State v. Arnold
| Citation | 475 So.2d 301,10 Fla. L. Weekly 2191 |
| Decision Date | 18 September 1985 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 84-1952,84-1954 and 84-1955,84-1953,s. 84-1952 |
| Parties | 10 Fla. L. Weekly 2191 STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. Jeffrey P. ARNOLD, Appellee. STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. Jeffrey GARDINER, Appellee. STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. Thomas E. MILLER, Appellee. STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. Kevin WHITEHURST, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and Candance M. Sunderland and Katherine V. Blanco, Asst. Attys. Gen., Tampa, for appellant.
Harrison T. Slaughter, Jr., P.A., Orlando, for appellee Arnold.
Wayne Pearsall, Tampa, for appellee Gardiner.
Mark L. Horwitz of Law Offices of Mark L. Horwitz, P.A., Orlando, for appellee Miller.
Robert A. Leventhal of Law Offices of Robert A. Leventhal, P.A., Orlando, for appellee Whitehurst.
The state appeals the trial court's orders granting defendants' motions to suppress physical evidence and statements made by them. As to defendants Jeffrey Gardiner and Kevin Whitehurst, we affirm; as to defendants Jeffrey Arnold and Thomas Miller, we reverse.
The state filed informations charging the defendants with trafficking in cannabis in an amount greater than 10,000 pounds in violation of section 893.135, Florida Statutes (1983). The trial court's orders followed a single hearing on all four defendants' motions.
At that hearing the following facts were adduced. About 9:30 p.m. on March 5, 1984, Ken Sargent telephoned the Hendry County Sheriff's Office that a suspicious boat was on the Caloosahatchee River near his home. In response to the call, Deputy Sheriff Hollingsworth drove out to that area. He exited his vehicle and walked to the river's edge where he heard a motor running. He shined his flashlight in the direction of the noise and saw a shrimp boat on the other side of the river.
Hollingsworth returned to his car. He intended to cross a bridge on State Road 78 and turn on a marl road which would take him to the boat's vicinity. As he approached the bridge, he observed a vehicle on the marl road heading toward State Road 78. As Deputy Hollingsworth turned onto the marl road, he saw a white Fiat stopped about one hundred feet from the intersection facing toward State Road 78. Two men, Charles Brunty and Defendant Jeffrey Arnold, were in the two-seater Fiat and a woman, Karma Brunty, was leaning into the window of the passenger side. Arnold was in the driver's seat.
About 9:50 p.m. Hollingsworth stopped his car in front of the Fiat. As Karma Brunty began walking past him, he asked her to stay so that he could talk to her. Hollingsworth then asked the two men to turn their car off and exit the vehicle. They complied with his request.
The surrounding area consisted primarily of palmettos, pine trees, and high grass. The officer observed that the two Bruntys were wearing deck shoes and Charles Brunty's clothes were soiled. He said that Mrs. Brunty looked fairly clean. Arnold's pants were soiled, but he was not wearing deck shoes.
Hollingsworth asked why the three were there. Karma Brunty explained that she and her husband, Charles, were having an argument, and they had pulled off the road to finish it. She said that they were traveling from Fort Myers to West Palm Beach. Deputy Hollingsworth asked Arnold why he was with the Bruntys. Arnold said he was Charles Brunty's brother. When asked why his last name was different, Arnold said he was a half brother.
Hollingsworth asked them for identification. After Arnold produced his driver's license, Hollingsworth ran a warrant check on him. Although no warrants were found, the dispatcher told Hollingsworth that Arnold had a prior trafficking conviction or arrest. At this point Deputy Kunkle arrived at the scene. Hollingsworth asked Kunkle to remain with these three people as he proceeded to the river.
It took Deputy Hollingsworth a minute to a minute and one-half to reach the boat, which was approximately half a mile away from the white Fiat. Hollingsworth got out of his car and saw what appeared to be cannabis on the ground in front of the boat. The cannabis was scattered as if thrown, not stacked. He estimated that the pile contained at least a hundred bales. Hollingsworth immediately told the dispatcher what he had found and then communicated with Kunkle to arrest Arnold and the Bruntys.
After Hollingsworth reached the boat, it took ten to thirteen minutes for other officers to arrive. When Highway Patrol Trooper Steve Worley pulled a shotgun out of his car trunk and slipped a round into the chamber, Steve Maydock leaped out of the bushes next to the patrol car and asked Worley not to shoot. Worley asked Maydock whether there were any other persons in the bushes and, if so, whether they were armed. Maydock responded that there were approximately twenty more people hiding in the bushes, none of them were armed, and some of them had left by car.
Hollingsworth then boarded the boat. He observed that the motor was running and that the boat was in forward gear. He found no one on board. When he went below deck, he saw bales of cannabis at the bottom of the forward hatch ladder and in front of the fuel tanks. He observed that the two forward fuel tanks had contained marijuana. He also saw the ship's manifest and log and noticed that the log listed Thomas Eugene Miller as a crew member.
About fifteen minutes later, Deputy Sheriff Kelly, the supervising officer of this operation, arrived. Deputy Hollingsworth informed Kelly of what he had already discovered, including Miller's name in the log. Thereafter, the officers took the boat to a marina and secured it.
The following morning the officers commenced a search of the surrounding area. Their investigation resulted in the arrests of Gardiner, Whitehurst, and Miller. Between 5:50 and 6:00 a.m., Deputy Sheriff Brant received a dispatch regarding a person on a bridge on State Road 78. Chief Deputy Kelly heard the same dispatch. Both officers drove to the bridge and observed Defendant Jeffrey Gardiner walking across it. They saw that his pants were wet and muddy, his shirt was inside out, and he had scratches on his face. Both officers thought Gardiner had run through brush.
The officers stopped Gardiner and asked for some identification. He produced a valid Florida driver's license indicating his name. In response to questions, Gardiner said that he had come from the Handy Way Store. Before that, he had been at the Long Branch Bar. Further, while Gardiner could not give them the location of his motel, he showed them his key, which indicated the Starlight Motel, Room 38. Chief Deputy Kelly asked Gardiner where he got the scratches on his face. Gardiner asked, "What scratches?" At that point Kelly arrested him for importation and trafficking in marijuana and advised him of his Miranda rights.
While Deputy Brant took Gardiner to the sheriff's office, Chief Deputy Kelly went to the Starlight Motel to talk to the manager. He asked the manager the names of the persons registered in Room 38. The registry indicated that Jeffrey Arnold had rented the room for two persons. Chief Deputy Kelly told the manager that he had both Arnold and Gardiner in custody and wanted the room opened so he could pick up their belongings. The manager complied with the request. When Kelly entered the room, he saw a bag of marijuana on the bed. This search resulted in a warrantless seizure of items belonging to various persons, including Arnold and Gardiner.
At around 7:00 a.m. that same morning, Kelly again read Gardiner his Miranda rights. Gardiner said he understood his rights and wanted to cooperate. After signing a waiver-of-rights form, he said that Jeff Arnold had hired him to help unload the boat for $10,000. He then told Kelly the details of the planning and execution of the unloading operation.
After they had picked up Gardiner and returned to the police station, Chief Deputy Kelly told Deputies Brant and Campbell to return to the area where the boat had been found. While on State Road 78, near the Handy Way Store parking lot, they saw Defendant Kevin Whitehurst at a pay telephone some time between 7:00 and 8:45 a.m. He was not wearing a shirt, although it was a fairly cool morning. They noticed his jeans were wet between the knees and the ankles and he had mud on his shoes. Deputy Brant decided to investigate. Brant and Campbell gave Whitehurst a couple of minutes to finish his telephone call; then, Deputy Brant tapped him on the shoulder. Whitehurst turned around and Brant noticed he had a couple of burrs in his chest hairs. Brant told Whitehurst he was a deputy sheriff. Whitehurst's nervousness and appearance aroused Brant's suspicion.
When asked for identification, Whitehurst said he had none but gave the officers his correct name. He claimed he was hitchhiking from Fort Myers to West Palm Beach and had just called someone to pick him up. When asked how he got there, he pointed to a red car in the parking lot indicating that the driver of that vehicle had picked him up on the road. In talking to the owner of the red car, Officer Campbell learned that the driver had picked up Whitehurst in the vicinity where the boat was found.
Deputy Brant felt that he had probable cause to believe Kevin Whitehurst was involved with the boat and asked him to come to the sheriff's office. Deputy Campbell did not believe Whitehurst had committed a crime, although he was not present during all of Brant's conversation with Whitehurst. Whitehurst was read his Miranda rights at the sheriff's office but did not make any statements. Although testimony is somewhat confusing, it appears that Whitehurst was not "officially arrested" until Chief Deputy Kelly questioned him at the station.
About 10:00 a.m. Deputy Joseph Thompson saw two men walking on State Road 78. They were wet and dirty. One was wearing pants and a shirt, the other only pants. Thompson stopped them and asked for identification. One...
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