Tampa criminal court case results
- Felony Drug Charge Dismissed in Tampa
- facts: An anonymous tipster notified the Tampa Police Department that people were selling drugs at 2908 East 22nd Avenue. While other areas in this part of tampa were known drug areas, this particular vacant apartment building had never been the focus of police surveillance for possible drug activity. At some point an officer from Tampa's QUAD SQUAD (drug division responsible for drug detection and prevention), along with other officers surveilled the apartment complex to determine whether the tip was accurate. Our client (defendant) drove up to the apartment complex and purchased cocaine. The officer in charge of visual surveillance claimed he saw a drug transaction take place between our client and the drug dealers. However, his police report failed to mention whether he actually witnessed any "money or drugs" exchange hands between the dealer and our client. As our client left the area the officer radioed other officers to follow him. The defendant drove for a mile and a half before tampa police pulled him over. The officers following our client stopped his vehicle for committing a traffic infraction. Shortly after the stop the police asked our client for permission to search his vehicle. He gave them consent, and the officers ultimately found cocaine in the center console of the vehicle. Our client was arrested for possession of cocaine and taken to jail.
- In short, the police reports claimed that there were two lawful grounds to justify a stop of our client's vehicle. One, our client (defendant) had engaged in a drug transaction at the apartment complex. Two, he also committed a traffic infraction by opening his door while the car was moving.
- defense: We investigated the case by setting up sworn depositions of all the law enforcement officers involved in the arrest. The officer in charge of surveilling the apartment complex claimed he saw a drug transaction take place between our client and the dealers. Florida case law requires, except in very unique circumstances, that law enforcement officers actually see at least "money or drugs" exchange hands before they stop a suspect for engaging in a drug transaction. In this case we wanted to know whether the officer actually saw "money or drugs" exchanged between our client and the dealer. The officer's sworn deposition revealed that the officer did not see money or drugs exchanged between our client and the dealer. He merely had a hunch that a drug transaction had taken place.
- The officers that followed the car also gave sworn depositions to determine whether the client had actually committed the traffic infraction that he was ticketed for. Specifically, the client was cited with violating Florida Statute 316.2005. The statute states, "No person shall open any door on a motor vehicle unless and until it is reasonable safe to do so and can be done without interfering with the movement of other traffic....". When the tampa police officers who cited our client were deposed they never offered any testimony that the suspect client interfered with any other traffic when he opened his car door. As a consequence both grounds for the stop of the client's car were illegal. We filed a motion to suppress the cocaine claiming that the felony charge was the result of an unlawful search.
- results: The State Attorney agreed to dismiss (Nolle Prosse) the above charge before the Circuit Court heard the Motion to Suppress the Evidence.
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