Case Name: Betty Jean RAY, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1980-08-27
Citations: 387 So. 2d 995
Docket Number: No. 79-1823
Parties: Betty Jean RAY, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
Judges: FAGAN, OSEE R., Associate Judge, concurs.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 387
Pages: 995–999

Head Matter:
Betty Jean RAY, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
No. 79-1823.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District.
Aug. 27, 1980.
Joseph Jordan, of Bailey & Jordan, P.A., West Palm Beach, for appellant.
Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and Marc E. Kirk, Asst. Atty. Gen., West Palm Beach, for appellee.

Opinion:
HERSEY,-Judge.
While on probation appellant was stopped for driving without a proper license and for infraction of a traffic ordinance. The arresting officer found cocaine in a pocket of appellant's coat. A motion to suppress the evidence so obtained in a probation revocation hearing was denied.
We are asked to reverse on the basis of the exclusionary rule.
The applicable safeguards of the federal constitution, embodied in the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments, buttressed by the court-created exclusionary rule, offer no solace to appellant. Those federal jurisdictions which have considered the issue have uniformly refused to exclude evidence in probation revocation hearings which might well be considered to have been illegally obtained for purposes of a new criminal action. See, for example, United States v. Brown, 488 F.2d 94 (5th Cir. 1973) and United States ex rel. Sperling v. Fitzpatrick, 426 F.2d 1161 (2d Cir. 1970).
We turn, then, to a consideration of this issue in the context- of Florida Jurisprudence. In Croteau v. State, 334 So.2d 577 (Fla.1976), our Supreme Court reviewed the federal authorities and held that:
[WJhile evidence obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment may be admissible against the probationer at a revocation hearing, such evidence cannot constitutionally be admitted at a criminal trial.
The issue of whether or not this rule obtains under the Florida Constitution was not specifically addressed by the court in that case.
In Grubbs v. State, 373 So.2d 905 (Fla.1979), the Florida Constitutional provision was brought squarely into focus. Discussing Article I, Section 12 of the Florida Constitution, it was noted that the Florida provision
is an express constitutional exclusionary rule as distinguished from the federal rule which exists by case decision. As a consequence, in Florida for evidence derived from a search or seizure to be admissible in either probation revocation proceedings or a new criminal action, the evidence must be properly or reasonably obtained given the circumstances . . .
The test for admissibility then, under the Florida Constitution, is not whether the evidence is being offered in a revocation proceeding or a criminal trial, but rather whether the evidence was "properly or reasonably obtained" under the circumstances.
One of the circumstances to be taken into account may be the fact of probation itself. Grubbs v. State, supra; Croteau v. State, supra. However, in the present case, the record does not reflect that the searching officer was aware of appellant's probationary status. He reached into appellant's pockets, after appellant had emptied them pursuant to his request, and found the contraband. He had no reason to believe that appellant had a weapon and admittedly was "just exploring." Under these circumstances the evidence was not properly or reasonably obtained and the judgment must therefore be reversed.
The trial court revoked appellant's probation for this and other charges. The record and evidence as to these other charges has apparently been either lost or destroyed and neither party's statement of the evidence has been approved by the trial court as required by Rule 9.200(b)(3), Florida Rules of Appellate Procedure.
Accordingly, this cause is remanded to the trial court with directions to conduct another hearing on those charges filed against appellant not pertaining to the evidence obtained by virtue of the illegal search.
REVERSED AND REMANDED WITH DIRECTIONS.
FAGAN, OSEE R., Associate Judge, concurs.
ANSTEAD, J., specially concurs with opinion.