Garcia v. State

• Decision Date: 16 May 2012
• Docket Number: No. 4D10–3028.,4D10–3028.
• Parties: Luis GARCIA, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

88 So.3d 394

Luis GARCIA, Appellant,

v.STATE of Florida, Appellee.

No. 4D10–3028.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District.

May 16, 2012.

Carey Haughwout, Public Defender, and Peggy Natale, Assistant Public Defender, West Palm Beach, for appellant.

Pamela Jo Bondi, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Joseph A. Tringali, Assistant Attorney General, West Palm Beach, for appellee.

CIKLIN, J.

Luis Garcia appeals his conviction for first-degree murder and life sentence. Garcia contends that the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress evidence and in refusing to instruct the jury on the defense of independent act. We agree, reverse his conviction, and remand for a new trial.

Background

On January 4, 2008, the body of Jerome Jones was found lying face up in the roadway about 100 feet from the parking area of a rest stop on Alligator Alley. Jones had been shot in the back of his head. There was the smell of urine where Jones had been standing along the curb and his zipper was opened. A Parliament brand cigarette was located about two and a half feet from Jones's foot.

Detective Efrain Torres of the Broward Sheriff's Office (BSO) was dispatched to the crime scene and assigned to be the lead homicide investigator. After the victim had been identified, Detective Torres was able to locate Marcello Isaac, Jones's half brother. After several hours of questioning, Isaac told Detective Torres that Jones had come to Florida to conduct a drug deal with Garcia. According to Isaac, Jones had shown Isaac a duffle bag filled with cash and told him that the bag contained $102,000 with which Jones was going to purchase “six kilos.” Isaac also informed Detective Torres that the last time he saw Jones alive was when he dropped Jones off at Garcia's house around 3:00 p.m. on the day Jones was killed.

Based on Isaac's statements, Detective Torres decided to question Garcia. Isaac showed the detective where Garcia lived and where Garcia's girlfriend lived, but Garcia was not at either of the residences when the police arrived. Detective Torres had also obtained Garcia's cell phone number from Isaac and used that number to track the present location of Garcia's cell phone. On January 6, 2008, Detective Torres contacted the Pembroke Pines Police Department and asked them for assistance in locating Garcia. He advised them that Garcia was a possible murder suspect and gave a description of the van Garcia was likely driving and Garcia's approximate location.

Officer Nicholas Taber, a police officer for the City of Pembroke Pines, was able to locate a van matching the description that Detective Torres had provided driving in the area specified. The officer stopped the van which was in fact being driven by Garcia at around 6:40 p.m. With their guns drawn and pointed toward the van, Officer Taber and another officer ordered Garcia to exit the van, handcuffed him, patted him down, and then put him in the back of Officer Taber's locked patrol car.

A few minutes later, Detective Torres arrived. He took Garcia out of Officer Taber's car and asked Officer Taber to remove the handcuffs. Detective Torres informed Garcia that he wanted to speak to him about Jones and asked Garcia to come with him to the BSO public safety building. According to Detective Torres, Garcia agreed to this request.

Detective Torres asked Officer Taber to transport Garcia in the back of the officer's patrol car because it contained a cage. Garcia was not handcuffed as he was transported to the public safety building. On the way, they stopped by a garage in Miramar where Garcia had told Detective Torres his BMW was being repaired. When they arrived at the garage, Detective Torres got out of the car, but was unable to verify if Garcia's vehicle was there because the shop and bay doors were closed. Garcia did not get out of the patrol car and was never offered the opportunity to do so. From there, they all continued to BSO headquarters.

A video recording of the incident shows a handcuffed Garcia being led into an interview room at approximately 8:00 p.m., Detective Torres removing handcuffs from Garcia, and then the detective leaving Garcia alone in the interview room for approximately forty minutes. The door to the room was locked while Garcia waited inside for Detective Torres to return. At approximately 8:40 p.m., Detective Torres returned and advised Garcia of his Miranda rights. Garcia signed a form acknowledging that he was waiving his rights and agreeing to speak with the detective. Garcia also signed consent forms allowing the police to search his residence, two vehicles, and phone records.

In response to Detective Torres's questioning that evening, Garcia claimed that he had arranged for Jones to purchase a large quantity of cocaine from someone named Gordo. Garcia asserted that he was paid $3000 for arranging this deal. The deal was to occur at a house in Weston, to which Garcia agreed to take Jones in Garcia's BMW. On the way, Garcia had car trouble, so he pulled into a gas station while Jones was on the phone to find someone else to take him. Jones asked Garcia to take him back to Isaac's residence, which Garcia did. Once there, Jones got into a gray Lexus with two men and a woman and left. Garcia stated that he did not drive to Alligator Alley on January 4th and that, at 8:30 p.m., he was at home with his son.

The interview continued until the early morning hours of January 7th. At the conclusion of the interview, Detective Torres and another law enforcement officer drove Garcia home in a regular undercover car without a cage.

On January 9th, Detective Torres called Garcia and asked him to come to the station again. Garcia agreed to do so and returned there on his own. Detective Torres again read the Miranda warnings to Garcia and Garcia again signed a written waiver. Garcia also consented to a DNA sample at that time.

During this second interview, Detective Torres told Garcia that he knew Garcia had lied to him in his previous interview because phone records showed that Garcia's phone had been used on Alligator Alley the night of the murder. Garcia changed his story, asserting instead that he had actually taken Jones to Naples and that he had lied about not being on AlligatorAlley. The original plan had been to go to Weston, but on the way, Jones got a call from Gordo who wanted the deal to be in Naples instead. Garcia said that on the way to Naples, he saw that Jones had a gun. Upon seeing the gun, Garcia immediately exited the highway and told Jones to get out of the car. Garcia said that he left Alligator Alley as soon as he dropped off Jones.

Later in the interview, Garcia changed his story again. This time, Garcia claimed that he had tried to set up a deal for Jones, but that the deal never occurred. Instead, Jones arranged his own deal with people who were unknown to Garcia. Garcia agreed to drive Jones to the deal and was supposed to be paid $3000 for doing so. Jones instructed Garcia to drive them to the recreation area on Alligator Alley where law enforcement later found Jones dead. When Jones and Garcia arrived, a tractor trailer with one man and a gray Lexus with two other men were already there. Jones got out of the car with the bag. Garcia stood outside three to five minutes and saw Jones cut open a bag of cocaine with a small knife. He saw the men complete the transaction with Jones taking the cocaine. Garcia claimed that he then witnessed one of the men shoot Jones in the back of the head, take the bag of cocaine from Jones, and then exclaim that Jones had given them “fake money.”

At the conclusion of this interview, Officer Torres placed Garcia under arrest. At the time that Garcia was arrested, he had a Parliament brand cigarette, the same brand of cigarette which was found at the crime scene, and $2700 in cash on his person.

Prior to trial, Garcia's defense counsel filed a motion to suppress evidence alleging that Garcia's detention on January 6, 2008 was unlawful. At the suppression hearing, Detective Torres and Officer Taber testified to the aforementioned facts regarding their investigation and interaction with Garcia. Additionally, Detective Torres testified during cross-examination that although Garcia was never under arrest on January 6, 2008, the detective did not remember if at any point he or anyone else told Garcia that he was free to leave.

The trial court denied Garcia's motion to suppress and found that Detective Torres had “sufficient articulable facts to support his reasonable suspicion of possible criminal behavior justifying the investigatory stop” of Garcia. The court further found that Officer Taber, “in the interest of officer safety, reasonably frisked and handcuffed a person reported to be a murder suspect.” According to the trial court, “this brief handcuffing” was a temporary detention and not an arrest. The court also found that Garcia had “freely and voluntarily consented to the search of his residence, two vehicles and his telephone.”

At trial, in addition to the testimony of several witnesses including Detective Torres and Isaac, the state introduced cell phone records from which the jury could infer that Garcia was on Alligator Alley making phone calls from 5:32 p.m. to 7:08 p.m. on the night of the murder. The state also introduced DNA evidence showing that Garcia's DNA was on the cigarette butt found at the scene of the crime. Additionally, the state introduced and played for the jury the recorded interviews that the police conducted of Garcia on January 6, 2008 and January 9, 2008.

At the charge conference, defense counsel argued that the standard jury instruction on independent act ¹ should be given in this case because it was the theory of defense. Defense counsel argued that the defense theory was that Garcia did not know that Jones's money was counterfeit, did not know who the sellers were or what they were going to do, and only gave Jones a ride. The trial court...