STATE OF FLORIDA
v.
J. J. T.

Fla. 2d DCA | 2020-05-08
No. 19-2008
Morris, J., Salario, J., Rothstein-Youakim, J.
292 So. 3d 30 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (2020) Positive Treatment
Cited by 1 case

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Synopsis

The State appealed the suppression of marijuana evidence and incriminating statements found on a juvenile at school. The appellate court affirmed the suppression orders, holding that the vice principal lacked reasonable suspicion to seize the backpack and that the subsequent statements were fruit of the illegal seizure.


Holding

The court affirmed the suppression of both the marijuana evidence and the incriminating statements. The backpack seizure by the vice principal violated the Fourth Amendment because the official lacked reasonable suspicion. The incriminating statements were properly suppressed as fruit of the poisonous tree resulting from the unlawful seizure.


Headnotes

[1] A school official must have reasonable suspicion to seize a student's backpack.

[2] Incriminating statements made by a student to police after an illegal seizure by a school official are suppressible as fruit of the poisonous tree.

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Key Quotes

“the standard for a search and seizure by a school official is one of reasonable suspicion”

Establishes the applicable legal standard for evaluating the vice principal's seizure of the backpack

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Facts & Procedural History

J.J.T. was charged with possession of more than twenty grams of marijuana. A school vice principal seized J.J.T.'s backpack and found marijuana inside…

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Opinion of the Court
Youakim

PER CURIAM. In this delinquency case involving a charge of possession of more than twenty grams of marijuana, the State appeals from orders granting J.J.T.'s motions to suppress evidence of marijuana found in his backpack at school and his subsequent

- 2 - post-Miranda1 incriminating statements.

The trial court correctly suppressed the evidence of marijuana in J.J.T.'s backpack because the school's vice principal lacked reasonable suspicion to seize the backpack, and we affirm that order. See R.S.M. v. State, 911 So. 2d 283, 284 (Fla. 2d DCA 2005) (explaining that "the standard for a search and seizure by a school official is one of reasonable suspicion").

Although we disagree with the trial court's conclusion that J.J.T. did not knowingly and voluntarily waive his Miranda rights,2 we nonetheless affirm the order suppressing his incriminating statements made to police after the vice principal found the marijuana because they were the fruit of the illegal seizure. See, e.g., J.R. v. State, 149 So. 3d 1196, 1198 (Fla. 4th DCA 2014) (reversing order denying a motion to suppress where the police lacked reasonable suspicion to stop and pat down a juvenile and holding that "the trial court should have suppressed the marijuana and incriminating statements resulting from the unlawful search and seizure as 'fruit of the poisonous tree' " (quoting Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 487-88 (1963))).

Affirmed. MORRIS, SALARIO, and ROTHSTEIN-YOUAKIM, JJ., Concur. 1See Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436 (1966). 2See State v. Herrera, 201 So. 3d 192, 197-201 (Fla. 2d DCA 2016) (reversing order suppressing a juvenile confession in a case involving interrogation techniques more aggressive than those employed here).


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