State v. Champion
| Decision Date | 28 May 1980 |
| Docket Number | No. 79-112,79-112 |
| Citation | 383 So.2d 984 |
| Parties | STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. James Stewart CHAMPION, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and Kenneth G. Spillias, and Ondina Felipe, Asst. Attys. Gen., West Palm Beach, for appellant.
William B. Seidel, Fort Lauderdale, and Thomas G. Murray, Miami, for appellee.
This is an appeal by the State from an order granting defendant's motion to suppress. The evidence was obtained in a pat-down search of the defendant when he was approached by police officers in an airport. The initial approach was pursuant to the so-called Markonni drug profile described in United States v. Elmore, 595 F.2d 1036 (5th Cir. 1979). We reverse.
The search occurred in the Fort Lauderdale airport. Cocaine was found hidden on the defendant's person. Defendant moved to suppress and a hearing on the motion occurred in which three police officers testified on behalf of the State. Appellee did not testify.
A close reading of the transcript indicates much argument concerning the validity of the Markonni drug profile and whether this profile could form the basis of a defendant's being stopped and searched. We do not reach this issue because we conclude that the evidence presented at the hearing on motion to suppress clearly showed that defendant consented to the pat-down search.
The transcript on the motion to suppress indicates a great deal of argument and colloquy between counsel and the court and only limited actual testimony. The actual evidence was simply that two police officers approached defendant and identified themselves. They told the defendant they were involved in an investigation of drug trafficking and explained that their job was based only on general public cooperation. They explained that the defendant would have to consent to the search before it would be performed and that he did not have to give his consent. The testimony was that the defendant readily and spontaneously consented to the request to search by the officers. Both officers stated defendant was free to go at any time. There was no evidence of coercion.
We conclude that the trial court erred in suppressing this evidence. The State had the burden of demonstrating voluntary consent because the search was without a warrant. Here, the State met that burden by introducing clear and convincing evidence of defendant's consent. In Husted v. State, 370 So.2d 853, 854 (Fla.3d DCA 19...
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State v. Avery, 87-0270
...515 So.2d 230 (Fla.1987); Elsleger v. State, 503 So.2d 1367 (Fla. 4th DCA), dismissed, 511 So.2d 298 (Fla.1987); State v. Champion, 383 So.2d 984 (Fla. 4th DCA 1980). consent to the search was "coerced," a motion to suppress should be granted, and the wrongfully obtained evidence excluded. ......
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State v. Paul
...3d DCA 1987); State v. Martinez, 459 So.2d 1062 (Fla. 3d DCA 1984); State v. Howard, 394 So.2d 440 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981); State v. Champion, 383 So.2d 984 (Fla. 4th DCA 1980). In this case, the trial judge was the fact finder. He heard the police officer's testimony, which was the sole evidenc......
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Hunter v. State, 4-86-1312
...(Fla.3d DCA 1983); State v. Howard, 394 So.2d 440 (Fla.3d DCA 1981); State v. Henry, 390 So.2d 92 (Fla.3d DCA 1980); State v. Champion, 383 So.2d 984 (Fla. 4th DCA 1980); see also United States v. Watson, 423 U.S. 411, 96 S.Ct. 820, 46 L.Ed.2d 598 State v. Champion, 383 So.2d 984 (Fla. 4th ......
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State v. Milwood, 82-1144
...police activity so as to render subsequent consent un-tainted, uncoerced and truly voluntary in character). Accord State v. Champion, 383 So.2d 984 (Fla. 4th DCA 1980). See United States v. Mendenhall, 446 U.S. 544, 558-59, 100 S.Ct. 1870, 1879, 64 L.Ed.2d 497, 512 The record in the case be......