State v. Parrish, 98-00042.
Decision Date | 16 April 1999 |
Docket Number | No. 98-00042.,98-00042. |
Citation | 731 So.2d 101 |
Parties | STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. Henry PARRISH, Appellee. |
Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Robert A. Butterworth, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Patricia E. Davenport, Assistant Attorney General, Tampa, for Appellant.
James Marion Moorman, Public Defender, and Joanna B. Conner, Assistant Public Defender, Bartow, for Appellee.
The State appeals the trial court's suppression of evidence obtained during a police search of Henry Parrish's truck and his person. We conclude that both the stop and the search were proper and, therefore, reverse.
On June 12, 1997, around midnight, Officers Gleason and Jackson stopped Henry Parrish's truck because its temporary license tag was in the back window instead of on the bumper and because it was not visible. It was blocked by a bicycle and other things in the truck bed. The officers directed Parrish and his passenger to get out of the truck for officer safety. After obtaining Parrish's driver's license and registration, Officer Gleason sat in the patrol car writing a traffic citation. Meanwhile, Officer Jackson asked Parrish if he would consent to a search of the vehicle, and Parrish consented.
When Officer Gleason searched the truck, he found a sharp curved knife on the floor directly underneath where the driver's right leg would be, hidden from sight with a white towel and within easy reach of the driver. Parrish testified that he told the officers that it was a roofing knife and that he is a licensed roofing contractor. Officer Gleason testified that he found no tool box or belt or other objects which could be tools in the truck. After arresting Parrish for carrying a concealed weapon, the officers searched him and found rock cocaine in his shirt pocket. In his truck they also found copper brillo pads, which Officer Gleason testified can be used as filters in smoking rock cocaine.
Parrish was charged with carrying a concealed weapon, possession of cocaine, and possession of drug paraphernalia. Parrish moved to suppress the knife, cocaine, and brillo pads, asserting that there was no probable cause to stop the vehicle, the consent given for the search of the truck was merely acquiescence to authority, and the search of Parrish was not incident to a lawful arrest because the roofing knife was not a concealed weapon.
At the suppression hearing, the trial court concluded that while the roofing knife could be considered a weapon, the "stop wasn't really correct" because a temporary tag may be displayed in the rear window of a vehicle. The trial court also concluded that the consent to search was mere acquiescence to authority. We disagree with both of these conclusions.
As to the traffic stop, the trial court's ruling that the temporary tag was properly affixed to the rear window was based on law that was no longer controlling at the time the officers stopped Parrish's truck on June 12, 1997. See Holmes v. State, 710 So.2d 651 (Fla. 4th DCA), review denied, No. 93,078, 725 So.2d 1108 (Fla. Sept. 22, 1998). Holmes explains:
Furthermore, even if the rear window display had been authorized at the time, the trial court failed to apply the visibility requirement of section 316.605, Florida Statutes (1997): "all letters, numerals, printing, writing, and other identification marks upon the plates [must be] clear and distinct and free from defacement, mutilation, grease, and other obscuring matter, so that they will be plainly visible and legible at all times 100 feet from the rear or front."...
To continue reading
Request your trial-
Watson v. State
...consent was not mere acquiescence to apparent police authority. See Mendenhall, 446 U.S. at 554-55, 100 S.Ct. 1870; State v. Parrish, 731 So.2d 101, 103 (Fla. 2d DCA 1999). The trial court correctly denied the motion to suppress evidence. We AFFIRM the judgment and VAN NORTWICK and ROBERTS,......
-
State v. Kindle, 5D00-2020.
...from suppression. See Gomez v. State, 748 So.2d 352 (Fla. 3d DCA 1999), rev. dismissed, 762 So.2d 916 (Fla.2000); State v. Parrish, 731 So.2d 101 (Fla. 2d DCA 1999); State v. Holland, 680 So.2d 1041 (Fla. 1st DCA 1996); State v. Cromatie, 668 So.2d 1075 (Fla. 2d DCA 1996); see also Castro v......
-
State v. Smith
...the officer's words and actions would have conveyed to a reasonable person that he or she was not free to leave.” State v. Parrish, 731 So.2d 101, 103 (Fla. 2d DCA 1999) (citing U.S. v. Mendenhall, 446 U.S. 544, 100 S.Ct. 1870, 64 L.Ed.2d 497 (1980) ). It does not appear Officer King said a......
-
CQ v. State
...de novo. See, e.g., Connor v. State, 803 So.2d 598 (Fla.2001); State v. D.J., 796 So.2d 1217 (Fla. 4th DCA 2001); State v. Parrish, 731 So.2d 101, 103 (Fla. 2d DCA 1999). Based on that analysis, the record in this case demonstrates the following. Detective Freeman was called to a parking lo......