Cuomo v. State

98 So. 3d 1275, 2012 Fla. App. LEXIS 18386, 2012 WL 5233474
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedOctober 24, 2012
DocketNo. 1D11-5788
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 98 So. 3d 1275 (Cuomo v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court of Appeal of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cuomo v. State, 98 So. 3d 1275, 2012 Fla. App. LEXIS 18386, 2012 WL 5233474 (Fla. Ct. App. 2012).

Opinion

SWANSON, J.

Jeremiah Samuel Cuomo (“appellant”) appeals his convictions for aggravated battery causing great bodily harm and disfigurement as a result of his possessing and discharging a firearm, and for shooting into an occupied dwelling. He argues the trial court erred in not suppressing incriminating statements he made to his mother during a jail visitation, which statements were secretly recorded by law enforcement. We conclude the trial court did not err in denying appellant’s motion to suppress because competent and substantial evidence supported its conclusion that the police did not deliberately foster an expectation of privacy in appellant’s conversation with his mother. For this reason, we affirm.1

[1277]*1277Appellant was arrested on April 4, 2009, and was read his Miranda2 rights at the Bay County jail. He immediately invoked his right to remain silent and to see an attorney. At this point, all questioning by law enforcement officers ceased. Hours after appellant’s arrest, however, Investigator Pitts received information that appellant’s mother wanted to speak to her son concerning the details of his arrest. He arranged for the visitation to take place in a room located in the Warrants Division of the jail, and enlisted the assistance of Deputy Stephens to conceal a tape-recorder in a drawer in the room so appellant could not see it, in order to tape the conversation between him and his mother.

Once the interview room was wired, Investigator Pitts directed that appellant’s mother be escorted to the room. Appellant, wearing handcuffs and leg shackles, was led to the interview room by Lieutenant Gresko. Lieutenant Gresko testified she did not tell appellant he would be having a private conversation with his mother. Indeed, she testified the word “privacy” was never uttered by her. She also clarified that inmates are brought to the Warrants Division interview room constantly, on a daily basis, for police interviews. Deputy Stephens testified the room was also used for visitation, and stated there were cameras throughout the jail, although they did not have the capacity to record audio in the Warrants Division. Though pressed by defense counsel as to what she had said to appellant regarding the degree of privacy he could expect in meeting with his mother, Deputy Stephens ultimately acknowledged to the trial court that she could not recall with certainty anything she had said prior to the visitation, to either appellant or to his mother, but she did admit she did not inform appellant that his conversation would be private.

Once appellant was placed in the room his leg shackles were removed and he was handcuffed to the chair. The door was closed and dead-bolted, but no officer was stationed outside the door. Appellant testified that when he was seated in the interview room, he was under the impression, from what law enforcement had told him, that he would be having a private conversation with his mother. Nevertheless, he conceded he was never verbally told the conversation would be private; it was just an assumption. He also admitted from his previous experience of being incarcerated in jail, that he knew he had no expectation of privacy there. He also clarified it was not he who had requested the visit by his mother.

At the close of the testimony, the trial court ruled the critical issue was whether appellant had possessed an expectation of privacy during the visitation with his mother, whether that expectation was a subjective one, and whether it was an expectation society would recognize as reasonable. The trial court added' that it mattered who had initiated the visit. In this latter regard, the trial court noted the evidence showed it was the mother who had requested visitation, and Investigator Pitts had simply accommodated her request, while at the same time using it as an opportunity to tape the conversation. In the court’s mind, that action did not amount to improper police conduct. While the trial court acknowledged the law generally prohibits intrusion into privileged or otherwise confidential or private communication, it nonetheless called attention to the fact that even appellant candidly admitted that no one had used the word “privacy” or told him he was entitled to [1278]*1278special treatment. The trial court reflected on the fact that appellant had thought, at the time, he was privately visiting his mother, but concluded appellant’s assumption of this detail was not supported by the evidence and, thus, did not serve to impart to appellant a subjective, reasonable belief that the conversation would be private, or lead to the conclusion that law enforcement had done anything wrong. Accordingly the trial court denied appellant’s motion to suppress. In doing so, the court distinguished the circumstances in this case from those in State v. Calhoun, 479 So.2d 241 (Fla. 4th DCA 1985), rationalizing there was no deliberate attempt by the police to circumvent appellant’s rights here, as there had been in Calhoun.

We treat a trial court’s ruling on a motion to suppress as being “‘clothed with a presumption of correctness and, as the reviewing court, we must interpret the evidence and reasonable inferences and deductions derived therefrom in a manner most favorable to sustaining the trial court’s ruling.’ ” Connor v. State, 803 So.2d 598, 605 (Fla.2001) (quoting Murray v. State, 692 So.2d 157, 159 (Fla.1997)). “A trial court’s ruling on a motion to suppress is a mixed question of law and fact that ultimately determines constitutional rights and should be reviewed using a two-step approach — deferring to the trial court’s findings of fact as long as they are supported by competent, substantial evidence, but reviewing de novo a trial court’s application of law to the historical facts.” Delhall v. State, 95 So.3d 134, 134 (Fla.2012). We conclude the facts as found by the trial court in the instant case are based on competent and substantial evidence in the record. The decisive issue for our resolution is whether, as appellant argues, the trial court’s application of those historical facts to the law resulted in its erroneous decision to deny appellant’s motion to suppress and, consequently, to admit at trial the incriminating statements he made while speaking with his mother. Appellant claims, contrary to the trial court’s conclusion, that the police conduct here, expressly coordinated to conceal from him the recording of his conversation, violated not only his Fifth Amendment right under the United States Constitution, but his right to privacy as protected by article I, sections 12 and 23 of the Florida Constitution. In addition, appellant urges the statements were inadmissible as being the result of an illegal interception and disclosure of oral communications, prohibited by section 934.03, Florida Statutes. For the reasons expressed below, we disagree.

In State v. Smith, 641 So.2d 849 (Fla.1994), the supreme court addressed similar arguments propounded by Smith, a passenger in a car pulled over for swerving erratically, who, for safety reasons, was placed along with the driver in the back seat of the patrol car. Without the knowledge of either Smith or the driver, their subsequent conversation in the patrol car was being taped by a concealed recorder. In considering Smith’s various arguments based on privacy, the supreme court initially concluded that Florida’s constitutional protection of Smith’s right to privacy found in article I, section 23, was not implicated.

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Related

Jeremiah Samuel Cuomo v. State of Florida
257 So. 3d 584 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 2018)

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Bluebook (online)
98 So. 3d 1275, 2012 Fla. App. LEXIS 18386, 2012 WL 5233474, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cuomo-v-state-fladistctapp-2012.