Case Name: STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. Richard James BARNETT, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1991-01-18
Citations: 572 So. 2d 1033
Docket Number: No. 89-00391
Parties: STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. Richard James BARNETT, Appellee.
Judges: HALL, J., concurs.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 572
Pages: 1033–1036

Head Matter:
STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. Richard James BARNETT, Appellee.
No. 89-00391.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Second District.
Jan. 18, 1991.
Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and Anne Y. Swing, Asst. Atty. Gen., Tampa, for appellant.
James Marion Moorman, Public Defender, and Kevin Briggs, Asst. Public Defender, Bartow, for appellee.

Opinion:
CAMPBELL, Acting Chief Judge.
The state argues in this appeal that the trial court erred when it suppressed the firearm and drug paraphernalia found in appellee, Richard James Barnett's, car. We reverse on the basis of State v. Arnold, 475 So.2d 301 (Fla. 2d DCA 1985) and Davis v. State, 461 So.2d 1361 (Fla. 2d DCA), rev. denied, 471 So.2d 43 (Fla.1985).
When Barnett was stopped, Polk County sheriffs deputies were looking for Ronnie Presley, the subject of several outstanding warrants. A detective had advised the deputies that Presley might be found in a certain silver Buick. The deputies knew that Presley and Barnett often rode together in that silver Buick, with Barnett driving and Presley riding along as a passenger.
When the deputies spotted the car, they pulled the car over, assuming Barnett would be driving and that Presley would be a passenger. The car had tinted windows so that the deputies could not see who was in the car until they pulled it over. When Barnett got out, Deputy Taylor looked inside and determined that Presley was not a passenger. Deputy Taylor asked Barnett where Presley was and Barnett said he did not know.
Deputy Taylor then asked Barnett for his driver's license and vehicle identification. When Barnett failed to produce a valid driver's license, the deputies ran a license and warrants check on him and discovered outstanding warrants against Barnett.
In the course of Barnett's subsequent arrest, the deputies found ammunition on Barnett's person and a firearm and drug paraphernalia in the car.
The trial court suppressed the firearm and drug paraphernalia, finding that law enforcement was not entitled to detain Barnett while awaiting the results of a computer check. The court found that once the officers determined that Presley was not in the car, Barnett should have been allowed to leave without further questioning.
This case turns on whether the officers, having already determined that Presley was not in the car, were justified in asking Barnett for identification. We find that they were. Citing the United States Supreme Court and the Florida Supreme Court, this court found in Davis v. State, 461 So.2d 1361 (Fla. 2d DCA), rev. denied, 471 So.2d 43 (Fla.1985), that the mere questioning of an individual, including a police request for identification, does not amount to a fourth amendment detention. 461 So.2d at 1363. See also State v. Arnold, 475 So.2d 301 (Fla. 2d DCA 1985). "[Ejven though most citizens will respond to a police request without being told they are free not to respond, this does not eliminate the consensual nature of the response." 461 So.2d at 1361.
We must conclude that the deputies' request for Barnett's driver's license was not a continuation of the stop, but constituted a consensual encounter. The evidence gained as the result of this encounter was, therefore, not the product of an illegal detention and should not have been suppressed.
Reversed and remanded for proceedings consistent with this opinion.
HALL, J., concurs.
PARKER, J., concurs specially.