Ingram v. State, 71--360
| Decision Date | 28 June 1972 |
| Docket Number | No. 71--360,71--360 |
| Parties | Willie Thomas INGRAM, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Walter N. Colbath, Jr., Public Defender, and Carl V. M. Coffin, Asst. Public Defender, West Palm Beach, for appellant.
Robert L. Shevin, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and Nelson E. Bailey, Asst. Atty. Gen., West Palm Beach, for appellee.
The issue before this court is whether or not the Court of Record for Broward County, Florida, committed reversible error by denying the appellant's motion to suppress a .38 caliber revolver which was offered and received in evidence against him.
The appellant was charged by information with unlawfully carrying a concealed firearm in violation of Section 790.001(2), F.S.1969, F.S.A. The appellant filed a timely motion to suppress tangible evidence on the ground that the same was taken in violation of the Constitution of the United States and the State of Florida. After the trial of the defendant was under way, the court ruled on the motion.
It appears from the record that about 1:00 a.m. on the morning of 11 January 1971, Officers Samuel Pagano and Richard Barrett, deputy sheriffs from the Broward County Sheriff's Department, were directed to investigate an abandoned automobile found in the Carver's Ranch area of West Hollywood, Florida. At the scene, they noticed that the vehicle was stripped of the steering wheel, transmission, and drive shaft. In search of a possible witness, Officer Pagano and his partner cruised the area. Within a short distance, they came upon the defendant. He was standing on the side of the street looking into a parked automobile and talking to the sole occupant, another male, who was seated in the automobile. Officer Pagano approached the defendant on foot for the purpose of inquiring of him whether he had any knowledge of the abandoned vehicle. When Officer Pagano came within several feet of the defendant, he recognized him as Willie Ingram. The officer had previously received reports from no less than eight persons indicating that Ingram had at different times been armed with a revolver. Without further ceremony, Officer Pagano told Ingram to put his hands on the top of the car and proceeded to pat him down. The search revealed a .38 caliber revolver under the belt of Ingram covered by his shirt. The officer testified that because of the previous reports he had received, he was in fear of his life and, therefore, undertook the search. The officer testified that Ingram did nothing which made him apprehensive.
The appellant contends that the hearsay reports which led Officer Pagano to believe Ingram to be armed and dangerous did not justify the officer in stopping Ingram and searching him. Because of that, the appellant contends the search was illegal and the evidence revealed as a result thereof inadmissible. The appellant calls the court's attention to Section 901.151, F.S.1969, F.S.A., and contends that this statute, commonly known as the Florida Stop and Frisk Law, did not authorize the temporary detention and search of Ingram.
We think that the issue in this case need not turn on the provisions of Section 901.151, F.S.1969, F.S.A. Rather, we believe that the issue may be resolved by a resort to the underlying constitutional issue which is whether or not the search and seizure conducted by Officer Pagano violated the right of the defendant to be secure in his person as guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Section 12, Article I, of the Constitution of the State of Florida as amended in 1968. Each guarantees a citizen security against unreasonable searches and seizures. The central inquiry, therefore, must be directed toward the reasonableness of the search and seizure.
An analysis of the constitutional issue in a parallel fact situation was undertaken by the United States Supreme Court in the case of Terry v. State of Ohio, 1968, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889. In Terry the facts recited in the opinion indicate that a Cleveland police officer observed two men pacing back and forth along a city street periodically peering into a store window. It was during business hours. Further observation led the officer to detect that the two men were apparently in confederacy with a third man. The men were observed to leave the store front which they had been 'casing' and move to another. At this point, the officer encountered the men and asked for an explanation of their presence. When a satisfactory explanation was not forthcoming, he physically grabbed Terry, forced the trio into the store, and ultimately searched the men for weapons. Weapons were found and introduced in evidence against Terry...
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