LAWRENCE DONNELL FLOOD, JR. v. STATE OF FLORIDA

• Court: District Court of Appeal of Florida
• Decided: August 23, 2023
• Docket: 22-0049
• Status: Published

Opinion

DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF THE STATE OF FLORIDA FOURTH DISTRICT

LAWRENCE DONNELL FLOOD, JR., Appellant,

v.

STATE OF FLORIDA, Appellee.

No. 4D22-49

[August 23, 2023]

Appeal from the Circuit Court for the Nineteenth Judicial Circuit, Martin County; Sherwood Bauer, Jr., Judge; L.T. Case No. 432013CF000634A.

Rachael E. Reese of O’Brien Hatfield Reese, P.A., Tampa, for appellant.

Ashley Moody, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Lindsay A. Warner, Assistant Attorney General, West Palm Beach, for appellee.

PER CURIAM.

Lawrence Flood appeals his conviction and sentence after a jury found him guilty of robbery and aggravated battery. He argues the circuit court erred when it denied his motion to suppress his statements made after his arrest. His arrest, he argues, was accomplished through the warrantless tracking of a cell phone—a cell phone he obtained using a fictitious name.

We agree with Flood’s argument that the police should have obtained a search warrant for Flood’s cell phone location. Nevertheless, the discovery of Flood’s precise location was inevitable. See Rodriguez v. State, 187 So. 3d 841, 846 (Fla. 2015) (discussing the inevitable discovery doctrine). As the result of a controlled call, the police knew Flood was in Orlando at a theme park. When the police went to Orlando to arrest Flood, they did so with an arrest warrant. So we affirm the circuit court’s denial of Flood’s motion to suppress.

Affirmed.

WARNER, DAMOORGIAN and KUNTZ, JJ., concur. * * *

Not final until disposition of timely filed motion for rehearing.