Maldonado v. State
| Decision Date | 26 September 2008 |
| Docket Number | No. 2D06-5276.,2D06-5276. |
| Parties | Alan Scott MALDONADO, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
James Marion Moorman, Public Defender, and Jean Marie Henne, Special Assistant Public Defender, Bartow, for Appellant.
Bill McCollum, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Susan M. Shanahan, Assistant Attorney General, Tampa, for Appellee.
Alan Scott Maldonado appeals his judgments and sentences for possession of a controlled substance, resisting an officer without violence, and failure of a defendant on bail for a felony charge to appear. We affirm Mr. Maldonado's judgment and sentence for failure to appear. However, because the trial court erred in denying Mr. Maldonado's motion to suppress the cocaine found in his possession after a traffic stop, we reverse his judgment and sentence for possession of a controlled substance.1 The logic of our analysis of the suppression issue requires that we also reverse Mr. Maldonado's judgment and sentence for resisting an officer without violence.
The only witness to testify at the hearing on Mr. Maldonado's motion to suppress was the arresting officer, Deputy Steve Hall of the Sarasota County Sheriff's Department. Deputy Hall testified that in the early morning hours of November 4, 2003, he was on patrol on Interstate 75 in southern Sarasota County. Deputy Hall had parked his patrol car facing south so that he could observe the northbound traffic on the highway. At approximately 3 a.m., Deputy Hall stopped a northbound car because the vehicle's brake lights were malfunctioning and its tag light was out. Deputy Hall asked the driver, Mr. Maldonado, to step out of the vehicle. Two passengers remained in the vehicle.
After Mr. Maldonado had stepped away from his vehicle, Deputy Hall asked him where he had begun his journey. Mr. Maldonado responded that he was traveling from Panther Ridge and Laurel Road. Deputy Hall concluded that Mr. Maldonado was lying to him because Mr. Maldonado had been traveling north on Interstate 75 and the location of the traffic stop was south of Panther Ridge and Laurel Road. Deputy Hall also noticed that Mr. Maldonado was "nervous" and seemed to be experiencing difficulty in speaking. Accordingly, Deputy Hall called for a K-9 unit to be dispatched to the scene of the traffic stop.
After Mr. Maldonado's untruthful response, Deputy Hall remained unsure whether Mr. Maldonado was involved in any criminal activity. The deputy decided to investigate further by asking the passengers where they had begun their trip. The passenger in the front seat of the car told Deputy Hall that they were traveling from Miami. Based on Mr. Maldonado's behavior and the contradictory statements given by him and his passenger concerning the starting point of their journey, Deputy Hall thought that Mr. Maldonado was "hiding something maybe involved with drugs." At this point, the deputy ran a computer check on Mr. Maldonado's driver's license but found nothing amiss.
Next, Deputy Hall told Mr. Maldonado that his story was not making sense and that he thought Mr. Maldonado was lying. The deputy told Mr. Maldonado that he would be issued a written warning for the traffic violations and then he could be on his way. However, Deputy Hall also told Mr. Maldonado that a K-9 unit was on its way to the scene and asked if that was "okay" with Mr. Maldonado. Mr. Maldonado replied, "No problem."
While he was waiting for the K-9 unit to arrive, Deputy Hall noticed a bulge in Mr. Maldonado's pocket, felt it, and noticed that the bulging item was hard. The deputy asked what the bulge was, and Mr. Maldonado answered that it was money. Deputy Hall replied by asking Mr. Maldonado to display the object in his pocket. Mr. Maldonado removed from his pocket a paper towel that Deputy Hall thought contained "dope." Mr. Maldonado then put his hand back in his pocket and kept it there. Next, Deputy Hall reached down, grabbed Mr. Maldonado's hand, and ordered him to take his hand out of his pocket. Mr. Maldonado "swat[ted] at" the deputy, turned around, and ran away.
By this time, the K-9 unit and another deputy had arrived. The deputies eventually apprehended Mr. Maldonado and— after a brief struggle—subdued him. Deputy Hall was kicked in the face and sustained a "busted lip." On the ground near where Mr. Maldonado was apprehended, Deputy Hall found cocaine next to the paper towel.
At the hearing on the motion to suppress, the defense argued that Deputy Hall had unreasonably prolonged the traffic stop to allow additional time for the K-9 unit to arrive. The State conceded that Deputy Hall had detained Mr. Maldonado for longer than was necessary to write the warning for the tag light and the malfunctioning brake lights. The prosecutor framed the issue for the trial court as follows:
Thus, in light of the State's concession concerning the unreasonable prolongation of the traffic stop, the only issue for the trial court was whether Deputy Hall had reasonable suspicion that criminal activity was afoot to justify the detention of Mr. Maldonado for a longer period of time than was necessary to write the warning for the traffic violations. See Cresswell v. State, 564 So.2d 480, 481 (Fla.1990); Summerall v. State, 777 So.2d 1060, 1061 (Fla. 2d DCA 2001) (citing Cresswell, 564 So.2d at 481).
The State relied on three factors to establish the requisite reasonable suspicion: (1) Mr. Maldonado's untruthful statement concerning the starting point of his trip, (2) his nervous and evasive behavior, and (3) his travel from Miami on Interstate 75 in the early hours of the morning. In response, Mr. Maldonado argued that Deputy Hall lacked any articulable suspicion of criminal activity and had abandoned writing the warning to conduct an unauthorized "fishing expedition." The trial court agreed with defense counsel's assertion that Deputy Hall had been on a "fishing expedition" and acknowledged that the parties had presented "a very, very, very close issue." However, without making any findings of fact, the trial court denied the motion to suppress.
A trial court's "ruling on a motion to suppress is presumptively correct and will be upheld if supported by the record." State v. Shuttleworth, 927 So.2d 975, 978 (Fla. 2d DCA 2006). The reviewing court must interpret the evidence and reasonable inferences and deductions derived therefrom in a manner most favorable to sustaining the trial court's ruling. Doorbal v. State, 837 So.2d 940, 952 (Fla. 2003) (quoting Terry v. State, 668 So.2d 954, 958 (Fla.1996)). An appellate court is bound by the trial court's factual findings if they are supported by competent, substantial evidence. E.B. v. State, 866 So.2d 200, 202 (Fla. 2d DCA 2004). However, the trial court's determination of the issues of reasonable suspicion and probable cause are subject to de novo review. See id.
On appeal, Mr. Maldonado argues that Deputy Hall "impermissibly prolonged [the] traffic stop ... to stall until the K-9 unit could arrive." A traffic "stop must last no longer than the time it takes to write the traffic citation," unless the officer has "a reasonable suspicion based on articulable facts that criminal activity `may be afoot.'" Cresswell, 564 So.2d at 481.
Ignoring its concession made in the trial court, the State claims that "there was no unreasonable delay in detaining [Mr. Maldonado] or in writing the citation prior to the arrival of the K-9 officer." The evidence presented at the suppression hearing— when considered in a manner most favorably to sustaining the trial court's ruling—supports the State's claim. Deputy Hall testified that the K-9 unit arrived while the deputy was still writing the warning, about ten minutes after the stop had begun. It was at that point that Deputy Hall noticed the bulge and asked Mr. Maldonado what was in his pocket. The trial court could have reasonably concluded that conducting a traffic stop and writing a warning would have taken at least ten minutes. See Sanchez v. State, 847 So.2d 1043, 1046 (Fla. 4th DCA 2003) (); Sands v. State, 753 So.2d 630, 632 (Fla. 5th DCA 2000) ().
Nevertheless, the State's argument is not well taken. At the hearing on the motion to suppress in the trial court, the State conceded that Mr. Maldonado's detention was unreasonably prolonged. On appeal, the State cannot avoid the effect of its concession in the trial court of a fact material to the disposition of Mr. Maldonado's motion. See Duan v. State, 970 So.2d 903, 906 (Fla. 1st...
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