Case Name: Elijah GILBERT, Appellant, v. The STATE of Florida, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1988-12-06
Citations: 534 So. 2d 882
Docket Number: No. 88-1394
Parties: Elijah GILBERT, Appellant, v. The STATE of Florida, Appellee.
Judges: Before SCHWARTZ, C.J., HUBBART, J., and E. EARLE ZEHMER, Associate Judge.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 534
Pages: 882–883

Head Matter:
Elijah GILBERT, Appellant, v. The STATE of Florida, Appellee.
No. 88-1394.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.
Dec. 6, 1988.
Bennett H. Brummer, Public Defender, and Sharon B. Jacobs, Sp. Asst. Public Defender, for appellant.
Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., and Julie S. Thornton and Richard R. Polin, Asst. Attys. Gen., and Richard Grumberg, Certified Legal Intern, for appellee.
Before SCHWARTZ, C.J., HUBBART, J., and E. EARLE ZEHMER, Associate Judge.

Opinion:
PER CURIAM.
The denial of the defendant's motion to suppress was error. The state concedes the illegality of the search, and the evidence of record is legally insufficient to establish that defendant abandoned the credit cards which apparently fell to the ground during the struggle with the offi cer. See Ippolito v. State, 80 So.2d 332 (Fla.1955) (en banc); O'Shaughnessy v. State, 420 So.2d 377 (Pla. 3d DCA 1982). The state has not shown that this ruling and the admission of such evidence during trial was harmless under the test laid down in State v. DiGuilio, 491 So.2d 1129 (Fla.1986). The judgment of conviction is reversed and the cause remanded for a new trial.