STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLANT,
v.
MICHAEL FRANKLIN, APPELLEE
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Florida appealed a trial court's suppression of rock cocaine found in an aspirin container during a vehicle search. The Fourth District Court of Appeal reversed, holding that the deputy had sufficient probable cause based on the container's characteristics, the location's reputation as a high drug area, and the deputy's experience and training to seize and search the container.
The court held that the totality of the circumstances established probable cause for the deputy to seize and open the container. The deputy's expert opinion, combined with the high drug area location and the suspicious sound when shaking the container, met the reasonable person standard for probable cause.
[1] Probable cause to seize a container exists when the totality of the circumstances, including the location, the officer's training and experience, and the characteristics…
[2] A high drug area can be considered equivalent to a narcotics-transaction site for the purpose of establishing probable cause.
Previewing 2 of 4 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 issue is whether upon viewing the container, the deputy had sufficient probable cause to reasonably believe it contained contraband allowing for its seizure.”
States the central legal question on appeal regarding probable cause for seizure.
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceA deputy responded to a report of men with a gun in a car. Upon stopping the vehicle, the driver (Franklin) consented to a search for a gun. During th…
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
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[*1323] GARRETT, Judge.
The trial court granted appellee’s motion to suppress evidence. The state appeals. We reverse.
By stipulation the facts were presented in the form of a proffer to the trial court.
Deputy Burdick of the South Bay Police Department on routine patrol was dispatched to the South Bay area to investigate a report of a man carrying a gun. When the officer arrived at the scene, he was flagged down by a man who stated that two men in a car had a handgun. The officer stopped the car. Both appellee, the driver, and the passenger got out of the car, leaving the doors open. The deputy asked appellee whether he had a gun. Ap-pellee said, “no, you can check it if you want.” A search of the car was conducted to locate a gun. A closed aspirin travel container (a tube about three or four inches long and one-half inch wide) was observed in plain view and seized. Rock cocaine was found inside the container. Appellee was arrested.
The stopping of the car is not at issue. Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968). Appellee’s consent to the search of his car for a gun is not at issue.
The issue is whether upon viewing the container, the deputy had sufficient probable cause to reasonably believe it contained contraband allowing for its seizure.
The scene was described as a “high drug area.” The deputy had “training” and “vast experience” in narcotics investigations. He was “very familiar” with similar containers from other investigations and in his experience “ninety per cent of [such] containers would contain contraband.” Before opening the container, he shook it and heard what sounded to him like rock cocaine.
In P.L.R. v. State, 455 So. 2d 363 (Fla.1984), our supreme court upheld the seizure of marijuana at a known narcotics-transaction site. An officer removed an envelope recognized by him to be a container commonly used to carry narcotics from a boy’s shirt pocket, detected the smell of marijuana, and opened the envelope. Upon finding a “green vegetable matter” inside the envelope, the officer arrested the boy.
We find the totality of the circumstances established probable cause for the deputy to seize and open the container. A high drug area is equivalent to a narcotics-transaction site, the hearing of rattling rock cocaine is equivalent to detecting a smell of marijuana, and the aspirin container is equivalent to a manila envelope. The reasonable man standard is surely met when nine out of ten times the deputy’s expert opinion proves to be correct when confronted with the same type of container under like circumstances.
REVERSED AND REMANDED FOR FURTHER PROCEEDINGS CONSISTENT HEREWITH.
HERSEY, C.J., concurs.
WALDEN, J., dissents without opinion.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Authorities Cited
- Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (U.S. 1968)
- P.L.R. v. State, 455 So. 2d 363 (Fla. 1984)