State v. Tarbox
| Decision Date | 25 April 1989 |
| Docket Number | No. 88-1819,88-1819 |
| Parties | 14 Fla. L. Weekly 1034 The STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. Mark TARBOX, Appellee. |
| Court | Florida District Court of Appeals |
Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., and Debora J. Turner and Giselle D. Lylen, Asst. Attys. Gen., for appellant.
Eric M. Cohen and Jack R. Blumenfeld, Coral Gables, for appellee.
Before HUBBART, BASKIN and COPE, JJ.
This is an appeal by the state from a trial court order granting the defendant's motion to suppress a stolen video cassette recorder (VCR) in a criminal prosecution below for dealing in stolen property, petit theft, and violation of community control. In the order under review, the trial court made certain findings of fact which are supported by substantial, competent evidence; these facts may be briefly stated as follows.
On April 7, 1988, Detective Forrest Reed of the Metro-Dade Police Department was in the AAA Pawn Shop, Dade County, Florida, on routine inspection, when he observed the defendant Mark Tarbox enter the shop. The defendant removed a VCR from a black duffel bag and became engaged in conversation with one of the store employees; Detective Reed did not overhear any of this conversation. The defendant placed the VCR back in the duffel bag and left the pawn shop.
The defendant then walked into an adjacent barbershop where he subsequently removed the VCR from the black duffel bag and placed it on a table top inside the barber shop. Detective Reed walked into the barbershop, approached the defendant, identified himself as a police officer, and asked the defendant where he had gotten the VCR. The defendant replied that he had found it in some bushes behind his apartment complex. Detective Reed then said, "Well, I guess you're looking for a police officer to turn the property into"; the defendant made no reply. Detective Reed subsequently took the VCR into his possession, gave the defendant a property receipt for it, and informed the defendant that if no one claimed the VCR, it would be returned to him; the two then went their separate ways. A subsequent police check revealed that the VCR was stolen, and, accordingly, the defendant was arrested and prosecuted below.
The trial court suppressed the VCR as evidence on the basis that it constituted the fruit of an unreasonable seizure prohibited by the Fourth Amendment because Detective Reed had no reasonable suspicion to stop the defendant and no probable cause to seize the VCR....
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Woodson v. State
...v. State, 567 So.2d 528 (Fla. 5th DCA 1990) (Cobb, J., dissenting); State v. Davis, 543 So.2d 375 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989); State v. Tarbox, 541 So.2d 1350 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989); State v. Mendez, 540 So.2d 930 (Fla. 4th DCA 1989); Sommer v. State, 465 So.2d 1339 (Fla. 5th DCA 1985); Burke v. State, ......
-
State v. Scruggs
...it over to the officer. See State v. G.H., 549 So.2d 1148 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989); State v. Davis, 543 So.2d at 376-377; State v. Tarbox, 541 So.2d 1350 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989); Zukor v. State, 488 So.2d 601 (Fla. 3d DCA), review denied, 496 So.2d 144 (Fla.1986); Login v. State, 394 So.2d at As estab......
-
State v. Davis, 88-2547
...police may interact on a voluntary basis with citizens without transgressing the requirements of the Fourth Amendment. State v. Tarbox, 541 So.2d 1350 (Fla. 3d DCA 1989); Login v. State, 394 So.2d 183, 186-89 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981); see Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 34, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 1886, 20 L.E......
- Ramani v. Merrill-Stevens Dry Dock Co., MERRILL-STEVENS