Case Name: James D. McCARTER, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1985-02-14
Citations: 463 So. 2d 546
Docket Number: No. 83-1714
Parties: James D. McCARTER, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
Judges: COBB, C.J., concurs.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 463
Pages: 546–551

Head Matter:
James D. McCARTER, Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.
No. 83-1714.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fifth District.
Feb. 14, 1985.
James B. Gibson, Public Defender, and Lucinda H. Young, Asst. Public Defender, Daytona Beach, for appellant.
Jim Smith, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and Evelyn D. Golden, Asst. Atty. Gen., Dayto-na Beach, for appellee.

Opinion:
FRANK D. UPCHURCH, Jr., Judge.
McCarter appeals from his conviction, entered pursuant to a plea of nolo contendere, for carrying a concealed firearm. McCar-ter specifically reserved the right to appeal an order denying his motion to suppress the seized firearm.
At the suppression hearing, Detective Anderson of the Daytona Beach Police Department was the primary witness. Anderson testified that he arrested McCarter at the Daytona Beach airport on August 12, 1982, following an investigation which had been prompted by information received from a private detective, Mansour. Anderson's testimony and an affidavit from Mansour, which was introduced by the State without objection, provide the factual background for the arrest.
John Cochran was a student at a North Carolina college. In 1979, he visited St. Augustine, Florida, on spring break and was hired by a couple to paint their house. Cochran and the wife became involved and she later gave birth to his child. The husband was upset with this turn of events and began harassing Cochran and making telephone calls threatening his life.
In 1982, after some bizarre developments occurred, Cochran and his father consulted an attorney who advised them in the interest of the son's safety to hire Mansour to investigate. Mansour's investigation, as outlined in his affidavit, reflected the following. In March of 1982, John was approached in North Carolina by a woman, Jay Jordan, using the name Jane Thompson. It was later discovered she was paid by McCarter. She claimed to be researching the Cochran family name and told John that her husband could help him get a job in South America. John suggested she talk to his father, but she failed to contact Cochran, Sr., and the Cochrans became suspicious. Around July 3, 1982, the Cochrans received a call from a Frank Alexander, who was later discovered to be McCarter. McCarter stated that Jay Jordan had told him about John and his company was interested in him. McCarter represented that the job in South America would net John a lot of money. A meeting was set up in the bar at the Holiday Inn in Raleigh, North Carolina. The Cochrans were suspicious and Cochran, Sr. accompanied his son. McCarter represented that John would make up to $60,000 a year, but was evasive about the name of his company, saying only that he was a recruiter for a big company.
On July 8, McCarter contacted John by telephone and said there would be a conference and interview in Daytona Beach, Florida, at the Howard Johnsons hotel. McCar-ter told John he would send a ticket and information about the company and a telephone number where he could be reached. John never received any such material.
Mansour visited Daytona Beach to see if there was in fact a meeting. Alexander (McCarter) was not registered nor was there a conference scheduled at the designated hotel. The detective checked other hotels and could not find Alexander or any similar conference.
Several weeks passed before Alexander (McCarter) again contacted John, reporting he had a ticket for him to Daytona and had booked him into the Howard Johnsons where an employment seminar was being held. Convinced that the mysterious Alexander intended to harm John, Mansour took this information to the Daytona Beach police.
Upon Cochran's arrival in Daytona Beach, the police were waiting. They observed McCarter approach Cochran and the two men walked to a vehicle parked in the airport lot. When McCarter opened the front passenger door for Cochran, the police appeared, placed him under arrest for attempted murder, and conducted a search of the vehicle. They discovered a partially opened briefcase in the front seat which contained a .32 caliber revolver, an ice pick, mace and several other items including surgical gloves. These items were located approximately two feet from where McCarter was standing when he opened the door for Cochran.
On appeal, McCarter argues that the police lacked probable cause for the arrest and therefore the search was invalid. This claim must fail for two reasons.
First, McCarter did not argue below that the police lacked probable cause for an arrest, only that they lacked justification to search the car and briefcase. Indeed, at one point in the proceedings, the state attorney, in trying to formulate the issue raised by McCarter declared "I think the issue is that the police had no probable cause to arrest this man . that's not the issue?", to which defense counsel responded "No, sir." Given the fact that this issue was not raised below, McCarter is in no position to argue it now on appeal. See State v. Varnedoe, 443 So.2d 201 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983); W.J.S. v. State, 409 So.2d 1209 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982).
Even if he were, the facts presented amply establish probable cause for McCarter's arrest on a charge of attempted kidnapping. Probable cause to arrest exists when facts and circumstances within an officer's knowledge and of which he had reasonably trustworthy information are sufficient to warrant a person of reasonable caution to believe that an offense has or is being committed. McKee v. State, 430 So.2d 983 (Fla. 3d DCA 1983); Wright v. State, 418 So.2d 1087 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982). The facts recounted above supply a reasonable basis to conclude that McCarter, who was deceitfully luring Cochran from North Carolina back to east-central Florida, the area from which the death threats had come, was acting in league with the husband who was making those threats. At the time that McCarter met Cochran at the airport and opened the car door for him, there was probable cause to believe that McCarter was attempting to secretly abduct Cochran against his will and without lawful authority, with the intent to physically harm him. Since probable cause for the arrest existed, the police were permitted to search the area where McCarter might have had access to a weapon, New York v. Belton, 453 U.S. 454, 101 S.Ct. 2860, 69 L.Ed.2d 768 (1981); Chimel v. California, 395 U.S. 752, 89 S.Ct. 2034, 23 L.Ed.2d 685 (1969); State v. King, 405 So.2d 770 (Fla. 5th DCA 1981), and the briefcase was included in this area.
For the above stated reasons, the order denying McCarter's motion to suppress is
AFFIRMED.
COBB, C.J., concurs.
COWART, J., dissents with opinion.
. Section 787.01, Florida Statutes (1981), provides in part:
(l)(a) "Kidnapping" means forcibly, secretly, or by threat confining, abducting, or imprisoning another person against his will and without lawful authority, with intent to: *
3. Inflict bodily harm upon or to terrorize the victim or another person.
The fact that McCarter was arrested for attempted first degree murder rather than attempted kidnapping does not invalidate the search incident to the arrest since the label placed upon an arrest by the arresting officer is not determinative of the question of whether the arrest was legal. See State v. Cromartie, 419 So.2d 757 (Fla. 1st DCA 1982); Thomas v. State, 395 So.2d 280 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981); Chaney v. State, 237 So.2d 281 (Fla. 4th DCA 1970).
. The term "secretly" as used in the kidnapping statute means that the abduction or confinement is intended by the defendant to isolate or insulate the intended victim from meaningful contact or communication with the public. Robinson v. State, 462 So.2d 471 (Fla. 1st DCA 1984); Miller v. State, 233 So.2d 448 (Fla. 1st DCA 1970).