Case Name: Roger Garrett SPROWLS, Appellant, v. The STATE of Florida, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1983-06-28
Citations: 433 So. 2d 1271
Docket Number: No. 82-295
Parties: Roger Garrett SPROWLS, Appellant, v. The STATE of Florida, Appellee.
Judges: Before BARKDULL, HUBBART and NESBITT, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 433
Pages: 1271–1273

Head Matter:
Roger Garrett SPROWLS, Appellant, v. The STATE of Florida, Appellee.
No. 82-295.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.
June 28, 1983.
Bennett H. Brummer, Public Defender and John H. Lipinski, Sp. Asst. Public Defender, for appellant.
Jim Smith, Atty. Gen. and Charles A. Stampelos and William Thomas, Asst. At-tys. Gen., for appellee.
Before BARKDULL, HUBBART and NESBITT, JJ.

Opinion:
NESBITT, Judge.
The defendant checked his personal luggage with a commercial air carrier at Miami International Airport. The police, suspecting the defendant might be a drug courier, removed his suitcase from the airline baggage room for presentation to a trained narcotics dog by way of a "baggage lineup." A police officer then stood astride the suitcases and pressed his hands against their sides, forcing air from within to be expelled so as to enhance the ability of the trained dog to detect any contraband. On the second run past the lineup, the dog "alerted" on the defendant's suitcase, upon which police obtained a search warrant to inspect its contents. The search revealed a quantity of cocaine.
The only point with which we are concerned here is whether the ventilation or "prepping" of the defendant's luggage constituted an unreasonable search and seizure within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and Article I, Section 12 of the Florida Constitution. We adopt the reasoning of United States v. Viera, 644 F.2d 509 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 454 U.S. 867, 102 S.Ct. 332, 70 L.Ed.2d 169 (1981) in recognizing that this type of investigative procedure is such a de minimis intrusion as not to constitute a search and seizure within the respective constitutional prohibitions.
The judgment of conviction and sentence are affirmed.