EDWIN ANTHONY EVANS, APPELLANT,
v.
THE STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.
Evans was approached by a police officer without probable cause or reasonable suspicion while sitting on a park bench at 4 a.m. When ordered to remove his hands from his pockets, cocaine fell out. The court reversed the conviction, holding that the cocaine should have been suppressed because the officer's command was unconstitutional and the contraband was not voluntarily abandoned.
The court held that the cocaine should have been suppressed. A reasonable person in the defendant's situation would not have believed he was free to disobey the officer's command, making the seizure unconstitutional. The contraband was not voluntarily abandoned but was revealed only because of a constitutionally unjustified police order.
[1] A police officer's request for a person to remove their hands from their pockets, made for the officer's own safety, constitutes a seizure when a reasonable person in the…
[2] Contraband revealed as a result of a constitutionally unjustified police order is not voluntarily abandoned.
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“a reasonable person [in the defendant's situation] would have believed he was not free to [disobey the officer]”
Establishes the legal test for whether a police encounter constituted an unlawful seizure, requiring reversal of the trial court's finding of voluntary abandonment
Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceOfficer Picallo confronted Evans sitting on a park bench at 4 o'clock in the morning without probable cause or reasonable suspicion. The officer asked…
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Fourth Amendment (Search And Seizure) cases and more on FLexlaw
SCHWARTZ, Chief Judge.
Without probable cause or reasonable suspicion, Officer Picallo confronted Evans sitting on a park bench at 4 o’clock in the morning. After he “asked” the defendant to take his hands out of his pockets, for, as Picallo stated, “[the officer’s] own safety,” Evans did so and a small packet of cocaine dropped to the ground.1 The cocaine was not but should have been suppressed below. Given the realties of the situation, and notwithstanding the policeman’s contrary statement, it is clear that “a reasonable person [in the defendant’s situation] would have believed he was not free to [disobey the officer].” See United States v. Mendenhall, 446 U.S. 544, 555, 100 S.Ct. 1870, 1877, 64 L.Ed.2d 497, 509 (1980); Florida 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 he do? A. He just started walking towards me basically. Q. At what time — what did you ask him? A. Remove his hands from his pockets. Q. Did you ask him or order him? A. I asked him. Q. Was he free to leave? A. Yes, he was. Q. What, if anything, did the defendant do? A. He removed his hands from his pockets. Q. What, if anything, did you observe? A. When he removed I believe it was his right hand, a small packet fell out which after I observed it contained powder cocaine. Q. It was in a clear plastic bag? A. Yes, it was.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By (17 total)
-
Hines v. State, 737 So. 2d 1182 (Fla. 1st DCA 1999)…fety-minded request that defendant remove his hands from his pockets was a minimal intrusion on defendant’s personal freedom and “did not transform the encounter into a stop”); State v. Woodard, 681 So. 2d 733 (Fla. 2d DCA 1996); cf. Evans v. State, 546 So. 2d 1125 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989) (where officer casually encountered defendant sitting on park bench at 4:00 A.M. and, for safety reasons, asked defendant to take his hands out of his pockets, during which removal a small packet of cocaine dropped to the ground,…
-
Dees v. State, 564 So. 2d 1166 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990)…dant make a quick motion with his hand between his legs, and then ordered the defendant out of the vehicle.) McCreary, 538 So. 2d at 1378. The court concluded that there was no founded suspicion to justify the stop. Id. at 1379. In Evans v. State, 546 So. 2d 1125 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989), an officer who found defendant sitting on a park bench at 4 a.m., “ ‘asked’ the defendant to take his hands out of his pockets, for, as [the officer] stated, ‘[the officer’s] own safety.’ ” Id. at 1125. The court held that a reas…
-
Johnson v. State, 610 So. 2d 581 (Fla. 1st DCA 1992)…circumstances demonstrate a reasonable person would not have felt free to leave. Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968); J.C.W. v. State, 545 So. 2d 306, 307 (1st DCA), rev. den., 553 So. 2d 1165 (Fla.1989); Evans v. State, 546 So. 2d 1125 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989) (cocaine should have been suppressed because of invalid seizure resulting from officer’s asking defendant to remove hands from pockets). Appellant was seized, as Officer Bates’ order for Appellant to take his hands out of his pock…
Previewing 3 of 17 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Florida v. Royer, 460 U.S. 491 (U.S. 1983)
- United States v. Mendenhall, 446 U.S. 544 (U.S. 1980)
- Jenkins v. State, 524 So. 2d 1108 (Fla. 3d DCA 1988)
- Wallace v. State, 540 So. 2d 254 (Fla. 4th DCA 1989)