DARRELL DENARD HERNANDEZ, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 2d DCA | 1991-05-29
No. 90-01076
Lehan, J., Danahy, A.C.J., Parker, J.
580 So. 2d 325 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (1991) Positive Treatment
Cited by 2 cases

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Synopsis

The court reversed the conviction for carrying a concealed firearm because the initial stop lacked founded suspicion and the pat-down search lacked reasonable belief that the defendant was armed.


Holding

A stop of a defendant is illegal when officers lack founded suspicion that a crime has been committed or is about to be committed, and a pat-down search is illegal when the searching officer lacks reasonable belief that the defendant is armed.


Headnotes

[1] A pat-down search conducted during an unlawful stop is illegal when the searching officer lacks reasonable belief that the subject is armed, even if a weapon is discovere…

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Facts & Procedural History

An officer observed a group of black males in a drug trafficking area, with one individual approaching cars and making contact with persons inside. Of…

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Opinion of the Court
LEHAN, Judge.

LEHAN, Judge.

In this prosecution for carrying a concealed firearm, we reverse the denial of defendant’s motion to suppress a gun found on him during a search under the following circumstances.

An officer testified that he had observed a group of black males standing together in an area known for drug trafficking. One of the individuals, according to the officer, would leave the group and approach a car, make contact with a person in the ear, and then walk away. The officer could not identify that individual as the defendant. Based upon those observations, additional officers approached the group and conducted a pat-down search of each member of the group. The officer who searched defendant and found the gun testified that he did not see in the group anyone with weapons or anything that looked like a weapon. He testified that the officers searched everyone in the group because a shooting had occurred in that area the night before.

The stop of defendant was illegal because the officers did not have a founded suspicion that a crime had been committed or was about to be committed. See Stevenson v. State, 565 So. 2d 858 (Fla. 2d DCA 1990); Jordan v. State, 544 So. 2d 1073, 1074 (Fla. 2d DCA 1989). In addition, the pat-down search was illegal because the officer who searched defendant did not have a reasonable belief that defendant was armed. See Daniels v. State, 543 So. 2d 363 (Fla. 1st DCA 1989).

Reversed and remanded for proceedings consistent herewith.

DANAHY, A.C.J., and PARKER, J„ concur.


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