State v. Lopez, 78-1386
| Citation | 369 So.2d 623 |
| Decision Date | 09 March 1979 |
| Docket Number | No. 78-1386,78-1386 |
| Parties | STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. Eduardo LOPEZ, Appellee. |
| Court | Court of Appeal of Florida (US) |
Robert L. Shevin, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and C. Marie King, Asst. Atty. Gen., Tampa, for appellant.
Emilio De La Cal, Miami, for appellee.
This is an appeal from an order suppressing physical evidence.
The facts of the case, as presented through testimony given at the suppression hearing, are not in dispute. At about 10:25 p. m. on December 13, 1977, William Simmons, a security guard at the Remuda Ranch in Collier County, saw three trucks turning east off an old tram road which ran through the ranch onto Highway 41. The first was a yellow Ryder rental truck. Simmons immediately called the Collier County Sheriff's Department and relayed his sighting to Deputy Sanders.
Sanders was familiar with the road of which Simmons spoke. It ended at a canal that connected with the Gulf of Mexico and had been the scene of several marijuana smuggling operations. Sanders relayed his information to Deputy Pent who was patrolling Highway 41 at the time. Pent spotted a yellow Ryder truck heading east and followed it. The truck was travelling between sixty and sixty-five miles per hour and swerving because a cap had come off one of the tires. Pent signaled the driver of the truck to stop. The truck continued for another mile and a half and then pulled off on the shoulder of the road.
The area in which the truck stopped was dark. As the driver (appellee) got out of the truck, Pent saw him move his right hand toward his rear pocket. Because of this action Pent drew his revolver and ordered appellee to place his hands over his head and walk to the rear of the truck. Appellee complied with this order, but as he reached the rear of the truck, he fainted and fell to the ground. The deputy ordered him to get up but as he tried to do so, he fell again in a faint. Pent then frisked him on the ground, handcuffed him and placed him in his patrol car. Pent described appellee as sweated, disheveled and tired. He also said that appellee's pants legs were wet.
Deputy Pent noticed that the truck was heavily loaded. After appellee had revived, Pent asked him what was in the truck. Appellee replied that the truck carried driftwood which he had collected at the Remuda Ranch. Pent then asked appellee if he could search the back of the truck. Appellee said that he could and said that the key was in the ashtray or on the dashboard. Pent was unable to find the key in either place.
At this point, Deputy Sanders arrived on the scene. Sanders smelled the odor of marijuana in the truck. He too was unable to locate the key to the truck and, like Pent, he noticed that the truck was heavily loaded. He knew driftwood, even when wet, was not heavy enough to so weigh down the truck. Sanders also noticed a white sand peculiar to the Remuda Ranch area on the truck. He asked appellee to look for the key to the back of the truck. Appellee went through the motions of looking for it and then reported that he did not have it.
Lieutenant Keene then came to the scene, and he and Deputy Sanders drove to the Remuda Ranch. Once there, they located the tracks of dual wheel vehicles coming out of the tram road. Driving along they found reflectors stuck into the ground and plywood and wire mesh lying along the way. As they proceeded further they spotted a Hertz rental truck and several people fleeing into the swampy area around the canal. Through the open doors of the truck they saw a load of marijuana. They also found a Ford pickup nearby which contained a radio antenna, a pair of binoculars, a large chain and a swivel block.
At some point during his journey down the Remuda Ranch road, Lieutenant Keene called Deputy Pent and told him to bring appellee and his truck to the ranch. By the time Pent arrived, Keene and Sanders had found all the evidence of a marijuana smuggling operation. Because of this, t...
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Finney v. State
...It is permissible for officers to detain a suspect for a reasonable time while making an investigation prior to arrest. State v. Lopez, 369 So.2d 623 (Fla. 2d DCA 1979); State v. Stevens, 354 So.2d 1244 (Fla. 4th DCA 1978). In State v. Merklein, 388 So.2d 218, 219 (Fla. 2d DCA 1980), the co......
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Chapas v. State, 80-694
...State, 379 So.2d 121 (Fla. 5th DCA 1979) (dictum). But see State v. Francoeur, 387 So.2d 1063 (Fla. 5th DCA 1980), and State v. Lopez, 369 So.2d 623 (Fla. 2d DCA 1979). Here, the driver and sole occupant of the automobile had been placed under arrest and was in a police vehicle at the time ......
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State v. Francoeur
...any authority which would exclude vehicles of this sort from the "automobile exception" theory. We are aware of none. In State v. Lopez, 369 So.2d 623 (Fla. 2d DCA 1979), the court applied the "automobile exception" rule to authorize a warrantless search of a locked, cargo portion of a larg......
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Harrison v. State, 89-146
...453 So.2d 44 (Fla.1984); Mock v. State, 385 So.2d 665, 667 (Fla. 2d DCA), review denied, 392 So.2d 1377 (Fla.1980); State v. Lopez, 369 So.2d 623, 624 (Fla. 2d DCA 1979), cert. denied, 383 So.2d 1198 (Fla.1980); State v. Stevens, 354 So.2d 1244, 1247 (Fla. 4th DCA 1978); § 901.151(2), Fla.S......