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State Must Prove Defendant's Knowledge of Driver's License Suspension
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Pat down illegal where officer had no probable cause to believe Suspect armed or dangerous
September 21, 2009
Topic: Criminal
The Second District Court of Appeal ruled a patdown search of a defendant after a traffic stop was illegal because officer could not articulate a reason to believe the driver was armed or dangerous. As a result, a trafficking amount of drugs was suprressed, likely resulting in the defendant's case being thrown out.
This is an extremely common fact pattern, one we have sucessfully been able to get charges thrown out before. If you have been arrested due to a police search, call Arnold & New at (904) 731-3800.
Read the Second District's opinion here or read the text below.
JOSE RODRIGUEZ, Appellant, v. STATE OF FLORIDA, Appellee. 2nd District. Case No. 2D08-5153. Opinion filed September 4, 2009. Appeal from the Circuit Court for Hillsborough County; Daniel H. Sleet, Judge. Counsel: James Marion Moorman, Public Defender, and Matthew D. Bernstein, Assistant Public Defender, Bartow, for Appellant. Bill McCollum, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Joseph Hwan-Yul Lee, Assistant Attorney General, Tampa, for Appellee.
(NORTHCUTT, Judge.) Jose Rodriguez pleaded guilty to trafficking in illegal drugs, reserving his right to appeal the denial of his dispositive motion to suppress evidence. The State concedes that the motion should have been granted and we agree. We reverse Rodriguez's conviction and remand to the circuit court with directions to discharge him. Our resolution of this issue moots the sentencing issue Rodriguez raised in this appeal.
The illegal drugs were discovered during a patdown search of Rodriguez during a traffic stop. Rodriguez agreed to a search of his car, but he did not consent to a search of his person. The deputy who conducted the traffic stop testified that he routinely conducts a patdown of a vehicle's occupants before he begins searching the car. The deputy did not state any facts that supported a reasonable belief that Rodriguez was armed or dangerous. Such routine searches based on a generalized concern for officer safety are not constitutionally permissible. See McNeil v. State, 995 So. 2d 525, 526 (Fla. 2d DCA), review denied, 990 So. 2d 1060 (Fla. 2008).
Reversed and remanded with directions to discharge Rodriguez. (FULMER and WALLACE, JJ., Concur.)
