D.A.H. v. State

District Court of Appeal of Florida

D.A.H. v. State

718 So. 2d 195, 1998 Fla. App. LEXIS 8169, 1998 WL 380512

CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida

DecidedJuly 10, 1998

DocketNo. 96-03494

StatusPublished

Cited by3 cases

This text of 718 So. 2d 195 (D.A.H. 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

D.A.H. v. State, 718 So. 2d 195, 1998 Fla. App. LEXIS 8169, 1998 WL 380512 (Fla. Ct. App. 1998).

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Opinions

PATTERSON, Judge.

D.A.H. appeals from his adjudication and commitment for possession of cannabis with intent to sell and obstructing an officer without violence. He contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress. We affirm the trial court’s denial of the suppression because the police had probable cause.

Officer Elias Vazquez of the Tampa Police Department testified at the suppression hearing as to his training'and experience in detecting narcotics and estimated that he had made 300 narcotics arrests. While on patrol, Vazquez had observed, from about thirty feet away, D.A.H. make several hand-to-hand transactions with people in vehicles. He saw an exchange of money for small packages. His training, experience, and knowledge of the area told him he was watching drug transactions in process. When D.A.H. saw Vazquez, D.A.H. fled and the officer did not pursue. About twenty minutes later, at a nearby intersection, he observed D.A.H. walking. Vazquez stopped D.A.H., patted him down, found a plastic bag of marijuana, and arrested him.

The sole question here ■ is whether Vazquez’s earlier observations gave rise to probable cause for the stop and search of D.A.H. Cases from this court with similar facts have resulted in different conclusions. In Walker v. State, 636 So.2d 583 (Fla. 2d DCA 1994), we determined that the officer lacked probable cause. In Revels v. State, 666 So.2d 213 (Fla. 2d DCA 1995), we held that probable cause existed. Relying on this court’s more recent pronouncement in Revels,

Affirmed.

THREADGILL, A.C.J., concurs. CASANUEVA, J., dissents with opinion.

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PATTERSON, Judge.

D.A.H. appeals from his adjudication and commitment for possession of cannabis with intent to sell and obstructing an officer without violence. He contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress. We affirm the trial court’s denial of the suppression because the police had probable cause.

Officer Elias Vazquez of the Tampa Police Department testified at the suppression hearing as to his training'and experience in detecting narcotics and estimated that he had made 300 narcotics arrests. While on patrol, Vazquez had observed, from about thirty feet away, D.A.H. make several hand-to-hand transactions with people in vehicles. He saw an exchange of money for small packages. His training, experience, and knowledge of the area told him he was watching drug transactions in process. When D.A.H. saw Vazquez, D.A.H. fled and the officer did not pursue. About twenty minutes later, at a nearby intersection, he observed D.A.H. walking. Vazquez stopped D.A.H., patted him down, found a plastic bag of marijuana, and arrested him.

The sole question here ■ is whether Vazquez’s earlier observations gave rise to probable cause for the stop and search of D.A.H. Cases from this court with similar facts have resulted in different conclusions. In Walker v. State, 636 So.2d 583 (Fla. 2d DCA 1994), we determined that the officer lacked probable cause. In Revels v. State, 666 So.2d 213 (Fla. 2d DCA 1995), we held that probable cause existed. Relying on this court’s more recent pronouncement in Revels,

Affirmed.

THREADGILL, A.C.J., concurs. CASANUEVA, J., dissents with opinion.

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718 So. 2d 195, 1998 Fla. App. LEXIS 8169, 1998 WL 380512, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dah-v-state-fladistctapp-1998.

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