STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLANT,
v.
SHIRLIE GERVIN, APPELLEE

Fla. 4th DCA | 1976-07-23
No. 76-591
WALDEN, and DOWNEY, JJ., concur.
336 So. 2d 666 Florida District Court of Appeal, Fourth District (1976) Positive Treatment
Cited by 2 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.

Synopsis

The State appeals from an order suppressing heroin and paraphernalia seized from defendant during a search of a bar pursuant to a warrant. The appellate court reversed, holding the search warrant affidavit established probable cause, the police lawfully searched the bar, and the heroin found in defendant's eyeglass case and paraphernalia found in her purse were properly seized.


Holding

The affidavit established probable cause for the search warrant. Because the police were lawfully in the bar, their observation of defendant dropping the eyeglass case was valid, and the heroin found therein provided probable cause for arrest. The subsequent search of defendant's purse as a search incident to arrest was therefore lawful.


Headnotes

[1] An affidavit establishing probable cause for a search warrant is sufficient when it details direct observations by law enforcement of controlled substance purchases by a…

[2] A search warrant based on an affidavit establishing probable cause is valid.

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

Key Quotes

“In our opinion this affidavit establishes probable cause for the issuance of a search warrant to search Tony's Bar.”

The appellate court's core holding that the search warrant was valid based on the detailed affidavit showing multiple controlled heroin purchases at the location.

Previewing 1 of 3 key quotes on this case — the court’s exact language, pinpointed for members.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

Facts & Procedural History

Police obtained a warrant to search Tony's Bar in Hollywood. When officers arrived and announced the warrant, defendant, a customer in the bar, was or…

The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.

Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence

© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.


Opinion of the Court
ALDERMAN, Judge.

ALDERMAN, Judge.

This is an interlocutory appeal by the State of Florida from an order granting defendant’s motion to suppress twenty-eight packets of heroin and certain narcotic paraphernalia.

The police obtained a warrant to search a building in Hollywood known as “Tony’s Bar.” When the officers arrived at the bar they announced that they had a search warrant and advised all present to “freeze.” Defendant, who was a customer in the bar, was requested to move over to the wall. As defendant responded, one of the officers noticed an eyeglass case in her left hand and observed her drop the case. The case was retrieved by the officer, examined, and found to contain heroin. As a result of the discovery the defendant was arrested; after her arrest her purse was searched and narcotic paraphernalia was found.

In its order granting defendant’s motion to suppress, the trial judge held the search warrant to be invalid because it was based on an insufficient affidavit. The trial judge further held that since it was an illegal search of Tony’s Bar which resulted in the defendant abandoning her eyeglass case, the heroin found therein by the police must be suppressed as “fruit of the poisonous tree.” Also, because the defendant was not validly arrested, the search of her purse was held to be improper. We have examined the affidavit upon which the. search warrant was based.1 In our opinion this affidavit establishes probable cause for the issuance of a search warrant to search Tony’s Bar. The police therefore were lawfully in the Bar when defendant was observed dropping the eyeglass case. When heroin was found in the case there was probable cause to arrest the defendant, and the subsequent search of defendant’s purse was a valid search incident to her arrest. The trial judge erred in granting defendant’s motion to suppress.

Reversed and remanded.

WALDEN, and DOWNEY, JJ., concur. . The facts establishing probable cause for the issuance of the search warrant included the following.

1. On October 24, 1975, subsequent to an initial communication from a confidential informant at which time the informant revealed that he had (on October 23, 1975) observed heroin trafficking at the location in question, Affiant accompanied the confidential informant to Tony’s Bar;

2. On October 24, 1975, the confidential informant never leaving the sight of Affiant, the detective directly observed and overheard said informant’s purchase of what was subsequently determined to be heroin;

3. Later on October 24, 1975, Affiant accompanied the confidential informant back to Tony’s Bar where the informant was personally observed by the detective to make another purchase of heroin, Affiant and said informant being in the same vehicle during the buy;

4. On October 25, 1975 Affiant again accompanied the confidential informant to Tony’s Bar. In the immediate presence of the detective, the confidential informant purchased two packets of heroin. This buy also went down while Affiant and the informant were in the same vehicle, Affiant being privy to the entire conversation;

5. On October 26, 1975, Affiant again returned to Tony’s Bar with the confidential informant, where the detective again observed and overheard said informant’s purchase of three more packets of heroin.


Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus


Citator

Cited By

  • Dungan v. Ford, 632 So. 2d 159 (Fla. 1st DCA 1994)
    …that “reasonableness or necessity” can be established by lay testimony, it must involve a question of necessity from the perspective of the injured party, rather than from the perspective of a medical expert. See, Garrett v. Morris Kirsckman & Co., 336 So. 2d 666 (Fla.1976), and Albertson’s, Inc. v. Brady, 475 So. 2d 986 (Fla. 2d DCA 1985), rev. denied, 486 So. 2d 595 (Fla.1986). Even if it be assumed that the complained of testimony of Dr. Rutledge could be justified, for whatever reason, we find that appe…

Full citator, related cases, and AI research tools

Open in FLexlaw