UPCHURCH, C.J., and COWART, J., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
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Cresswell v. State, 564 So. 2d 480 (Fla. 1990)…ed States v. Miller, 821 F. 2d 546, 5407 (11th Cir.1987) with United States v. Smith, 799 F. 2d 704, 706 (11th Cir.1986) and with majority op. at 481 and with State v. Johnson, 561 So. 2d 1139, 1140 (Fla.1990) and with In re Forfeiture of $6,003.00, 505 So. 2d 668, 669 (Fla. 5th DCA), review denied, 511 So. 2d 998 (Fla.), cert. denied, 484 U.S. 965, 108 S.Ct. 455, 98 L.Ed.2d 395 (1987). And all of these cases differ substantially from the one at bar. For this reason alone, I cannot join the majority. As to t…
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Condo. Ass'n OF LA MER Ests., Inc. v. The Bank OF NEW York Mellon Corp., 137 So. 3d 396 (Fla. 4th DCA 2014)
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State v. Johnson, 516 So. 2d 1015 (Fla. 5th DCA 1987)…the stop on the sole ground that the initial stop was illegal. The State appeals. Because we are bound by the prior decision of this court where the drug courier profile developed by the same trooper was involved, in In re; Forfeiture of $6,003.00, 505 So. 2d 668 (Fla. 5th DCA 1987), we must affirm. However, there are persuasive arguments in support of the validity of drug courier profiles as a basis for an investigatory traffic stop, which we believe warrant further discussion and review by the Supreme Cour…
Previewing 3 of 9 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)
- Florida v. Royer, 460 U.S. 491 (U.S. 1983)
- United States v. Cortez, 449 U.S. 411 (U.S. 1981)
- United States v. Sharpe, 470 U.S. 675 (U.S. 1985)
- United States v. Smith, 799 F.2d 704 (11th Cir. 1986)
- Cortez v. United States, 455 U.S. 923 (U.S. 1982)
- Chicco v. Peck, 455 U.S. 923 (U.S. 1982)