Luna-Martinez v. State
| Decision Date | 11 June 2008 |
| Docket Number | Case No. 2D05-2665. |
| Citation | 984 So.2d 592 |
| Parties | Rafael LUNA-MARTINEZ, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
James Marion Moorman, Public Defender, and Dan Hallenberg, Special Assistant Public Defender, Bartow, for Appellant.
Bill McCollum, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Dale E. Tarpley, Assistant Attorney General, Tampa, for Appellee.
This case arose from the events that unfolded during a knock-and-talk encounter between the police and the defendant, Rafael Luna-Martinez, at the defendant's apartment. Luna-Martinez has presented three issues in this appeal of his judgments and sentences for trafficking in heroin and other drug offenses. We reject two of those issues as grounds for reversal without further comment. We write to address Luna-Martinez's argument that the consent he gave for the search of his apartment was involuntary and that the trial court therefore erred in denying the motion to suppress the fruits of that search. For the reasons we explain, we conclude that the trial court was correct in ruling that the consent to search was voluntary.
The basic circumstances of the defendant's encounter with the police in Highlands County are set forth in the trial court's order denying the motion to suppress:
On March 26, 2003[,] at approximately 3:00 a.m., Det. Jose Feliciano and other members of law enforcement approached the residence of the defendant and his wife to conduct a "knock and talk" interview with the defendant. After initial contact by English speaking officers stalled, Det. Feliciano approached the defendant and his wife and asked for consent to enter the residence and search for contraband that police had received a tip was present within the residence. The defendant was polite and cooperative[,] and he gave consent for the officers to search. Det. Feliciano engaged the defendant and his wife in conversation in the kitchen. The defendant did not withdraw his consent for the search or limit the scope of the search at any time. After a trafficking amount of heroin was found in the residence, the defendant made spontaneous statements that the narcotics belonged to him and that his wife was unaware of their presence.
Inv. Tyrone Tyson, of the Highlands County Sheriff's Office, testified that initial contact with the defendant and his wife was made by means of a ruse. A uniformed deputy approached the defendant's residence at 3:00 a.m. and told the defendant and his wife that their car had been burglarized in the parking lot. Once contact was made with all adult members of the residence, Inv. Tyson told the defendant and his wife of the ruse, stated the officers' real purpose for being there, and asked for consent to search. Inv. Tyson's contact was unsatisfactory due to a language barrier, so Inv. Tyson turned the interview over to Det. Feliciano. After Det. Feliciano informed Inv. Tyson that he had obtained consent to search from the defendant, Inv. Tyson was a part of the search team that discovered and collected a trafficking amount of heroin from the upstairs bathroom.
At the hearing on the motion to suppress, conflicting testimony was given by law enforcement officers concerning whether consent was obtained from the defendant at the threshold of the apartment or after officers had entered some distance into the foyer of the apartment. It is apparent from the trial court's finding that the police "asked for consent to enter the residence" that the court credited the testimony that consent was obtained at the threshold.
There was no inconsistency in the law enforcement testimony that the defendant consented to the search and that he was subjected to no coercion. The officer who obtained the consent testified that his "tone of voice" in speaking to the defendant was "very amicable" and "[v]ery low." That officer also testified that he advised the defendant of his Miranda1 rights before asking for consent and that during the encounter no guns were drawn and the defendant was not handcuffed. Another officer characterized the request for consent as a "very casual" request and stated that the defendant "appeared to be alert and aware" and was somewhat "talkative" and "nervous." The defendant, on the contrary, testified that he did not give consent to search the apartment. He testified instead that when he demanded a search warrant from the officers, he was told to sit down and be quiet.
The record reflects that numerous officers and law enforcement vehicles—from Hillsborough County as well as Highlands County—were at the scene. There was testimony, however, that several of the officers from Hillsborough County were not "right there where" the officers were speaking with the defendant to request consent to search. In the defendant's testimony, there is no indication that he interacted with or observed more than three or four officers.
In its order, the trial court explicitly determined that the police had not engaged in any improper conduct, discredited the defendant's testimony regarding the conduct of the police, and concluded that the consent to search was valid:
The Court finds that the ruse used by law enforcement to make initial contact with the defendant does not rise to the level of police misconduct. Further, based upon the circumstances of this case, there was nothing inappropriate about law enforcement['s] contacting the defendant in his residence at 3:00 a.m. The defendant was polite and cooperative, and both the defendant and his wife gave free, knowing, and voluntary consent for law enforcement to enter and search their residence.
The Court finds that no intimidation, threats, force, or coercion were employed by law enforcement against the defendant or his wife[ ] and finds any statements made to the contrary by the defendant at motion to suppress to be not credible. Based upon the totality of the circumstances in this matter, the Court finds that the defendant did not merely acquiesce to police presence and authority[ ] but did give valid consent to enter and search his residence.
The Court further finds that the defendant had some knowledge of the legal system and his rights prior to this incident ....
The defendant argues that his consent to search was not free and voluntary but was instead merely a submission to the police officers' show of authority. In support of this argument, the defendant relies primarily on (a) the circumstance that the knock-and-talk encounter occurred at 3 o'clock in the morning, (b) the deception used by police in initiating contact with the defendant, and (c) the number of officers involved in the encounter with the defendant. The defendant also points to (d) the absence of an express warning by the police to the defendant that he was free to refuse consent to search, (e) the absence of a written consent to search, and (f) the circumstance that the defendant was given his Miranda rights and was informed that he was the target of an investigation. The defendant places special reliance on Kutzorik v. State, 891 So.2d 645 (Fla. 2d DCA 2005), in support of his claim that the consent was not voluntary.
The State argues in response that in the absence of any indication of intimidation or coercion by the police, the factors relied on by the defendant are insufficient to establish that the consent was involuntary.
In reviewing the trial court's ruling on the motion to suppress, we are governed by the standard that "mixed questions of law and fact that ultimately determine constitutional rights should be reviewed ... using a two-step approach, deferring to the trial court on questions of historical fact but conducting a de novo review of the constitutional issue." Connor v. State, 803 So.2d 598, 605 (Fla.2001). As to questions of historical fact, deferential review requires that we "interpret the evidence and reasonable inferences and deductions derived therefrom in a manner most favorable to sustaining the trial court's ruling." Pagan v. State, 830 So.2d 792, 806 (Fla.2002).
Here, the constitutional issue of the reasonableness of the search turns on the voluntariness of the consent to search. "Ultimately the question whether a [consent to search] is voluntary presents a legal issue to an appellate court, one that is determined de novo under federal constitutional principles." Brancaccio v. State, 773 So.2d 582, 583 (Fla. 4th DCA 2000).
Although warrantless entries of dwellings are generally forbidden, see Payton v. New York, 445 U.S. 573, 585, 100 S.Ct. 1371, 63 L.Ed.2d 639 (1980), a warrantless search of a dwelling may be authorized by consent, see Georgia v. Randolph, 547 U.S. 103, 106, 126 S.Ct. 1515, 164 L.Ed.2d 208 (2006); United States v. Matlock, 415 U.S. 164, 171, 94 S.Ct. 988, 39 L.Ed.2d 242 (1974). "[A] search pursuant to consent," if Schneckloth v. Bustamonte, 412 U.S. 218, 228, 93 S.Ct. 2041, 36 L.Ed.2d 854 (1973). "[I]t is only by analyzing all the circumstances of an individual consent that it can be ascertained whether in fact it was voluntary or coerced." Id. at 233, 93 S.Ct. 2041. "In examining all the surrounding circumstances to determine if in fact the consent to search was coerced, account must be taken of subtly coercive police questions, as well as the possibly vulnerable subjective state of the person who consents." Id. at 229, 93 S.Ct. 2041.
Accordingly, ...
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