CARRINE SUE FOURNIER, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Carrine Fournier challenges her conviction for drug offenses and resisting an officer without violence. The appellate court held that the trial court erred in denying her motion to suppress evidence because the initial police encounter lacked reasonable suspicion, making any subsequent arrest unlawful and rendering the search incident to that arrest invalid.
The trial court erred in denying the motion to suppress. Because the officers lacked reasonable suspicion to detain Fournier and did not have a lawful basis to arrest her, she was not obligated to provide truthful identification. The arrest was unlawful, making the search incident to arrest invalid, and therefore the evidence must be suppressed and Fournier is entitled to discharge.
[1] A consensual encounter between a citizen and law enforcement does not obligate the citizen to provide truthful identifying information to an officer unless the citizen is…
[2] Providing false information to a police officer can constitute resisting arrest without violence only when the officer is engaged in a lawful duty and the suspect is lega…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“this rule 'does not obligate a person to give his or her correct identity to an officer unless that person is legally detained.'”
Establishes that providing false identification is only unlawful when there is a legal detention; without detention, citizens have no obligation to provide correct identity
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceOn November 30, 1996, Officer Mort observed Fournier standing in the parking lot of a closed Fina gas station. When officers returned 25 minutes later…
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PATTERSON, Acting Chief Judge.
Carrine Fournier challenges her judgment and sentence for drug offenses and resisting an officer without violence. She correctly contends that the trial court erred in denying her motion to suppress evidence.
At the suppression hearing, Officer 'Mort testified that on November 30, 1996, Fournier attracted his attention because she was standing in the parking lot of a closed Fina station. When Officers Mort and Reiser drove by twenty-five minutes later, at about 8:40 p.m., she was still there. Although the officers considered Fournier’s presence at the gas station to be “suspicious,” the officers did not have a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity to conduct a Terry
stop. The trial court found that the officers approached her and initiated a consensual encounter. She gave the officers a false name, date of birth, age, and address. When the officers checked the address and determined that it was not a residence, they placed her in custody for resisting arrest without violence. A search incident to arrest revealed drugs and paraphernalia.
The State contends that the false answers Fournier gave during the encounter gave the police probable cause to arrest her. Under section 843.02, Florida Statutes (1995), a conviction for resisting arrest without violence requires that “(1) the officer was engaged in the lawful execution of a legal duty; and (2) the action by the defendant constituted obstruction or resistance of that lawful duty.” S.G.K. v. State, 657 So. 2d 1246, 1247 (Fla. 1st DCA 1995). “[T]he use of mere words can be a violation of section 843.02 when a suspect provides false information to a police officer during a valid arrest or Terry stop.” D.G. v. State, 661 So. 2d 75, 76 (Fla. 2d DCA 1995) (footnote omitted). This court explained, however, that this rule “does not obligate a person to give his or her correct identity to an officer unless that person is legally detained.” Id. (citing Steele v. State, 537 So. 2d 711 (Fla. 5th DCA 1989)). Here, the record provides no evidence that Fournier gave any false information after a legal detention.
Furthermore, because the arrest was unlawful, the search incident to arrest was invalid; therefore, the evidence discovered from that search must be suppressed. See Johnson v. State, 895 So. 2d 594, 596 (Fla. 2d DCA 1981) (citing Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 83 S.Ct. 407, 9 L.Ed.2d 441 (1963)). Thus, the trial court should have granted Fournier’s motion to suppress, and she is entitled to discharge.
Reversed.
FULMER and GREEN, JJ., Concur. . Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968).
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
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Donnie Young v. State, 803 So. 2d 880 (Fla. 5th DCA 2002)…ed suspicion that Young had committed or was about to commit a crime. Therefore, Young’s arrest was unlawful and the search incident to that arrest was invalid. Thus the evidence discovered from that search must be suppressed. See Fournier v. State, 731 So. 2d 75 (Fla. 2d DCA 1999). Accordingly, we reverse Young’s conviction and sentence. REVERSED. HARRIS and PALMER, JJ., concur. . See Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968).…
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S.N.J. v. State, 17 So. 3d 1258 (Fla. 2d DCA 2009)…consensual. See Popple v. State, 626 So. 2d 185, 186 (Fla.1993). An individual may refuse to identify herself to a police officer when she has not been lawfully detained. See A.F. v. State, 912 So. 2d 374, 376 (Fla. 2d DCA 2005); Fournier v. State, 731 So. 2d 75, 76-77 (Fla. 2d DCA 1999); Burkes v. State, 719 So. 2d 29, 30 (Fla. 2d DCA 1998). Further, to support a conviction under section 843.02, “with limited exceptions, physical conduct must accompany offensive words.” Francis v. State, 736 So. 2d 97, 99…
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Kervince Oslin v. State, 912 So. 2d 672 (Fla. 5th DCA 2005)…opinion. . The giving of a false name to an officer is only a crime if it is done during an arrest or lawful detention. Cooks v. State, 901 So. 2d 963 (Fla. 2d DCA 2005); Belsky v. State, 831 So. 2d 803, 805 (Fla. 4th DCA 2002); Fournier v. State, 731 So. 2d 75 (Fla. 2d DCA 1999); § 901.36, Fla. Stat. The giving of such misinformation during a consensual encounter does not, without more, afford a valid basis for an investigatory detention. Morrow.…
Previewing 3 of 6 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (U.S. 1968)
- Wong SUN v. United States, 371 U.S. 471 (U.S. 1963)
- S.G.K. v. State, 657 So. 2d 1246 (Fla. 1st DCA 1995)
- D.G. v. State, 661 So. 2d 75 (Fla. 2d DCA 1995)
- Steele v. State, 537 So. 2d 711 (Fla. 5th DCA 1989)