KRYSTAL DESE DUKES, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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The court held that the search of the vehicle was improperly initiated after traffic citations were issued and during a time when there was no reasonable suspicion of criminal activity.
Dukes' vehicle was stopped for a defective brake light and child restraint violation. After receiving citations, officers conducted a K-9 search of th…
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COBB, J.
The appellant, Krystal Dukes, pled no contest to a charge of trafficking in cocaine after denial of a dispositive suppression motion. She now appeals that conviction, and we reverse.
Dukes’ vehicle was stopped, according to the arresting officer (Davis), because of a defective brake light and for a child restraint violation. A second officer (Swatts) was also on the scene. After Davis gave Dukes the traffic citations, Swatts asked Dukes for permission to search the car, and Dukes refused. Swatts then told her he was going to proceed with a K-9 search of the exterior of the vehicle. Dukes was instructed to remove her six-year old son from the vehicle and both were told by Swatts to stay away from the vehicle during the K-9 search. The dog alerted to the vehicle and a subsequent search of its interior by the officers yielded 230 grams of crack cocaine found in Dukes’ purse in the back seat.
The search in this case was improperly initiated after the traffic citations were issued and during a time when there was no reasonable suspicion by the officers, based on articulable facts, that criminal activity was afoot. See State v. Sanders, 712 So. 2d 851 (Fla. 5th DCA 1998) and McNeil v. State, 656 So. 2d 1320 (Fla. 5th DCA 1995). Dukes and her son were illegally detained for completion of the K-9 search. We reject the alternative argument of the state that Dukes exhibited suspicious behavior because she appeared nervous, was from Georgia, and only bought $3.00 worth of gas at the station where she was stopped. Kehoe v. State, 521 So. 2d 1094 (Fla.1988)(A reasonable founded suspicion of criminal activity is more than a bare suspicion that criminal activity is afoot). See also Cresswell v. State, 564 So. 2d 480 (Fla.1990).
REVERSED AND REMANDED.
DAUKSCH and HARRIS, JJ., concur.
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Citator
Cited By
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State v. Kindle, 782 So. 2d 971 (Fla. 5th DCA 2001)…tate, 564 So. 2d 480 (Fla.1990); Welch. The detention may continue past that time if the law enforcement officer has a reasonable suspicion based on articulable facts that criminal activity was committed or was about to be committed. Dukes v. State, 753 So. 2d 780 (Fla. 5th DCA 2000); State v. Sanders, 712 So. 2d 851 (Fla. 5th DCA 1998); see also McNeil v. State, 656 So. 2d 1320 (Fla. 5th DCA 1995). The State did not establish by substantial competent evidence that the officer had such a suspicion when he sto…
Authorities Cited
- Kehoe v. State, 521 So. 2d 1094 (Fla. 1988)
- Cresswell v. State, 564 So. 2d 480 (Fla. 1990)
- McNEIL v. State, 656 So. 2d 1320 (Fla. 5th DCA 1995)
- Grantham v. State, 712 So. 2d 851 (Fla. 5th DCA 1998)