State v. Clark

• Decision Date: 22 February 2008
• Docket Number: No. 2D06-3231.,2D06-3231.
• Citation: 986 So.2d 625
• Parties: STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. Stanley CLARK, Appellee.
• Court: Florida District Court of Appeals

986 So.2d 625

STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. Stanley CLARK, Appellee.

No. 2D06-3231.

District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second District.

February 22, 2008.

Bill McCollum, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Tonja Rene Vickers, Assistant Attorney General, Tampa, for Appellant.

James Marion Moorman, Public Defender, and Timothy J. Ferreri, Assistant Public Defender, Bartow, for Appellee.

WALLACE, Judge.

The State appeals a circuit court order that granted Stanley Clark's motion to suppress controlled substances found in his motor vehicle. Police officers had searched the vehicle and seized the controlled substances following Mr. Clark's warrantless arrest. Because the police officers had probable cause to arrest Mr. Clark, they were authorized to search the vehicle of which he was a recent occupant. For this reason, we reverse the suppression order and we remand this case to the circuit court for further proceedings.

I. THE FACTS

The events that led to Mr. Clark's arrest began on October 5, 2005, with a tip from a confidential informant to a detective employed by the St. Petersburg Police Department. The informant told the detective that she could telephone several individuals—including Mr. Clark—and arrange for them to deliver crack cocaine to her. The informant was the recent recipient of a notice to appear in court for an offense related to prostitution, and her motive for cooperating with the police was the hope of obtaining leniency. The informant had not previously provided information to the detective, and her reliability was untested.

The informant did not know Mr. Clark's name. Instead, she referred to him by the nickname of "Goldy." The informant described the suspect to the detective as a black male, about twenty-five years of age, approximately five feet, eight inches tall, and with a muscular build. According to the informant, the suspect used a black Ford pickup truck to make deliveries of crack cocaine.

The informant gave the detective the suspect's telephone number, and the detective dialed the number on a cell phone. The detective activated the cell phone's speaker function so that he could hear both sides of the conversation, and he handed the phone to the informant. She spoke with the suspect and asked him to deliver a "yard"—or $100 worth—of crack cocaine. The informant told the suspect that she had a customer with her, and she asked the suspect to make the delivery at a different location than the one she normally used. The suspect responded that he would make the delivery and asked the informant to call him back in ten minutes.

Ten minutes later, the informant called the suspect a second time while the detective listened to the conversation. Once again, the informant requested a "yard" of crack cocaine. The suspect responded that he was just leaving his residence and asked the informant to call him back again in ten minutes with detailed directions to the delivery location.

After another ten minutes passed, the informant called the suspect a third time and directed him to a specific address in St. Petersburg. She instructed the suspect to drive down an alley, pull into a carport at the designated address, and beep his horn. When the horn sounded, the informant was to "come down" and meet the suspect to take delivery of the crack cocaine. At the conclusion of the third conversation, the suspect told the informant that he was approximately two minutes away from the designated delivery location.

Approximately two minutes later, the detective saw a black, 1999 Ford F-150 pickup truck turn into the alley. The suspect proceeded slowly down the alley as if he were looking for an unfamiliar address. When the suspect reached the designated address, he pulled into the carport and beeped his horn. From their vantage point, both the detective and the informant could see the suspect. The informant identified the suspect as Goldy, and the detective confirmed that the driver matched the description of the suspect that the informant had previously given.

Once the suspect had beeped his horn and his description as Goldy had been confirmed, the detective signaled other police officers to make an arrest. Thus no exchange of money for drugs between the informant and the suspect ever occurred. Meanwhile, the suspect had stepped out of his truck and had closed its door. An officer in a marked police cruiser activated its lights and siren and pulled in behind the truck, blocking any potential escape route. Another officer approached the suspect from behind, took him to the ground, and handcuffed him. This officer placed the suspect under arrest.

After the suspect's arrest, the officers identified him as Mr. Clark. The officers searched Mr. Clark, but they did not find any controlled substances on his person. Next, the officers searched the pickup truck. They found a plastic bag containing crack cocaine on the truck's floorboard and another plastic bag containing marijuana in the center console.

II. THE PROCEEDINGS IN THE CIRCUIT COURT

Based on the items found in the search of Mr. Clark's truck, the State charged him with the commission of two crimes: (1) possession of cocaine with intent to sell, manufacture, or deliver, a violation of section 893.13(1)(a)(1), Florida Statutes (2005), and (2) possession of not more than twenty grams of marijuana, a violation of 893.13(6)(b). Mr. Clark filed a motion to suppress the cocaine and the marijuana that formed the basis for the charges. At a hearing on the motion in the circuit court, Mr. Clark emphasized the informant's lack of a prior record of providing reliable information. He argued that a review of the totality of the circumstances demonstrated that the police officers had nothing more than a reasonable suspicion that he was either committing or was about to commit a crime. Mr. Clark conceded that this reasonable suspicion would have authorized the police to detain him temporarily for further investigation. See Popple v. State, 626 So.2d 185, 186 (Fla. 1993) (identifying three levels of police-citizen encounters, including (1) a consensual encounter, (2) a temporary detention or investigatory stop, and (3) an arrest). However, Mr. Clark contended that the police lacked probable cause to arrest him and then to search his truck as an incident of the arrest. For this reason, Mr. Clark urged the circuit court to suppress the cocaine and the marijuana as the fruits of an illegal search.

Relying primarily on this court's decision in State v. Flores, 932 So.2d 341 (Fla. 2d DCA 2006), the circuit court agreed with Mr. Clark's argument and entered an order suppressing the contraband. From that order, the State timely filed this appeal.¹

III. THE STANDARD OF REVIEW

We employ a mixed standard of review in considering the circuit court's ruling on Mr. Clark's motion to suppress. The circuit court's determination of historical facts enjoys a presumption of correctness and is subject to reversal only if not supported by competent, substantial evidence in the record. See E.B. v. State, 866 So.2d 200, 202 (Fla. 2d DCA 2004). However, the circuit court's determinations on mixed questions of law and fact and its legal conclusions are subject to de novo review. See Ornelas v. United States, 517 U.S. 690, 699, 116 S.Ct. 1657, 134 L.Ed.2d 911 (1996); Connor v. State, 803 So.2d 598, 608 (Fla.2001); E.B., 866 So.2d at 202.

IV. DISCUSSION

A. Framing the Issue

When the police officers searched Mr. Clark following his arrest, they did not find any contraband on his person. Instead, the officers found the cocaine and marijuana in the truck's passenger compartment. In the absence of a search warrant, there are three valid means by which law enforcement officers may search a motor vehicle: (1) incident to a lawful arrest of a recent occupant of the vehicle; (2) under the "automobile exception" to the warrant requirement, i.e., based on probable cause to believe that the vehicle contains contraband or other evidence of a crime; and (3) when a vehicle has been impounded, as part of a reasonable inventory search following standardized procedures. See Jaimes v. State, 862 So.2d 833, 836 (Fla. 2d DCA 2003); see also State v. Green, 943 So.2d 1004, 1006 n. 1 (Fla. 2d DCA 2006) (noting that exigent circumstances are not required in order to apply the "automobile exception" to the warrant requirement). Without question, the search of Mr. Clark's truck was not conducted as part of an inventory search. Additionally, the State did not argue in the circuit court that the "automobile exception" applied. Thus we focus on whether the search was incident to a lawful arrest of Mr. Clark as a recent occupant of a vehicle.

B. Recent Occupant of a Vehicle

Mr. Clark had stepped out of his pickup truck before the police initiated contact with him. Under these facts, to determine the validity of the vehicle search under prior law, it would have been necessary to determine whether a search of the vehicle's passenger compartment was reasonable to ensure the arresting officers' safety or to preserve evidence. See Thomas v. State, 761 So.2d 1010, 1014 (Fla.1999) (holding that where the suspect had not left his vehicle at the direction of a law enforcement officer, the officer could not search the vehicle incident to the arrest of the suspect unless the officer's safety was endangered or the preservation of evidence was in jeopardy). However, the United States Supreme Court has now overruled the Thomas decision and clarified that for purposes of determining the lawfulness of the search of a vehicle's passenger compartment incident to an arrest, it is immaterial "whether the arrestee exited the vehicle at the officer's direction, or whether the officer initiated contact with him while he remained in the car." Thornton v. United States, 541 U.S. 615, 620-21, 124 S.Ct. 2127, 158 L.Ed.2d 905 (2004); see also Slone v. State, 902 So.2d 852, 853 (Fla. 4th DCA 2005) (recognizing the overruling of Th...