STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLANT,
v.
RODERICK FLONORY, APPELLEE

Fla. 5th DCA | 1990-08-09
No. 89-1403
COWART and GOSHORN, JJ„ concur.
566 So. 2d 310 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fifth District (1990) Positive Treatment
Cited by 2 cases

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.

Synopsis

The State appealed a trial court's order granting a new trial after the judge suppressed a defendant's taped confession, finding the arrest lacked probable cause. The appellate court reversed, holding that the evidence presented at trial established sufficient probable cause for the arrest and that the trial judge erred in basing the new trial order on a suppression hearing before a different judge.


Holding

The appellate court held that sufficient evidence presented at trial established probable cause for Flonory's arrest, and therefore the trial judge erred in granting the new trial. The court reversed and remanded the case, finding that the trial judge should have focused on whether evidence adduced at trial showed probable cause existed, not on the evidentiary standard applied at the pretrial suppression hearing before a different judge.


Headnotes

[1] A trial court may grant a new trial based on the improper admission of evidence at trial, even if that evidence was admitted pursuant to a prior ruling by a different jud…

[2] A prior ruling on a motion to suppress is not binding on the trial judge when considering a motion for a new trial based on the alleged improper admission of the same evi…

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Key Quotes

“Probable cause exists where the totality of the facts and circumstances within an officer's knowledge would cause a man of reasonable caution to believe that a criminal offense had been committed by the person who is to be arrested.”

States the legal standard for probable cause applicable to the arrest

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Facts & Procedural History

Roderick Flonory was convicted of second degree murder with a firearm. An eyewitness (Anthony Terry) reported the shooting victim was hit by gunshots …

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Opinion of the Court
COBB, Judge.

COBB, Judge.

Roderick Flonory, the defendant, was found guilty of second degree murder with a firearm. Subsequently, the trial judge granted a new trial based upon his determination that Flonory’s taped confession should have been suppressed at a pretrial hearing (held before a different judge) and was improperly admitted at trial. The basis of the ruling was the trial judge’s determination that the confession emanated from an arrest made without probable cause. The state now appeals the granting of the new trial.

In the instant case, the parties have agreed, for the purposes of this appeal, that a request by the police that Flonory go from his home to the police station for questioning was an arrest. After a careful review of the record, we find that there was sufficient evidence presented at trial that would give rise to probable cause for that arrest. It was error for the trial judge to base his new trial order, at least in part, on his review of the suppression hearing. The fact that the previous judge may have used the wrong evidentiary standard at that hearing is basically irrelevant in the present context. It was the introduction of the taped confession at trial which prejudiced (rightfully or wrongfully) the defendant and was the true issue at the post-trial hearing; the issue now before us is whether the evidence adduced at trial was sufficient to show that probable cause existed for the defendant’s arrest preceding his confession.

The evidence at trial shows that the shooting victim, Gary Johnson, had been brought to the hospital by several of his friends. At the hospital, a verbal statement was given to an investigating officer by one Anthony Terry, an eyewitness to the shooting. Terry said that Johnson had been hit by gunshots coming from a maroon Cutlass with two black males in it, one driving and the other firing from the front passenger seat. At the time of the shooting Johnson was standing beside a car occupied by two of his friends named Thayer and Thorp. Earlier that evening Thayer and Thorp had been involved in a fight with Croton and Clark. The latter was observed at the scene of the fight to have a handgun. When an officer interviewed Clark, he said that the gun he had been seen with at the time of the fight belonged to one Cory Cooper and he had returned it to Cooper at the scene. Clark mentioned Cooper’s nickname (“Bootsie”) and someone called either “Red” or “Rod.” Clark then rode with an officer around the neighborhood and identified a maroon car in a driveway as Cooper’s. The car was eventually searched with Cooper’s permission, and a .38 caliber shell casing was found therein. When Cooper was asked who he had been with that night, he said it was Roderick Flonory. Cooper then pointed out to the police where Flonory lived, whereupon Flo-nory was arrested and taken to the police station. There he confessed to the shooting after being given Miranda warnings.

Probable cause exists where the totality of the facts and circumstances within an officer’s knowledge would cause a man of reasonable caution to believe that a criminal offense had been committed by the person who is to be arrested. Bostick v. State, 554 So. 2d 1153, 1155 (Fla.1989). Certainly, there was sufficient information available to the arresting officers to indicate that Flonory was involved in criminal activity, as either the driver or gunman, in regard to the shooting of Johnson. State v. Riehl, 504 So. 2d 798 (Fla. 2d DCA), review denied, 513 So. 2d 1063 (Fla.1987).

Accordingly, based upon the undisputed evidence at trial in regard to the information afforded the officers prior to their arrest of Flonory, we find the trial court’s order granting a new trial cannot be sustained.

REVERSED AND REMANDED.

COWART and GOSHORN, JJ„ concur.


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Citator

Cited By

  • State v. Donnie Husky, 617 So. 2d 1131 (Fla. 4th DCA 1993)
    …chmitt v. State, 563 So. 2d 1095, 1098 (Fla. 4th DCA1990) (emphasis original) (citations omitted), quashed in part on other grounds, 590 So. 2d 404 (Fla.1991), cert. denied, — U.S.-, 112 S.Ct. 1572, 118 L.Ed.2d 216 (1992). See also State v. Flonory, 566 So. 2d 310 (Fla. 5th DCA1990), rev. denied, 576 So. 2d 286 (Fla.1991); State v. McCormack, 517 So. 2d 73 (Fla. 3d DCA1987); Thornton v. State, 559 So. 2d 438 (Fla. 1st DCA1990). Additionally, in P.L.R. v. State, 455 So. 2d 363 (Fla.1984), cert. denied, 469 U.S…

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