CAROL SUSAN GETREU, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 2d DCA | 1991-04-17
No. 90-01661
SCHEB, A.C.J., and PARKER, J., concur.
578 So. 2d 412 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (1991) Caution
Cited by 17 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

Carol Susan Getreu appeals her convictions for drug trafficking and possession offenses, challenging the validity of the search warrant used to search her home. The court finds the probable cause affidavit facially deficient because it fails to establish when and where the cocaine was observed and whether it was located in the dwelling, rendering the warrant invalid and requiring reversal of the convictions.


Holding

The court holds that the affidavit is facially deficient because it lacks a factual basis showing when and where the cocaine was observed and fails to establish that the contraband was located within the dwelling. The good faith exception does not apply because the omissions violate specific statutory requirements that a reasonably trained officer should know, making reliance on the warrant objectively unreasonable.


Headnotes

[1] A search warrant affidavit must provide a factual basis to show when and where a confidential informant observed contraband.

[2] A search warrant affidavit for a dwelling must establish probable cause that narcotics laws are being violated within the dwelling.

Previewing 2 of 6 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

Key Quotes

“Because the affidavit lacks a factual basis to show when and where the informant observed David in possession of the cocaine, it falls short of constitutional requirements for probable cause.”

The core holding establishing why the affidavit is constitutionally deficient

Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

A confidential informant advised sheriff's deputies that a male named David, known to live with Carol Susan Norman (Getreu), was in possession of appr…

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.


Opinion of the Court
THREADGILL, Judge.

THREADGILL, Judge.

Carol Susan Getreu appeals her convictions of trafficking in cocaine, possession of cannabis, and possession of drug paraphernalia. She challenges two trial rulings and the denial of her motion to suppress. We do not reach the trial issues, however, because our decision on the motion to suppress is dispositive. The appellant contends that the probable cause affidavit in support of the warrant to search her home was deficient. We agree and reverse.

The warrant issued on the basis of the following probable cause allegations appearing in an affidavit from two Hills-borough County Sheriff deputies:

During the week of December 6, 1987, confidential informant 87-26, hereby referred to as confidential informant, did contact your affiant and advised your affiant that a white male known by the confidential informant only as David, last name unknown, is in possession of approximately eighty-four (84) grams of cocaine, as personally observed by the confidential informant.

Confidential informant advised your affiant that subject David lives in the residence as described in exhibit “A”, with a white female by the name of Carol Susan Norman, which was confirmed by a Tampa Electric Company address check.

Because the affidavit lacks a factual basis to show when and where the informant observed David in possession of the cocaine, it falls short of constitutional requirements for probable cause. U.S. Const, amend. IV; Art. I, § 12, Fla. Const. (1982).

Florida law specifically proscribes the issuance of a warrant to search a dwelling for narcotics unless “[t]he law relating to narcotics or drug abuse is being violated therein (emphasis added).” § 933.18(5), Fla.Stat. (1987); see State v. Bernie, 472 So. 2d 1243, 1245-46 (Fla. 2d DCA 1985). Failure to allege facts from which a magistrate can find probable cause to believe there is contraband inside a dwelling renders the warrant invalid. See Brown v. State, 561 So. 2d 1248 (Fla. 2d DCA 1990); Garcia v. State, 554 So. 2d 1223 (Fla. 2d DCA 1990).

We find therefore that the affidavit was legally insufficient for failure to show the cocaine was located within the dwelling. The affidavit also lacks a factual basis as to when the informant observed David in possession of cocaine. The sole allegation as to time pinpoints the date the informant spoke to the affiants, not the date he saw David in possession of cocaine.

The same deficiency invalidated a search warrant in Rand v. State, 484 So. 2d 1367 (Fla. 2d DCA 1986). Rand’s sole allegation as to time read: “within the last ten days he [the affiant] interviewed two confidential informants who claimed to have observed marijuana growing at a location on Pine Road in Lee County, Florida....” Id. See also King v. State, 410 So. 2d 586 (Fla. 2d DCA 1982). Thus the absence of an allegation as to when the cocaine was seen in David’s possession also invalidates the probable cause affidavit.

The state urges that the affidavit is sufficient when the totality of the circumstances is examined, citing Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983). The totality of the circumstances test requires the magistrate “to make a practical, common-sense decision whether, given all the circumstances set forth in the affidavit before him, including the ‘veracity’ and ‘basis of knowledge’ of persons supplying hearsay information, there is a fair probability that contraband or evidence of a crime will be found in a particular place.” 462 U.S. at 238, 103 S.Ct. at 2332.

The state argues that the informant’s reliability as evinced by his “personal” observation of the cocaine and knowledge that David lived with the appellant are circumstances that offset the lack of a factual basis. We do not agree because an additional factual basis cannot be inferred from these circumstances; thus, they add nothing to a magistrate’s knowledge as to when and where the contraband was observed.

At oral argument the state asserted that testimony not transcribed for appeal would show that the magistrate issued the warrant based on the officers’ testimony. This argument, however, overlooks the affidavit requirement of section 933.18(10), Florida Statutes (1987), which provides in part: “[n]o warrant shall be issued for the search of any private dwelling under any of the conditions hereinabove mentioned except on sworn proof by affidavit of some credible witness that he has reason to believe that one of said conditions exists, which affidavit shall set forth the facts on which such reason for belief is based.” The state is not permitted to support an affidavit for search of a dwelling with additional evidence. Panzavecchia v. State, 201 So. 2d 762 (Fla. 3d DCA 1967); see State v. Martin, 539 So. 2d 577 (Fla. 5th DCA 1989).

Therefore, we conclude that no other circumstances offset the facial deficiencies of the affidavit and the warrant was invalid for lack of probable cause.

The invalidity of the warrant notwithstanding, the state contends that the search can be upheld on the good faith exception enunciated in United States v. Leon, 468 U.S. 897, 104 S.Ct. 3405, 82 L.Ed.2d 677 (1984). Leon reasoned that the exclusionary rule was intended to deter police misconduct, not to rectify an individual right. Id. at 906, 104 S.Ct. at 3411-12.

Therefore, where the police act in good faith on a warrant they have no reason to believe is invalid, the deterrent effect of suppressing illegally seized evidence is minimal. 468 U.S. at 919-20, 104 S.Ct. at 3418-19. The test for good faith is “whether a reasonably trained officer would have known that the search was illegal despite the magistrate’s authorization.” 468 U.S. at 922 n. 23, 104 S.Ct. at 3420 n. 23. “Nor would an officer manifest objective good faith in relying on a warrant based on an affidavit ‘so lacking in indicia of probable cause as to render official belief in its existence entirely unreasonable.’ ” 468 U.S. at 923, 104 S.Ct. at 3421. The objective good faith standard requires officers to have a reasonable knowledge of what the law prohibits. Id. at 919 n. 20, 104 S.Ct. at 3419 n. 20.

The affidavit in this ease precludes good faith reliance on the warrant because it omits requirements specifically prescribed by law. Subsection 933.18(5) prohibits the issuance of a search warrant to search a private dwelling unless “[t]he law relating to narcotics or drug abuse is being violated therein (emphasis added).” Subsection 933.18(10) prohibits the issuance of a warrant for a dwelling unless the affidavit contains a factual basis. A reasonably trained officer may be expected to know these requirements.

In summary, we find that the affidavit is facially deficient in failing to provide a factual basis to show where or when the contraband was observed. We also find that neither other circumstances nor the good faith exception of Leon overcome these deficiencies. We therefore reverse the appellant’s convictions.

Reversed.

SCHEB, A.C.J., and PARKER, J., concur.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Doorbal v. State, 837 So. 2d 940 (Fla. 2003)
    …hat the home was being used for gambling purposes, and that the defendant had been seen on an unspecified day counting money in the home. The facts in the instant case present a picture of far greater culpability and involvement. In Getreu v. State, 578 So. 2d 412 (Fla. 2d DCA 1991), the warrant in question was completely lacking in specificity as to the drug activity alleged to have taken place in the residence in question. Conversely, in Doorbal’s case the supporting affidavit not only placed Door-bal and L…
  • Nestor Garcia v. State, 872 So. 2d 326 (Fla. 2d DCA 2004)
    …ates v. Leon, 468 U.S. 897, 104 S.Ct. 3405, 82 L.Ed.2d 677 (1984). We disagree. Where, as here, the supporting affidavit fails to establish probable cause to justify a search, Florida courts refuse to apply the good faith exception. Getreu v. State, 578 So. 2d 412 (Fla. 2d DCA 1991); Bonilla v. State, 579 So. 2d 802 (Fla. 5th DCA 1991). Our reversal will not affect the convictions for all charges. However, Garcia’s written plea agreement specifies that if he is successful on appeal, he will be resen-tenced o…
  • State v. Vanderhors, 927 So. 2d 1011 (Fla. 2d DCA 2006)
    …did not indicate when the confidential informant (Cl) observed the contraband or provide the dates when the controlled buys and surveillance occurred. In reaching this conclusion, the trial court relied on this court’s decisions in Getreu v. State, 578 So. 2d 412 (Fla. 2d DCA 1991); Rand v. State, 484 So. 2d 1367 (Fla. 2d DCA 1986); and King v. State, 410 So. 2d 586 (Fla. 2d DCA 1982). A search warrant must be based on probable cause supported by an affidavit. Art. I, § 12, Fla. Const. To establish probable…

Previewing 3 of 9 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Authorities Cited

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw