CHARLES WALLACE, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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A police demand that an individual disclose or hand over a concealed object is treated as a search, and abandonment is not persuasive when the object is discarded after such a demand without founded suspicion.
An officer demanded the defendant reveal what was in his hand without well-founded suspicion. The defendant replied 'nothing,' then opened a pill bott…
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LETTS, Judge.
This appeal is from the denial of a motion to suppress predicated on a police officer’s demand that the defendant reveal what was concealed in his hand. We reverse.
The state concedes that “the officer did not have a well-founded suspicion to stop the defendant and make a search.” The only issue before this court is whether there was an abandonment. When the officer here asked the defendant what he had in his hand, he replied: “nothing.” He then opened a blue pill bottle in his hand and threw the contents to the ground. The contents included a cocaine rock.
As was said in State v. Oliver, 368 So. 2d 1331, 1335 (Fla. 3d DCA 1979), cert. denied, 383 So. 2d 1200 (Fla.1980); “[a] police demand that an individual disclose or hand over a concealed object is treated as a search.” Despite the foregoing, the Third District found in Oliver that an abandonment occurred. However, the two suspects in that case had ridden off on their bicycles, discarding a bag as they rode away, before the officers ever made any demand. Recently, in Spann v. State, 529 So. 2d 825, 826 (Fla. 4th DCA 1988), this court held that when a police officer stops a defendant in his tracks without founded suspicion, and the defendant drops something, “the state’s abandonment theory is not persuasive.” See also Moore v. State, 181 So. 2d 164 (Fla. 3d DCA 1965). We, likewise, agree that the state’s abandonment argument is not persuasive in the case now before us.
Accordingly, the judgment and sentence appealed from are reversed.
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
GLICKSTEIN and WARNER, JJ., concur.
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Hollinger v. State, 620 So. 2d 1242 (Fla. 1993)…GRIMES, Justice. We review State v. Hollinger, 596 So. 2d 521 (Fla. 5th DCA 1992), because of certified conflict with Cox v. State, 586 So. 2d 1321 (Fla. 2d DCA 1991), Wallace v. State, 540 So. 2d 254 (Fla. 4th DCA 1989), and Spann v. State, 529 So. 2d 825 (Fla. 4th DCA 1988). We have jurisdiction under article V, section 3(b)(4) of the Florida Constitution. The facts of this case are set out fully in the opinion below. Basically, several member…1 / 2
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Evans v. State, 546 So. 2d 1125 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989)…v. Royer, 460 U.S. 491, 103 S.Ct. 1319, 75 L.Ed.2d 229 (1983). Hence, the contraband was not, as the trial judge held, voluntarily abandoned, but was rather revealed only because of a constitutionally unjustified police order. See Wallace v. State, 540 So. 2d 254 (Fla. 4th DCA 1989); Jenkins v. State, 524 So. 2d 1108 (Fla.3d DCA 1988). Reversed. . The officer described what happened after he inquired after Evans’s well-being: Q. Did he respond to you when you asked him how he was doing? A. No. Q. What did…
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Curry v. State, 570 So. 2d 1071 (Fla. 5th DCA 1990)…er under these circumstances, the defendant’s act of throwing down a packet containing contraband is a product of the illegal stop. The court found the state’s abandonment theory was, as a matter of law, “not persuasive.” See also, Wallace v. State, 540 So. 2d 254 (Fla. 4th DCA 1989). The trial court in this case attempted to distinguish Spann on the ground that in Spann (as well as in Wallace) the defendant actually stopped in response to the police officer’s order before he threw down the package of drugs.…
Previewing 3 of 12 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- State v. Oliver, 368 So. 2d 1331 (Fla. 3d DCA 1979)
- Spann v. State, 529 So. 2d 825 (Fla. 4th DCA 1988)
- Moore v. State, 181 So. 2d 164 (Fla. 3d DCA 1965)