MICKEY KEITH JACOBS, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE

Fla. 2d DCA | 2003-07-11
No. 2D00-1461
SILBERMAN and KELLY, JJ., Concur.
848 So. 2d 1287 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (2003)

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Synopsis

Mickey Keith Jacobs challenges the revocation of his probation after his arrest on new charges. The appellate court reversed the revocation because the trial court improperly combined a hearing on a motion to suppress evidence with the probation revocation hearing, potentially considering inadmissible evidence, and failed to enter a proper written order setting forth which probation conditions were violated.


Holding

The court reversed the probation revocation and remanded for a new hearing because evidence suppressed in violation of the Fourth Amendment cannot be considered in a probation revocation proceeding, the unusual combination of hearings prevented meaningful appellate review of whether suppressed evidence influenced the revocation decision, and the trial court failed to enter a proper written order setting forth which probation conditions were violated.


Headnotes

[1] Evidence seized in violation of a probationer's Fourth Amendment rights is inadmissible in a probation revocation hearing.

[2] A trial court's written order revoking probation must include findings of fact and state which conditions of probation were violated.

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Key Quotes

“Evidence seized in violation of a probationer's Fourth Amendment rights is not admissible in a probation revocation hearing.”

Establishes the controlling legal principle that suppressed evidence cannot be used in revocation proceedings

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Facts & Procedural History

While on probation, Jacobs was arrested and charged with several new offenses. The Department of Corrections filed an affidavit alleging Jacobs violat…

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Opinion of the Court
GREEN, OLIVER L., Senior Judge.

GREEN, OLIVER L., Senior Judge.

Mickey Keith Jacobs challenges the revocation of his probation and the sentence imposed upon revocation. We reverse and remand for further proceedings.

While Jacobs was on probation in this case, he was arrested and charged with several new offenses. Based on these new charges, the Department of Corrections filed an affidavit of violation of probation, alleging that Jacobs had violated his probation by committing the new offenses and by failing to pay certain costs.

In the case involving the new offenses, Jacobs filed a motion to suppress the evidence seized when he was stopped by officers from the Polk County Sheriffs Office. For reasons not apparent from the record, the trial court combined the hearing on the motion to suppress in the new case with the hearing on the violation of probation in this case. Shortly after that hearing, the trial court granted the motion to suppress the evidence against Jacobs.1 However, the trial court also revoked Jacobs’ probation based on the testimony at the same hearing and sentenced Jacobs to two years’ community control followed by three years’ probation. When the trial court entered its written order of revocation, it simply stated that it was revoking Jacobs’ probation. The written order does not include any findings of fact and does not state which conditions of probation Jacobs violated.

Evidence seized in violation of a probationer’s Fourth Amendment rights is not admissible in a probation revocation hearing. State v. Scarlet, 800 So. 2d 220, 222 (Fla.2001); State v. Cross, 487 So. 2d 1056, 1057-58 (Fla.1986). Thus, the evidence that the trial court ultimately suppressed was not properly admitted or considered in the revocation proceedings. Because of the unusual decision to combine the hearings on the motion to suppress and the revocation of probation, we cannot tell from the record before us whether the inadmissible evidence formed the basis of the decision to revoke Jacobs’ probation. While some admissible evidence was also offered to support the revocation, the lack of a proper written order prevents any meaningful review of the trial court’s decision. Accordingly, we reverse and remand for a new revocation hearing. If the trial court again revokes Jacobs’ probation, it must enter a proper written order that sets forth the conditions the trial court finds were violated. See Montonez v. State, 724 So. 2d 650, 651 (Fla. 2d DCA 1999); Donley v. State, 557 So. 2d 943, 945 (Fla. 2d DCA 1990).

Reversed and remanded for further proceedings.

SILBERMAN and KELLY, JJ., Concur. . The State has never appealed the trial court’s order granting the motion to suppress. After the motion was granted, the State nol pressed the new charges against Jacobs.


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