Morse v. State

604 So. 2d 496, 1992 WL 126576
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedJune 11, 1992
Docket90-1876
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 604 So. 2d 496 (Morse 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
Morse v. State, 604 So. 2d 496, 1992 WL 126576 (Fla. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

604 So.2d 496 (1992)

Eric Brandon MORSE, Appellant,
v.
STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 90-1876.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.

June 11, 1992.
Rehearing Denied July 31, 1992.

*498 Nancy A. Daniels, Public Defender, Steven A. Been, David A. Davis, and Phil Patterson, Asst. Public Defenders, for appellant.

Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., Bradley R. Bischoff, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.

SHIVERS, Judge.

Appellant Morse challenges the trial court's denial of his motion to suppress evidence obtained by the police during a warrantless search of his motel residence. Because the evidence taken is the fruit of a warrantless search, and the facts do not support the state's reliance on any established exception such as consent, common authority, or abandonment, we are compelled to reverse the order because the evidence is inadmissible.

Appellant was charged by information in Case No. 90-4 with the burglary of a restaurant (Count One) in Destin, Florida, on December 27, 1989, in violation of section 810.02(1) and (3), Florida Statutes (1989), and with resisting or obstructing without violence an investigating officer (Count Two), on the same day, in violation of section 843.02, Florida Statutes (1989). By affidavits, he was charged with violations of probation and community control based on the arrest and charge relating to burglary of a structure and on the failure to remain confined at his approved residence, Destination Motel, Room 11, on December 29, 1989. On April 4, 1990, an evidentiary hearing was held on the charge of violation of community control and probation in Case Nos. 89-6 and 89-71 through 89-77. Defense counsel orally moved to suppress evidence based on 1) the warrantless seizure of tennis shoes from appellant's room on December 27, 1989, and 2) the warrantless search of appellant's room on December 29, 1989. The trial court denied the motions to suppress and found violations of community control and probation.

Proceedings relating to the burglary and resisting arrest charges were held on April 25, 1990, when the trial court considered an oral motion to suppress the same evidence covered at the violation hearing. The court considered the testimony presented at the violation hearing and heard testimony from appellant. The parties stipulated the motion to suppress is dispositive of Count One (burglary) in Case No. 90-4. After the motion was denied, appellant entered a plea of nolo contendere to both counts, specifically reserving the right to appeal the denial of the motion to suppress. On May 23, 1990, appellant was sentenced to five years in prison on Count One, and to one year in prison on Count Two, to run concurrently. The trial court entered orders as to the *499 violations of the conditions of probation and community control.

The issues on appeal involve the denial of the motion to suppress, the dispositiveness of that motion, and the finding of a violation of the conditions of community control. We find the motion to be dispositive of the burglary charge. Accordingly, we reverse the burglary conviction in Case No. 90-4, vacate the orders finding appellant to have violated the conditions of his supervision in Case Nos. 89-6 and 89-71 through 89-77, and remand for the trial court to reinstate appellant to community control.

FACTS

Deputy sheriffs investigating the burglary observed shoeprints in the sand on the western side of the restaurant leading, with gaps where the pavement was, to the Destination Motel, Room 11. Deputies Ron Gay and Greg Gaddis testified that on December 27, 1989, they knocked at Room 11 and appellant invited them in. After Gay saw a pair of tennis shoes on the floor of the room and picked them up, appellant agreed Gay could examine them. Gay testified that at that time, he believed the shoe size and tread pattern matched the prints leading from the restaurant to the motel room. After appellant denied them permission to look in the kitchen, the officers left with the shoes. Subsequently, it was determined the shoes matched the shoeprints leading from the burglary site.

Twenty or thirty minutes after the officers left appellant's room, Gay observed him leaving Room 11 and carrying something under his jacket. He followed appellant into a nearby wooded area. Seeing the officer, appellant threw down a jar of coins and ran off, ignoring Gay's shouted order to stop. The next day, December 28, 1989, Deputy William Collette twice went to the Destination Motel looking for appellant. Collette testified he had probably spoken to a man he believed was the "manager" of the motel. As to who was running the motel, appellant testified he had lived in Room 11 for about 1 1/2 months and had an agreement with "the manager, Dorothy," to pay semi-monthly rent. Appellant testified he was current in his rent in December 1989. Both Dorothy and her husband, Frank, are referred to as "manager" in the record, but the record contains no written rental agreement.

Early on December 29, 1989, Collette questioned appellant at a police department substation. Around 1:30 or 1:45 A.M., after returning to the motel from talking to Collette, appellant was confronted by Frank (Dorothy's husband), to whom Deputy Collette had spoken the day before. Frank was intoxicated and blamed appellant for causing trouble around the motel. He gave appellant 30 minutes to pack and leave, upon a threat to call the police and have him arrested. Appellant testified he thought he had no choice other than to pack and leave immediately, and he did not believe he could contact his community control officer at such an early hour of the morning.

About 10-15 minutes after appellant left the police substation, Frank called Deputy Collette to inform him appellant was being evicted immediately for creating a disturbance and being behind in his payment of rent. Collette asked Frank not to evict him yet because Collette wanted to question appellant.

Collette then went to the motel, where Frank told Collette appellant had loaded his belongings into a girlfriend's car and had left. Collette accepted Frank's invitation to look in appellant's room. According to the testimony, his purpose for going into Room 11 was to look for evidence of the burglary. He saw two cable converter boxes, one of which had the same serial number as a box issued by the cable television company to the burglarized restaurant. Collette acknowledged it would have been simple to ask Frank to secure Room 11 while a search warrant was obtained, but Collette did not have probable cause to believe items from the burglary would be in the room. Collette said he did not think he necessarily had probable cause for a search warrant, but he thought he had probable cause for an arrest. He testified he thought the tenancy had been terminated *500 and that appellant had vacated the room, with no intent to live there anymore.

In fact, appellant had taken certain of his items, including some of his clothes, a rug, and dry food. He testified it had taken 15-20 minutes for him to pack, but he had not been able to remove everything from the room because he was loading his belongings into a small car. The items remaining in the room included jeans, T-shirts, a jacket, drapery, sheers, a couch, and refrigerated food. Appellant intended to borrow a truck and return for the remainder of his personal property. No testimony was given as to whether the 30-minute deadline had expired when Frank led Deputy Collette into Room 11.

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Bluebook (online)
604 So. 2d 496, 1992 WL 126576, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/morse-v-state-fladistctapp-1992.