Claris Law Legal Blogging Community

Editor: Will Hanlon & Charlie Lambert
Profession: Tampa Defense Attorneys

Category: Legal Updates

The Florida Supreme Court ruled recently that an illegal stop may not invalidate the search of a defendant's vehicle where he has an active warrant for his arrest. State v. Frierson, 31 F.L.W. S81(Fla. 2/9/2006). The Court followed the U.S. Supreme Court's analysis set out in Brown. Brown v. Illinois, 422 U.S. 590 (1975). In Brown the U.S. Supreme Court considered three factors in determining whether the initial illegal detention tainted the subsequent search (1) the time elapsed between the llegality and the acquisition of the evidence; (2) the presence of intervening circumstances; and (3) the purpose and flagrancy of the official misconduct.

Mr. Frierson was stopped for an illegal turn which inevitably did not violate the traffic statute. However, upon checking the defendant's identification the officer pulled up an active arrest warrant for Mr. Frierson. After he was arrested, a search was conducted and a firearm was discovered. Ultimately, the Court felt the third factor was the most signifanct issue to consider in these types of stops. Because the law enforcement officers simply made a mistake in regards to our traffic laws, and there was no evidence that the stop was pretextual or conducted in bad faith the evidence of the gun should not have been suppressed. In addition, the evidence was discovered after the warrant was executed, not during the illegal detention.