State v. Knapp
| Citation | 294 So.2d 338 |
| Decision Date | 01 May 1974 |
| Docket Number | Nos. 73--841,s. 73--841 |
| Parties | STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. Geoffrey KNAPP, Appellee. STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. Anthony J. BOGART, Appellee. to 73--844. |
| Court | Court of Appeal of Florida (US) |
Robert L. Shevin, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and Robert J. Landry, Asst. Atty. Gen., Tampa, for appellant.
Philip J. Padovano of Ruiz & Padovano, St. Petersburg, for appellees.
This is an interlocutory appeal from an order granting the defendants' motion to suppress evidence. The factual narration which follows is taken from the transcript of testimony given at the hearing on the motion to suppress.
In the spring of 1973, Officer Parks of the St. Petersburg Police Department received information from various sources which led him to believe that a large scale transfer of marijuana in the Tampa-St. Petersburg area was imminent. A confidential informant, a Winnebago dealer who had provided reliable information in the past, informed him that one Dale Morehouse and another man had been to his place of business to rent a Winnebago motor home and had expressed concern over the weight the vehicle could safely carry. The informant had found scraps of marijuana in a Winnebago he had previously rented to Morehouse. Through street rumors, Parks heard that the price of marijuana was soon going to drop in the area because a large shipment was comming in on the weekend of May 5. A member of the State Attorney's Task Force on drugs from Gainesville advised Parks that a large shipment of marijuana was expected to come up Interstate 75 to Gainesville in two Winnebago campers. Because of this information, Officer Parks decided to conduct surveillance on the Winnebago rented from the confidential informant by Dale Morehouse. Morehouse was listed in the Intelligence Bureau files as being involved in narcotics.
Surveillance of the Winnebago was continuous from Wednesday, May 2, to Friday, May 4. Throughout this period, the rented vehicle did not move from where it was parked at a residence in Tampa. On Friday night the investigators observed the arrival of a U-Haul truck at the residence, whereupon large packages were unloaded and transferred into the Winnebago. The driver then re-entered the U-Haul truck and left the residence. Officer Parks was informed to these events by car radio. He intercepted the U-Haul and followed it to a parking lot behind some business establishments in Pinellas Park. He stationed himself approximately on hundred yards away and began to watch the truck through binoculars.
A few minutes later the defendant, Knapp, drove up in a Dodge van and parked at a ninety degree angle so that the back door of the van was about six feet from the rear of the U-Haul truck. The defendant, Bogart, opened the back of the U-Haul and started removing large bundles which were dark brown in color. At this point, Parks radioed to his associates that a transfer of crocus sacks was being made and directed that they should move in to make arrests.
Pursuant to the instructions of his superior, Officer Holloway approached the defendants with his gun drawn. As he neared the vehicles he smelled the distinct odor of marijuana. He announced his presence and stated that the defendants were under arrest. He then observed what appeared to him to be leafy particles o marijuana lying in the back of the open U-Haul truck. At this point Officer Parks arrived and also smelled and saw the marijuana.
The automobile was impounded and a search warrant was obtained. The vehicles were searched and large quantities of marijuana were found.
The trial judge held that the officers did not have probable cause to make the arrests. He quashed the evidence of what the officers observed at the time of making the arrests as being the fruit of an unlawful arrest. He held that the affidavit for the search warrant was defective and invalidated the search.
There was considerable dispute over whether Officer Parks was able to see whether the packages being transferred consisted of burlap or crocus bags. The significance of this is that it was established that marijuana is frequently transported in such containers. The court doubted Parks' ability to identify the packages as being crocus bags because of the distance involved and the lighting conditions at the time in question. Construing the testimony most favorable to the defendants (as we must because the trier of fact held in their favor), we can only conclude Officer Parks may have thought he saw crocus bags since this is what he reported on the radio to his fellow officers. There was also a dispute over whether Officer Holloway saw the marijuana before making the arrest. Once again, giving the defendants the benefit of doubt cast upon Holloway's testimony on this point by way of impeachment, we must consider the case upon the basis that the arrest was made before the marijuana was observed.
Probable cause for making an arrest has been defined as a reasonable ground of suspicion, supported by circumstances sufficiently strong in themselves to warrant a cautious man in believing the accused to be guilty. Trivette v. State, Fla.App.3rd, 1971, 244 So.2d 173. The officer need not actually see the law being violated nor must he satisfy himself beyond any question that a felony has been committed. Russell v. State, Fla.App.3rd, 1972, 266 So.2d 92. The person making the arrest may act either upon facts within his own knowledge or on those communicated to him by a responsible person. Bryant v. State, Fla.App.2d, 1963, 155 So.2d 396.
In determining whether the police have probable cause to believe that a felony was being committed so as to justify an arrest without a warrant, the sufficiency of the knowledge of the officers must be determined, not by an analysis of the effect of each known circumstance in isolation, but by a conclusion as to what a reasonable man, knowing all the facts which the officers knew from their investigation, would have believed under these circumstances. State v. Outten, Fla.1968, 206 So.2d 392.
Applying these criteria to the facts of the instant case, we are convinced that Officer Parks had probable cause to make an arrest at the time he gave the order. Cf. Carroll v. United States, 1924, 267 U.S. 132, 45 S.Ct. 280, 69 L.Ed. 543. When the undisputed fact of Officer Holloway's detection of the odor of marijuana prior to the arrest is added to the...
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Nance v. State
... ... United States v. Matthews, 615 F.2d 1279, 1284 ( [10th Cir.] 1980). Probable cause for arrest is a reasonable ground of suspicion, supported by circumstances sufficiently strong in themselves to warrant a cautious man in believing the accused to be guilty. State v. Knapp, 294 So.2d 338, 341 (Fla.App.1974); see 34 Words and Phrases, 'Probable Cause'. Probable cause for arrest without a warrant is something less than proof needed to convict and something more than a raw unsupported suspicion; it is a suspicion or belief of guilt that is 'well-grounded'. State v ... ...
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