RODNEY LEVINE, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 4th DCA | 1996-12-26
No. 96-1376
SHAHOOD and GROSS, JJ., concur.
684 So. 2d 903 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (1996) Positive Treatment
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.


Holding

The court held that police cannot create exigent circumstances to justify a warrantless entry into a dwelling.


Headnotes

[1] Police officers may not enter a dwelling without a warrant absent consent or exigent circumstances, even when they have probable cause.

[2] A warrantless entry into a dwelling cannot be justified by exigent circumstances created by the police.

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Facts & Procedural History

Police, using an informant, attempted to buy cocaine from the appellant in his motel room. After the appellant opened the door and then slammed it shu…

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Opinion of the Court
KLEIN, Judge.

KLEIN, Judge.

Acting on information received from an informant, police officers and the informant made an attempt to buy cocaine from appellant who was selling it out of his motel room. Because police forced their way in without a warrant when there were no exigent circumstances to justify entry, we suppress the drugs which they found inside.

The informant, after being stopped for driving without a license, offered to tell police the location of his cocaine supplier in exchange for not being arrested. At approximately 5:00 a.m., the informant and three officers went to the motel where the informant agreed to make a buy. Police concealed themselves from view, but were close enough to hear the ensuing conversation. After knocking on the door, and hearing a response from inside, the informant said “it’s me, let me have another twenty piece.” He then stepped in front of the window, so the appellant inside could see him. Upon seeing the informant, appellant opened the door. As soon as the door opened, a police officer stepped into view and identified himself as a deputy from the Broward sheriffs office. The appellant looked at the deputy and slammed the door. Police then broke the door down and found crack and a baggie of cocaine in plain view.

Even when they have probable cause, police officers may not enter a dwelling without a warrant, absent consent or exigent circumstances. Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573, 100 S.Ct. 1371, 63 L.Ed.2d 639 (1980). This motel room was a dwelling because appellant was living there. Gnann v. State, 662 So. 2d 406 (Fla. 2d DCA 1995). The state argues, however, that a warrantless entry was justified by exigent circumstances, i.e., the slamming of the door and the possibility that the appellant could have then destroyed the evidence by flushing it down the toilet.

The problem with the state’s argument is that, if these were exigent circumstances, they were created by the activity of the police officers. This case is therefore controlled by Hornblower v. State, 351 So. 2d 716, 718 (Fla.1977), in which our supreme court held that a warrantless search of a residence cannot be justified by exigent circumstances created by the police:

The State submits that the scurrying around by the occupant when the police knocked at the door and announced their presence supplied justification for a war-rantless search_ We reject this rationale .... Police could approach a dwelling, armed only with their own subjective suspicion that illegal activity was afoot, and wait for some suspicious movement, thereby giving them justification to break down the door and burst into the dwelling. Officers then would be equipped with the power to conduct any warrantless quest for evidence of guilt or of crime. Consequently, the suspicious movement which occurred when the police announced their presence cannot supply the exigent circumstances for the warrantless search.

See also Soldo v. State, 583 So. 2d 1080, 1082 (Fla. 3d DCA 1991). In the present case, there was no claim that there was insufficient time for the police to secure a search warrant.

The Florida Constitution provides that its provision against unreasonable searches and seizures “shall be construed in conformity with the 4th Amendment to the United States Constitution, as interpreted by the United States Supreme Court.” Art. I, § 12, Fla. Const. Accordingly, if the United States Supreme Court determined that exigent circumstances created by the police can justify forced entry, we would be obliged to follow it. The Court, has not, however, addressed this precise issue.1 We are thus bound by Homblower and therefore reverse the order denying the motion to suppress,

SHAHOOD and GROSS, JJ., concur. . Like the Florida Supreme Court, the fifth and eleventh circuits have held that the police cannot create exigent circumstances by their own conduct. United States v. Rico, 51 F. 3d 495 (5th Cir.), cert, denied, -U.S. -, 116 S.Ct. 220, 133 L.Ed.2d 150 (1995); See United States v. Tobin, 923 F. 2d 1506 (11th Cir.); cert, denied, 502 U.S. 907, 112 S.Ct. 299, 116 L.Ed.2d 243 (1991). The Second Circuit has adopted a different analysis and distinguished between illegal and legal behavior on the part of police which led to the creation of exigent circumstances. United States v. MacDonald, 916 F. 2d 766 (2d Cir.1990), cert. denied, 498 U.S. 1119, 111 S.Ct. 1071, 112 L.Ed.2d 1177 (1991), (en banc) (Judges Kearse, Oakes, and Feinberg dissenting). The DC Circuit has held ‘‘[a]s long as police measures are not deliberately designed to invent exigent circumstances,” it will not second-guess their effectiveness. United States v. Socey, 846 F. 2d 1439, 1449 (D.C.Cir.), cert, denied, 488 U.S. 858, 109 S.Ct. 152, 102 L.Ed.2d 123 (1988).


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Citator

Cited By

  • LEE v. State, 856 So. 2d 1133 (Fla. 1st DCA 2003)
    …onto private property without a warrant depends on the totality of the circumstances. See Davis v. State, 834 So. 2d 322, 327 (Fla. 5th DCA 2003). Some set of facts must exist that precludes taking the time to secure a warrant. See Levine v. State, 684 So. 2d 903, 904 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996). [*1137] Factors indicating exigent circumstances include (1) the gravity or violent nature of the offense with which the suspect is to be charged; (2) a reasonable belief that the suspect is armed; (3) probable cause to bel…
  • Diaz v. State, 34 So. 3d 797 (Fla. 4th DCA 2010)
    …” Id. (citing McDonald v. United States, 335 U.S. 451, 456, 69 S.Ct. 191, 93 L.Ed. 153 (1948)). Even if they have probable cause, “police officers may not enter a dwelling without a warrant, absent consent or exigent circumstances.” Levine v. State, 684 So. 2d 903, 904 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996) (citing Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573, 100 S.Ct. 1371, 63 L.Ed.2d 639 (1980)). The measure of rea [*803] sonableness is totality of the circumstances. Wright v. State, 1 So. 3d 409, 412 (Fla. 2d DCA 2009) (citing Lee v. S…
  • Wilson v. Zambito, 773 So. 2d 579 (Fla. 4th DCA 2000)
    …with his hand inside it. Fuller recovered cocaine from the base of the toilet. Another officer generally corroborated Fuller’s version of events, but testified that the hotel room door was shut before Fuller kicked it open. Citing Levine v. State, 684 So. 2d 903 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996), Rebello argued that as a matter of law there were no exigent circumstances which justified the warrant-less search of the hotel room. The court disagreed and denied the motion. It held that sufficient “suspicious” activities tha…

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