Hidalgo v. State
| Decision Date | 06 June 2007 |
| Docket Number | No. 3D06-1338.,No. 3D06-2082.,3D06-1338.,3D06-2082. |
| Citation | 959 So.2d 353 |
| Parties | Reinaldo HIDALGO, Appellant, v. The STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Bennett H. Brummer, Public Defender, and Gwendolyn Powell Braswell, Assistant Public Defender, for appellant.
Bill McCollum, Attorney General, and William J. Selinger, Assistant Attorney General, for appellee.
Before FLETCHER, WELLS, and SUAREZ, JJ.
In this consolidated appeal, Reinaldo Hidalgo challenges his convictions and sentences for burglary, theft, and Florida Pawnbrokering Act offenses charged in four separate cases, to which Hidalgo pled guilty while reserving the right to appeal denial of a motion to suppress. Hidalgo's motion sought to suppress:
Defendant's statements to police admitting to various locations and taking items from within, including without limitation a Seiko watch, a Tag Heuer watch, pawn slips, two computers, and all other evidence obtained by virtue of Defendant's admission.
Because we agree that this motion should have been granted, we reverse and remand for vacation of the convictions and sentences.
Hidalgo was initially stopped by two plain clothes detectives while he was walking down a busy residential street with an individual identified as Gabriel. One of the detectives (who was patrolling the area because of a recent rash of burglaries) recognized Gabriel, a known burglar who had been arrested a number of times. Although this detective knew that Gabriel did not live in the area, neither detective knew anything about Hidalgo.
Gabriel and Hidalgo were called over and voluntarily went to talk to the detectives. Gabriel and Hidalgo were asked for identification and, over safety concerns, "patted-down." After the pat-down was completed, Hidalgo pulled a yellow sheet of paper from one of his pockets as he searched for his identification. One of the detectives recognized it as a pawn shop receipt. The officer examined the receipt, questioned Hidalgo about the two watches listed on the receipt (which Hidalgo claimed were his), and returned the slip to Hidalgo. Gabriel and Hidalgo were permitted to leave.
In the following week to ten days, one of the detectives searched a pawn shop activity database. The detectives also reviewed stolen property reports and found reports of stolen watches matching the descriptions of those listed on Hidalgo's pawn shop receipt. The watch owners were taken to the pawn shop named on the receipt that Hidalgo had in his pocket and identified the watches pawned by Hidalgo as belonging to them. Hidalgo was arrested and confronted with the evidence that the detectives had gathered.
Hidalgo waived his Miranda rights and admitted to: (1) stealing a Tag Heuer watch and a laptop computer from a Collins Avenue address; (2) taking a Seiko watch from a Bay Drive address; (3) entering a different Collins Avenue address and stealing two laptop computers; and, (4) re-entering the same Bay Drive address from which he had taken the Seiko watch to steal a camera and other items. Hidalgo was charged in four different cases with each of these entries, moved to suppress his statements and the evidence of these crimes, and pled guilty, reserving the right to appeal denial of his suppression motion.
The State acknowledges that Hidalgo's consensual encounter with the detectives became a detention when the detectives conducted the pat-down search and that because no reasonable suspicion existed at that time, his detention was unlawful. See Popple v. State, 626 So.2d 185, 186 (Fla.1993) (); Enich v. State, 838 So.2d 1216, 1217 n. 1 (Fla. 3d DCA 2003) (); Hines v. State, 737 So.2d 1182, 1186 (Fla. 1st DCA 1999) (...
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CALDWELL v. State of Fla.
...petitioner, the suspect objected to the admission of evidence discovered on his or her person during the search. See Hidalgo v. State, 959 So.2d 353 (Fla. 3d DCA 2007) (objecting to drugs discovered during frisk); D.L.J., 932 So.2d at 1133 (concealed firearm); Hines v. State, 737 So.2d 1182......
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Caldwell v. State
...courts have held that a consensual encounter is transformed into a detention if a pat down search is conducted. See Hidalgo v. State, 959 So.2d 353, 354 (Fla. 3d DCA 2007). Such a search without reasonable suspicion would render the detention unlawful. Id. The First District addressed a nea......
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Search and seizure
...of the illegal stop is not dissipated by the days it took for the officer to determine that the items were stolen. Hidalgo v. State, 959 So. 2d 353 (Fla. 3d DCA 2007) When an LEO approaches defendant on a sidewalk and asks him to leave, the incident is an encounter. The defendant is free to......