State v. Breland

421 So. 2d 761, 1982 Fla. App. LEXIS 22100
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
DecidedNovember 10, 1982
DocketNo. 81-2314
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 421 So. 2d 761 (State v. Breland) 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
State v. Breland, 421 So. 2d 761, 1982 Fla. App. LEXIS 22100 (Fla. Ct. App. 1982).

Opinion

HURLEY, Judge.

The trial court found that a predecessor judge had engaged in overreaching by provoking the defendant’s motion for mistrial. The successor judge ruled that retrial was barred by the Double Jeopardy Clause and, therefore, granted the defendant’s motion to dismiss. We conclude that the finding of judicial overreaching is not supported by the record and, consequently,' we reverse.

The defendant was arrested and charged with trafficking in marijuana1 and possession of phenobarbital with intent to sell.2 He was fingerprinted as part of the booking process. Subsequently, he filed a motion to suppress tangible evidence.3 Therein, he alleged that the warrantless arrest was improper and that a subsequent search of an airplane (with a warrant) was likewise illegal. After an evidentiary hearing, the trial court granted the motion, in part, by ruling “that the Defendant’s Motion to Suppress the Physical Evidence of those items obtained from a search of the person of the Defendant and his baggage, is hereby granted.” The court, however, refused to suppress evidence found in the airplane. The state did not appeal the suppression order.

At trial, a controversy developed over whether the defendant’s fingerprints, taken during the booking process, had been suppressed. Defense counsel argued that they had been suppressed because his motion requested the suppression of all physical evidence derived as a result of the illegal arrest. Counsel for the state, however, contended that the post-arrest fingerprints had not been suppressed because the motion did not specify fingerprints as an item sought to be suppressed. Also, the prosecutor noted that defense counsel had failed to mention fingerprints when asked for an oral [763]*763clarification at the outset of the suppression hearing. After extensive argument, to which we shall subsequently refer, the trial court ruled that the post-arrest fingerprints had not been raised by the defendant’s motion and, therefore, were not covered by the suppression order. Furthermore, in the exercise of its discretion, the court declined to permit an in-trial suppression hearing. However, the court did indicate that if requested by the defendant, it would grant a mistrial and thereafter grant an amended motion to suppress. Thereupon, defense counsel requested and received a mistrial.

Prior to retrial, the defendant moved to have the trial judge disqualify herself because of certain statements made during the discussion preceeding the motion for mistrial. Pursuant to Rule 3.230, Fla.R. Crim.P., the court disqualified itself and a successor judge was appointed. Next, the defendant filed a motion to dismiss on the ground that retrial was barred by the Double Jeopardy Clause.4 Defendant argued that he had been forced to move for a mistrial because of judicial overreaching and, therefore, could not be retried. The successor judge agreed and granted the motion. The state brought this appeal.

The general principles applicable to this case were set forth in Bell v. State, 413 So.2d 1292 (Fla. 5th DCA 1982).

Double jeopardy generally is not a defense to a subsequent prosecution when a mistrial had been granted in the original trial upon the defendant’s motion or with his consent or where the circumstances clearly required the mistrial in the interest of justice. However, double jeopardy will bar a second prosecution when the mistrial resulted from judicial or prosecu-torial overreaching.
Mere error by the judge or prosecutor resulting in the defendant’s request for mistrial is not sufficient to bar reprosecution. The double jeopardy clause protects a defendant against governmental actions intended to provoke a mistrial. It bars retrials where bad faith conduct by the judge or prosecutor goads the defendant to request a mistrial.

Id. at 1294 (citations omitted). Recently, the United States Supreme Court held that “the circumstances under which ... a defendant may invoke the bar of double jeopardy in a second effort to try him are limited to those cases in which the conduct giving rise to the successful motion for mistrial was intended to provoke the defendant into moving for a mistrial.” Oregon v. Kennedy, - U.S. -, 102 S.Ct. 2083, 2091, 72 L.Ed.2d 416 (1982).5 Similarly, the Wisconsin Supreme Court concluded that a finding of overreaching depends more on the motivation behind the conduct in question, than on the egregiousness of the conduct itself. State v. Copening, 101 Wis.2d 700, 303 N.W.2d 821 (1981). Thus, the court offered this definition of overreaching:

The culpable intent to deprive the defendant of a complete trial in the first tribunal for the purpose of avoiding an acquittal and to gain the opportunity to have a second and better opportunity to convict or for the malicious purpose of harassment in or by the second trial.

Id. 303 N.W.2d at 833.

In the case at bar, the defendant claimed that the first trial judge declined to permit an in-trial suppression hearing because of a manipulative motivation. In his renewed motion to dismiss, the defendant made the following allegation:

[764]*764[The Judge], confronted with a situation where the Defendant was about to be acquitted, suggested, provoked, enticed and pressured the Defendant into moving for a mistrial. The actions of [the Judge] were in bad faith and calculated to give the State additional time and a second trial (now pending before this Court) at which new fingerprints could be introduced.

As indicated, the successor judge reviewed the transcript of the first trial and granted the motion to dismiss, impliedly finding impermissible overreaching by the predecessor judge.

To understand and evaluate this finding, we must detail a portion of the first trial. We begin at the point where the state attempted to introduce the defendant’s post-arrest fingerprints into evidence. Defense counsel objected on the ground that they had been suppressed. The prosecutor disagreed. He noted that the post-arrest fingerprints had not been listed in the defendant’s written motion and that defense counsel had failed to mention them when asked for an oral clarification at the outset of the hearing. The prosecutor said that he had been prepared to argue against the fingerprints’ suppression, but, in light of their omission by the defense, he decided it was unnecessary. The prosecutor further argued that even if the prints had been suppressed, he would have been entitled to have the defendant refingerprinted pursuant to Rule 3.220(b)(iii), Fla.R.Crim.P.6 Alternatively, he said that if he had been on notice of the defendant’s position, he would have tried to obtain a second set of prints from an independent source such as the FBI or the military.

In response, defense counsel noted that the court’s order expressly suppressed those items obtained from a search of the defendant. Since the fingerprints were obtained from the defendant after an illegal arrest, defense counsel argued that they were obviously covered by the order’s language. To buttress his position, defense counsel cited the United States Supreme Court’s holding in Davis v. Mississippi.7

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Related

C.E. v. State
555 So. 2d 898 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1990)
State v. Jackson
513 So. 2d 797 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1987)

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Bluebook (online)
421 So. 2d 761, 1982 Fla. App. LEXIS 22100, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-breland-fladistctapp-1982.