County Criminal Court: CRIMINAL LAW – Search and Seizure – Evidence –

Evidence must be suppressed where police officer intruded into defendant’s vehicle and seized bottle before he had opportunity to reasonably determine it contained contraband. Order granting defendant’s motion to suppress affirmed. State v. Wallace, No. CRC 06-91 APANO (Fla. 6th Cir. App. Ct. December 19, 2007).

 

 

NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES FOR REHEARING

AND, IF FILED, DETERMINED

 

 

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE SIXTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT

OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA IN AND FOR PINELLAS COUNTY

 

 

STATE OF FLORIDA

 

            Appellant,

 

v.                                                                                                                                           Appeal No. CRC 06-91 APANO

                                                                       UCN522006AP000091XXXXCR

VIVIAN WALLACE

 

            Appellee.

____________________________/

 

Opinion filed _________________.

 

Appeal from a decision of the

Pinellas County Court

County Judge Patrick K. Caddell

 

Kate A. Alexander, Esquire

Assistant State Attorney

ORDER AND OPINION

 

            (J. Gross)

 

            THIS MATTER is before the Court on the State’s appeal from a decision of the Pinellas County Court granting the defendant’s motion to suppress. After reviewing the brief and record --- no answer brief was filed --- this Court affirms the decision of the trial court.

            When reviewing a motion to suppress, the standard of review of the trial court’s application of the law to the facts is de novo; however, a reviewing court must defer to the factual findings of the trial court if they are supported by competent, substantial evidence. Bautista v. State, 902 So.2d 312 (Fla. 2d DCA 2005). The trial court’s ruling is clothed with a presumption of correctness, and an appellate court “must interpret the evidence and reasonable inferences and deductions derived therefrom in a manner most favorable to sustaining the trial court’s ruling.” Pagan v. State, 830 So.2d 792, 806 (Fla. 2002).

            The police were summoned to a residence for a domestic disturbance. When the officer arrived, he was met by the defendant who told the officer that her boyfriend had damaged her driver’s side mirror. She took the officer to her vehicle to show him the damage. The driver’s side door was open, and the officer was standing in the door frame checking the damage, when he noticed on the driver’s seat a translucent, brown pill bottle with a sticker on it facing toward him. According to the officer’s testimony, as he bent over for a closer look at the bottle, he thought: “that’s not what I think it is,” alluding to his belief that the bottle contained marijuana. The officer then picked up the bottle, opened it, and discovered it contained marijuana. The officer also testified on cross-examination that he could see marijuana in the bottle once he bent down for a closer look. He was unable to say if he actually went through the opening of the door in order to see the bottle more closely.

            The trial court failed to make findings of fact in its written order. And a review of the transcript does not give any indication of the trial court’s reasoning. Given this record, it is difficult for this reviewing Court to determine why the trial court ruled as it did. There are, however, sufficient inferences from the facts to support the trial court’s ruling. It may be that the trial court did not find the officer’s testimony to be credible that he could see marijuana in a brown bottle with a sticker on it. Or it may be that the trial court concluded that the officer’s testimony was too contradictory about when he actually saw the marijuana. The officer’s statement: “that’s not what I think it is,” is unclear. Did it mean that he could see marijuana inside the bottle and seized it, or did it mean he suspected marijuana might be in the bottle and picked it up to see? The trial court was free to decide which interpretation to give to the officer’s statement. Or it may be that the trial court decided that the officer needed to enter the car before he could actually see any marijuana in the bottle, and that the officer had no right to enter the car. The trial court could have taken any of these inferences from the facts. If so, they would justify the suppression of the evidence. Therefore, given the standard of review in this particular fact-oriented case, the decision of the trial court is affirmed.

            IT IS THEREFORE ORDERED that the order granting the defendant’s motion to suppress is affirmed.

            DONE AND ORDERED in Clearwater, Pinellas County, this _____ day of December, 2007.

                                                                        ___________________________

                                                                                    David A. Demers

                                                                                    Circuit Court Judge

 

 

 

                                                                        ____________________________

                                                                                    Raymond O. Gross

                                                                                    Circuit Court Judge

 

 

 

                                                                        _____________________________

                                                                                    Robert J. Morris, Jr.

                                                                                                Circuit Court Judge

cc:        Vivian Wallace

            Honorable Patrick K. Caddell

            Office of the State Attorney