THE STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLANT,
v.
MICHAEL HANNA, APPELLEE
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Florida appealed a suppression order in a drug case where police stopped defendant Hanna based on an anonymous tip about narcotics trafficking. The court reversed the suppression order, holding that the anonymous tip, corroborated by independent observation, provided reasonable suspicion for the investigatory stop, and that Tenie's statement provided probable cause for Hanna's arrest before his confession.
The court held that the anonymous tip, corroborated by independent police observations, provided reasonable suspicion justifying an investigatory stop. Tenie's statement naming Hanna as the owner of the discovered drugs provided probable cause for his arrest after approximately twenty minutes of detention. Therefore, Hanna's Miranda-warned confession was not tainted by an illegal detention or arrest.
[1] An anonymous tip, corroborated by independent police observations of predictive behavior, can establish reasonable suspicion for an investigatory stop.
[2] Information provided by an informant, identifying a suspect as the owner of contraband found in a residence, can establish probable cause for arrest.
Previewing 2 of 4 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“The information provided by the anonymous caller, which included details of identification and a prediction as to meaningful future behavior through information that could only have come from a special familiarity with the suspect's affairs, was corroborated by the officers' independent observations and was sufficient to meet the standard of reasonable suspicion to justify an investigatory stop of both vehicles.”
Establishes the court's holding that anonymous tip corroborated by independent observation provided reasonable suspicion for the stop.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligencePolice received an anonymous tip that Prince Adderly and Yolanda Tenie would leave their house in a blue and white Cadillac to transport narcotics, in…
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PER CURIAM.
Police officers received an anonymous tip that between the hours of 9 and 10 A.M., on the morning of December 3, 1991, Prince Adderly and Yolanda Tenie would leave their house in a blue and white Cadillac to transport and sell narcotics. The tipster gave the address of the couple’s residence, the tag number of the Cadillac, and the address of the building to which the drugs were being transported.
After verifying the information regarding the residence and Cadillac, a surveillance team went to the house in the early morning. Just a few minutes after 9 A.M., Hanna drove up, walked to the back of the house where he remained for just two minutes, and then returned to his car and sat for thirty minutes. A police sergeant ordered a stop of Hanna’s vehicle when he left the residence.
As an alternative justification for the stop of the defendant, one of the police officers testified that the defendant failed to make a complete stop at a stop sign after he left the house. Yolanda Tenie and Prince Adderly were also stopped after they left the surveilled house a short time later. Tenie gave permission to search the house wherein small amounts of cocaine and marijuana were discovered. She also told the police that the defendant owned the contraband and that he paid her $500 a week to store the drugs at her house. Hanna was presented with the statements of Tenie. After Miranda warnings were given, he admitted that the drugs were his.
In granting the defendant’s motion to suppress, the trial court ruled that the traffic stop was pretextual and that the detention of the defendant was otherwise illegal. We disagree that the detention was illegal without deciding whether the stop for a minor traffic infraction was valid.
The information provided by the anonymous caller, which included details of identification and a prediction as to meaningful future behavior through information that could only have come from a special familiarity with the suspect’s affairs, was corroborated by the officers’ independent observations and was sufficient to meet the standard of reasonable suspicion to justify an investigatory stop of both vehicles. Alabama v. White, 496 U.S. 325, 110 S.Ct. 2412, 110 L.Ed.2d 301 (1990); State v. Diaz, 595 So. 2d 969 (Fla. 3d DCA 1992).
The information given by Yolanda Tenie, naming the defendant as the owner of the drugs discovered in the residence where she lived, provided sufficient probable cause to arrest the defendant who had been detained, without questioning, for approximately twenty minutes. Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983). Consequently, the confession given by the defendant, after he was given Miranda warnings, was not tainted by an illegal detention or arrest.
The order suppressing the confession is reversed and the cause is remanded for further proceedings.
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Citator
Authorities Cited
- Illinois v. Gates et ux., 462 U.S. 213 (U.S. 1983)
- Alabama v. White, 496 U.S. 325 (U.S. 1990)
- State v. Diaz, 595 So. 2d 969 (Fla. 3d DCA 1992)