DREW GESTEWITZ, APPELLANT,
v.
STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
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Drew Gestewitz was convicted of possessing Xanax and escape after police detained him to issue a trespass warning at a bar. The Fourth District Court of Appeal reversed both convictions, holding that the detention was unlawful because police lacked statutory authority to detain someone merely to issue a trespass warning absent reasonable suspicion of other criminal activity.
The court held that a detention for the purpose of issuing a trespass warning, absent reasonable suspicion of other criminal activity, is a consensual encounter, not a lawful stop. Police lacked statutory authority to detain Gestewitz for warning purposes because a trespass warning is a prerequisite to the crime of trespass. The Xanax discovered during the unlawful detention was fruit of the poisonous tree and should have been suppressed, as should the escape conviction stemming from the unlawful arrest.
[1] A detention for the sole purpose of issuing a trespass warning, absent other circumstances giving rise to a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity, constitutes a conse…
[2] A police officer lacks the legal authority to conduct an investigatory stop or arrest for trespass unless the owner or their agent has first warned the potential trespass…
Previewing 2 of 5 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“A detention for the purpose of issuing a trespass warning on behalf of a private owner — absent other circumstances giving rise to a reasonable suspicion of other criminal activity — is a consensual encounter.”
Establishes the core legal principle that detention solely for issuing a trespass warning lacks lawful authority absent reasonable suspicion of criminal activity.
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceGestewitz was asked to leave Sharky's Bar & Billiards after an argument with a bartender. Police officers detained him outside the bar while one offic…
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Drew G. Gestewitz was charged with and convicted of possession of a controlled substance (Xanax) and escape. We reverse both convictions because those charges arose from conduct that took place after the police unlawfully detained Ges-tewitz for the purpose of issuing him a trespass warning.
On the eve of the 2007 Super Bowl, Gestewitz attended Sharky’s Bar & Billiards in Sebastian, Florida. After an argument between Gestewitz and a bartender, the bartender called the police. Before the police arrived, Gestewitz had moved outside the bar and was standing by the bar’s front door.
Three police officers initially responded. The officers approached Gestewitz and asked him to move away from the front door. The bar manager then asked the police to issue Gestewitz a trespass warning so that he could not re-enter the bar. While one officer went inside to fill out a written trespass warning, the two other officers detained Gestewitz outside the bar and spoke with him about the incident. During this detention, Gestewitz’s friend who was to give him a ride home arrived. As she approached, Gestewitz asked if he could leave. The police told him he was not free to leave because they were detaining him until they processed his trespass warning.
Gestewitz then started putting his hands in his pockets. Although they did not notice a bulge in Gestewitz’s pockets, the officers asked Gestewitz if he had any weapons on him and ordered him to remove his hands from his pockets. Gestew-itz pulled his hands from his pockets and started voluntarily removing items from them.
*834At this time, one of the officers noticed a clear plastic baggie poking out of Gestew-itz’s right pocket. The officer asked Ges-tewitz what was in the baggie. Gestewitz said it was a Xanax bar. Because Xanax is a controlled substance and Gestewitz did not have a prescription for it, the police placed Gestewitz under arrest. A few moments later, Gestewitz, whom the police had not yet handcuffed, tried to flee. About thirty feet into the chase, he tripped and fell and the police took him into custody. The State thereafter charged him with possession of a controlled substance (Xanax) and escape.
Gestewitz filed a motion to suppress the Xanax discovered during his detention. The trial court denied this motion, at which time Gestewitz pleaded guilty to possession of Xanax and reserved his right to appeal the denial as a dispositive order. Gestewitz went to trial on the charge of escape, resulting in a conviction. We find the detention was illegal and that it resulted in Gestewitz’s arrest for possession of Xanax and escape. Therefore, we reverse Gestewitz’s convictions for possession and escape, and direct the State to discharge him.
Our standard of review on a motion to suppress includes deference to the trial court to determine the credibility of witnesses and the weight of the evidence. See Wasko v. State, 505 So.2d 1314, 1316 (Fla.1987) (“[A] reviewing court should not substitute its judgment for that of a trial court, but, rather, should defer to the trial court’s authority as a factfinder.”). Although we are required to accept the trial court’s determination of historical facts, “a defendant is entitled to a de novo review of whether the application of the historical facts to the law establishes an adequate basis for the trial court’s [determination],” i.e., whether the defendant’s Fourth Amendment rights have been violated. See Delorenzo v. State, 921 So.2d 873, 876 (Fla. 4th DCA 2006).
The sole basis for detaining Gestewitz was to give him a written warning stating that he could not re-enter the bar in question and, if he did re-enter, he would face arrest for trespass.
A detention for the purpose of issuing a trespass warning on behalf of a private owner — absent other circumstances giving rise to a reasonable suspicion of other criminal activity — is a consensual encounter. See Slydell v. State, 792 So.2d 667, 672-73 (Fla. 4th DCA 2001); see also Rodriguez v. State, 29 So.3d 310 (Fla. 2d DCA 2009) (“Accordingly, we conclude that a stop merely to issue a trespass warning is not a Terry stop, but rather a consensual encounter.” (footnote omitted)). This is because a police officer — under the trespass statute — may issue a trespass warning for unauthorized entrance into a structure, but does not have the legal authority to conduct an investigatory stop or arrest for trespass unless the owner or his agent first warned the potential trespasser. See § 810.08(1), Fla. Stat. (2006);1 S.N.J. v. State, 17 So.3d 1258, 1259 (Fla. 2d DCA 2009) (stating that Florida’s criminal trespass statute “requires that notice be given before a person can be guilty of trespassing on property,” and that individuals “c[an] be legally detained for trespassing only if they were first warned to *835leave the property”); see also Rodriguez, 29 So.3d at 310.
Section 810.08(3), Florida Statutes (2006), which defines a “person authorized” to issue a trespass warning, authorizes a law enforcement officer, on behalf of a property owner, to warn a particular individual that he or she may not re-enter the structure or conveyance and doing so would constitute the criminal offense of trespass.2 There is nothing in section 810.08(3) defining how an authorized person is to convey a trespass warning.
In the instant case, the law enforcement officers could have chosen to give Gestewitz a verbal trespass warning and allowed him to leave when his friend arrived. If Gestewitz voluntarily decided to stay at the scene in order to receive a written trespass warning, that would have also been sufficient. However, the officers had no statutory or other lawful authority permitting them to detain Gestewitz for the purpose of issuing him a trespass warning. This is because, at the time the officers detained Gestewitz for warning purposes, there was no reasonable suspicion that Gestewitz committed the crime of trespass, as a trespass warning is a prerequisite to that crime.
Given these circumstances, and the officers having no fear for officer safety or reasonable suspicion that Gestewitz had committed a crime or was about to commit a crime, the detention was unlawful. See State v. Barnes, 979 So.2d 991, 993 (Fla. 4th DCA 2008); see also Delorenzo, 921 So.2d at 878-79. Further compounding the illegality of the detention was one law enforcement officer’s order for Gestewitz to remove his hands from his pockets. See, e.g., Delorenzo, 921 So.2d at 876 (“Ordering an individual to take his hand out of his pocket ordinarily turns a consensual encounter into a stop.”).
Thus, the discovery of the Xanax bar was the product of an illegal detention, and the trial court should have granted the motion to suppress. It necessarily follows that because the discovery of the Xanax bar led to the arrest, which was unlawful, there could be no escape, as it stemmed from that unlawful arrest. Cf. State v. Frierson, 926 So.2d 1139, 1143-45 (Fla.2006) (providing that, absent circumstances purging the taint of an illegal stop, evidence found during an illegal stop is “fruit of the poisonous tree” stemming from the illegal stop and should be suppressed (citing Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U.S. 471, 487-88, 83 S.Ct. 407, 9 L.Ed.2d 441 (1963)). We, accordingly, reverse the convictions for possession of the controlled substance Xanax and escape, and order Gestewitz to be discharged.
Reversed.
FARMER and DAMOORGIAN, JJ., concur.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By (11 total)
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D.T. v. State, 87 So. 3d 1235 (Fla. 4th DCA 2012)…r warning by communication or “posting,” a police officer may initiate a consensual encounter to issue a trespass warning if he has been authorized to do so by the property owner, but he may not detain or arrest for trespass. See Gestewitz v. State, 34 So. 3d 832, 834 (Fla. 4th DCA 2010). As to this May 7, 2010 incident, there was no evidence that any prior “actual communication” of a trespass warning had been given to appellant. The probable cause necessary to justify an arrest of appellant for trespass co…
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R.J.C. v. State, 84 So. 3d 1250 (Fla. 4th DCA 2012)…stently held that orders, or even requests, to remove one’s hand from a pocket will elevate a consensual encounter to the level of an investigatory detention. See Lee v. State, 868 So. 2d 577, 579-80 (Fla. 4th DCA 2004); see also Gestewitz v. State, 34 So. 3d 832, 835 (Fla. 4th DCA 2010); Johnson v. State, 989 So. 2d 1228, 1230 (Fla. 4th DCA 2008); Delorenzo v. State, 921 So. 2d 873, 876 (Fla. 4th DCA 2006). The facts in Lee are virtually indistinguishable from those in this case. There, an officer received…
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Palmer v. State, 112 So. 3d 606 (Fla. 4th DCA 2013)…ue a trespass warning for unauthorized entrance into a structure, but does not have the legal authority to conduct an investigatory stop or arrest for trespass unless the owner or his agent first warned the potential trespasser.” Gestewitz v. State, 34 So. 3d 832, 834 (Fla. 4th DCA 2010). Here, because the officer did not recognize the defendant as someone who had previously been warned, he lacked legal authority to stop the defendant for trespass. Without reasonable suspicion, the State failed to prove the…
Previewing 3 of 11 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Wong SUN v. United States, 371 U.S. 471 (U.S. 1963)
- Wasko v. State, 505 So. 2d 1314 (Fla. 1987)
- Slydell v. State, 792 So. 2d 667 (Fla. 4th DCA 2001)
- State v. Frierson, 926 So. 2d 1139 (Fla. 2006)
- Delorenzo v. State, 921 So. 2d 873 (Fla. 4th DCA 2006)
- S.N.J. v. State, 17 So. 3d 1258 (Fla. 2d DCA 2009)
- State v. Barnes, 979 So. 2d 991 (Fla. 4th DCA 2008)
- Rodriguez v. State, 29 So. 3d 310 (Fla. 2d DCA 2009)