State v. McKinney

19 Fla. Supp. 2d 87
CourtPolk County Court
DecidedJuly 24, 1986
DocketCase No. MM86-0949A1-XX
StatusPublished

This text of 19 Fla. Supp. 2d 87 (State v. McKinney) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Polk County Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State v. McKinney, 19 Fla. Supp. 2d 87 (Fla. Super. Ct. 1986).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

DICK PRINCE, County Judge.

THIS CAUSE coming on to be heard upon the Motion to Suppress [88]*88filed by Defense Counsel representing all of the above-captioned Defendants, said Motion made pursuant to the provisions of Florida Statute 934.09(9)(a), and the Court having heard the testimony of the State’s witness called at the Hearing, the arguments of Counsel, and otherwise being fully advised in the premises, it is thereupon:

ORDERED AND ADJUDGED as follows:

FACTS

1. The facts of the case are undisputed in any material fashion. On December 23, 1985, agents of the Special Investigations Division of the Polk County Sheriffs Department executed a Search Warrant at the home of an alleged sports bookmaker. In the execution of the warrant, amongst other evidence, the agents found and seized fifteen (15) cassette tapes, two (2) tape recorders, and two (2) telephones, together with various and sundry bookmaking records.

2. The fifteen (15) cassette tapes which were seized contained conversations between the bookmaker and persons placing bets on various sporting events. It is uncontested that these tapes were made by the bookmaker on his own initiative for the purpose of documenting wagering transactions. It is also uncontested that although investigating officers have presently been able to identify between thirty (30) to forty (40) of the persons whose voices are recorded placing bets or inquiring about bets which were placed, the existence of any tapes or the fact of tape recording was unknown to all bettors with the exclusion of the Defendants Etheridge and Segal. It is further undisputed that although on the tapes the caller/bettor could hear background conversations at the bookmaker’s home, there is no indication whatsoever that the caller/bettor could be hear by any other party saving the bookmaker himself.

3. The Defendant Segal’s purported knowledge of any tapes or taping by the bookmaker allegedly came about at the end of a taped conversation wherein a dispute had arisen between the bookmaker and Segal as to the precise nature of the bet which had been placed. At the end of this argumentative conversations, the bookmaker informed Segal: “I have a tape”. Thereafter, the State cannot show that Defendant Segal placed any further wagers nor made further statements or inquiry regarding any past or present debts.

4. As to Defendant Etheridge, a facsimile tape was played at the Suppression Hearing purporting to be a conversation between Defendant Etheridge and the bookmaker, the first portion of the conversation regarding certain bets which the Defendant’s son had placed with the [89]*89bookmaker and was currently in arrears to the sum of between seven and eleven thousand dollars. During this portion of the conversation, the bookmaker continuously advised Etheridge that he had tapes regarding these transactions which he would gladly play for the Defendant Etheridge and the Defendant’s ex-wife, the son’s mother. Nonetheless, despite numerous and pointed references by the bookmaker to the existence of such tapes, after the conversation by the Defendant Etheridge regarding his son’s transactions, the Defendant (via his purported voice on the tape) went on to ask for the betting line on that day’s games and further went on to discuss his prior most recent bets placed with the bookmaker, the aggregate amount of money which had been made on those bets, the amount of money which could have been made if alternative wagers had been placed in their stead, and the fact that certain of these bets had been placed by the Defendant Etheridge at the behest of and on the behalf of another third party.

ARGUMENTS OF LAW

1. The Defense’s argument for suppression is based upon the exclusionary rule prohibiting the use as evidence of unlawfully intercepted wire communications contained in Florida Statute 934.06, which reads in relevant part:

“Whenever any wire or oral communication has been intercepted, no part of the content of such communication and no evidence derived therefrom may be received in evidence in any trial, hearing, or other proceeding in or before any court ... if the disclosure of that information would be in violation of this chapter.”

The Defense contends that since the bettor/caller/defendants had not consented to the taping of their conversations with the bookmaker, and that since they had a reasonable expectation of privacy in such telephonic or wire communications, that the contents of the intercepted wire communications which were placed on the cassette tapes, or evidence derived therefrom, must be suppressed. As authority for such suppression, the Defense as cited three recent Florida Supreme Court cases, which are in chronologic order; State v. Walls, 356 So.2d 294 (1978), State v. Tsavaris, 394 so.2d 418 (1981) and State v. Inciarrano, 473 So.2d 1272 (1985).

2. The State argues that the case at Bar is one of first impression in Florida, and that a person should enjoy no reasonable right of privacy nor security of communication while placing an illegal bet with a bookmaker over the telephone. The State further argues that under the rationale of the Inciarrano decision (supra), Defendant Etheridge and [90]*90Defendant Segal had no reasonable expectation of privacy in their telephonic communication since they had each been made aware of the existence of tapes and tape recording equipment by the bookmaker.

CONCLUSIONS OF LAW

1. Pursuant to Florida Statute 934.06, the Court finds that the disclosure of information obtained from the cassette tapes of the intercepted wire communications involving Defendants MCKINNEY, SHIREY and WILLIS would be in violation of the provisions of Chapter 934, Florida Statutes, and hence must be suppressed; and further that no evidence derived therefrom may be received in evidence in the instant case. It is uncontested that these three (3) Defendants had not consented to a tape recording being made and the Court presently finds, in accordance with the criteria set forth by the Florida Supreme Court in Inciarrano (supra at page 1275), that each of the intercepted wire communications of these three (3) individuals contain statements “uttered by a person exhibiting an expectation of privacy under circumstances reasonably justifying such an expectation”. The State has argued that the Inciarrano case goes on in the next paragraph to state that: “A reasonable expectation of privacy under a given set of circumstances depends upon one’s actual subjective expectation of privacy as well as whether society is prepared to recognize this expectation as reasonable”. The State argues that society is not prepared to recognize the privacy rights of a gambler placing an illegal wager by telephone with his bookie as reasonable. The State contends that a person committing a crime somehow waives all reasonable expectations of privacy, apparently under the unspoken rationale that if an elective legislature has proscribed certain acts, it must necessarily follow that the electorate society is not prepared to recognize expectations of privacy regarding those acts as reasonable. In fact, the State has quoted with approval (apparently ignoring the intentional satire therein) the concluding sentence of Justice Ehrlich’s concurring opinion in Inciarrano:

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

State v. Inciarrano
473 So. 2d 1272 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1985)
State v. Walls
356 So. 2d 294 (Supreme Court of Florida, 1978)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
19 Fla. Supp. 2d 87, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-mckinney-flactyct53-1986.