State v. Allen

17 Fla. Supp. 170
CourtCircuit Court of the 11th Judicial Circuit of Florida, Miami-Dade County
DecidedNovember 30, 1960
DocketNo. 4902
StatusPublished

This text of 17 Fla. Supp. 170 (State v. Allen) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Circuit Court of the 11th Judicial Circuit of Florida, Miami-Dade County primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. Allen, 17 Fla. Supp. 170 (Fla. Super. Ct. 1960).

Opinion

JOE EATON, Circuit Judge.

This is an appeal from a judgment and sentence of the criminal court of record in and for Dade County where appellant (defendant) was adjudged guilty of possession of lottery tickets and sentenced to a prison term and a fine. He assigned as error the usual grounds. He also assigned as error that the court erred in denying defendant’s motion to suppress the evidence.

The only assignment of error pressed by appellant (both sides having agreed to a submission on briefs without oral argument) was the denial of the motion to suppress.

It is appellant’s position that a police officer may not conduct a search, without a warrant, as appropriately incidental to making effective a traffic arrest, or that in any event a search was [172]*172made, which search was too broad to be appropriately incidental to making effective such an arrest and was therefore unreasonable. It is the state’s position that not only may a search be made as an incident to any arrest, including a traffic arrest, but that in any event the state has the right to impound the vehicle under the circumstances of this case and to “inventory” such vehicle once it has been impounded. The court, after an extensive review of the Florida cases, is unable to agree completely with the reasoning of either party.

It is clear from the cases that only those searches which are held to be unreasonable violate the constitutional guaranties (Gaskins v. State, 89 So. 2d 867; Brown v. State, 46 So. 2d 479). Essentially the determination of reasonableness is a factual one from all the circumstances (Chacon v. State, 102 So. 2d 578; Varrell v. State, 98 So. 2d 895; Brown v. State, supra; Longo v. State, 26 So. 2d 818).

Clearly a person (Collins v. State, 65 So. 2d 61; Brown v. State, supra) and the immediate premises (Courington v. State, 74 So. 2d 652, and cases cited in the dissent; Brown v. State, supra) under the control of a person, lawfully arrested, may be searched. This is upon a two-fold basis: (1) to make effective the arrest by uncovering hidden dangers, accomplices, etc., and (2) to seize the “fruits of the crimes.” If, in the course of such a valid search, evidence of other crimes (Blake v. State, 112 So. 2d 391; Courington v. State, supra, cases cited in the dissent) or contraband (Blake v. State, supra) is discovered, the officer has an obligation to seize it. Its admissibility at the time of the trial is determined, not by weighing its connection with the alleged crime for which the original arrest was made, but rather by the reasonableness of the search during which it was discovered.

No Florida case has gone so far as to hold that an extensive search may be made of the vehicle whose driver is arrested for a minor traffic violation. Obviously there are no “fruits of the crime” to be seized and the arrest may be effected without the necessity of an extensive search. At the same time the officer is not required to avert his gaze or shut his eyes to whatever may be in plain sight (Blake v. State, supra; Fletcher v. State, 65 So. 2d 845). Especially is this so if that which is in plain sight is some species of contraband, mere possession of which is illegal, such as lottery paraphernalia (Blake v. State, supra; State v. Simmons, 85 So. 2d 879; Fletcher v. State, supra), illegal alcohol (Brown v. State, 91 So. 2d 175), distillation equipment (Self v. State, 98 So. 2d 333), etc. If such contraband appears in plain sight the officer has the duty to seize it. Such evidence is not rendered inadmissible because the seizure took place without a [173]*173warrant (Blake v. State, supra; Gaskins v. State, supra; State v. Simmons, supra; Fletcher v. State, supra), provided only that the original stopping was lawful. Mere glancing into the interior of a vehicle lawfully stopped, to see what is in plain sight, is not a search at all, much less an illegal one (Gispert v. State, 118 So. 2d 596; Kraemer v. State, 60 So. 2d 615, see also the dissent which recognizes this proposition also). But, if a police officer, upon observing what is to be seen, sees only personalty, the possession of which has a lawful connotation, he may go no further to search the vehicle until he first has secured a warrant to do so.

The court has not found, nor has the state cited, any authority whatsoever for what the state itself contends to be the police “practice of impounding vehicles stopped for minor traffic violation and, under the guise of inventorying the vehicle, making a search thereof.” If that were all that appeared in this case the evidence so obtained would be clearly inadmissible.

In the lower court, testimony was taken on the motion to suppress. At the hearing the police officer testified —

Then what did you do? — Place him under arrest for improper right hand turn and defective lights.
Then what? —We inventoried the car as it was being towed in and we found a loaded .32 revolver on the front seat.
Continue. — Also, bolita bookkeeping sheets and bolita pads and some previously written lottery tickets.
At this point the evidence was offered for identification and marked as state’s exhibit 1, A-E.
I show you state’s exhibit 1-D for identification. (Bolita tickets). Where did you find that? — On the front seat.

The state then offered the bolita paraphernalia in evidence. The defense asked for and received permission to cross-examine, and the following questions only were asked of the officer on cross-examination. —

Did you have a warrant to search the vehicle? — No sir, I did not.
Did your associate . .. . have a warrant ? — No, sir.

It is clear from the officer’s testimony on this occasion that (1) A traffic arrest was made. (2) Bolita paraphernalia was found on the front seat.

The original arrest was lawful and the officer, or anyone else, had the right to observe what was in full view. If what he observed was something the possession of which was illegal, the [174]*174officer had the duty to confiscate it. Even if the seizure came during an unauthorized “towing in,” the duty to seize remained.

The foregoing was the only evidence before the lower court when the motion to suppress was originally properly denied. Subsequently the defendant was allowed to testify —

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Related

Gispert v. State
118 So. 2d 596 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1960)
Brown v. State
46 So. 2d 479 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1950)
Gaskins v. State
89 So. 2d 867 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1956)
Chacon v. State
102 So. 2d 578 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1958)
State v. Simmons
85 So. 2d 879 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1956)
Courington v. State
74 So. 2d 652 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1954)
Collins v. State
65 So. 2d 61 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1953)
Fletcher v. State
65 So. 2d 845 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1953)
Brown v. State
91 So. 2d 175 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1956)
Self v. State
98 So. 2d 333 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1957)
Kraemer v. State
60 So. 2d 615 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1952)
Longo v. State
26 So. 2d 818 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1946)
Blake v. State
112 So. 2d 391 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1959)
Varrell v. State
98 So. 2d 895 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1957)

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Bluebook (online)
17 Fla. Supp. 170, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-allen-flacirct11mia-1960.