Case Name: Joe Nathan ROZIER, Appellant, v. The STATE of Florida, Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1979-02-20
Citations: 368 So. 2d 379
Docket Number: No. 77-2639
Parties: Joe Nathan ROZIER, Appellant, v. The STATE of Florida, Appellee.
Judges: Before PEARSON, KEHOE and SCHWARTZ, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 368
Pages: 379–380

Head Matter:
Joe Nathan ROZIER, Appellant, v. The STATE of Florida, Appellee.
No. 77-2639.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.
Feb. 20, 1979.
Rehearing Denied March 26, 1979.
Bennett H. Brummer, Public Defender and Paul Morris, Asst. Public Defender, for appellant.
Jim Smith, Atty. Gen. and Margarita Es-quiroz, Asst. Atty. Gen., for appellee.
Before PEARSON, KEHOE and SCHWARTZ, JJ.

Opinion:
SCHWARTZ, Judge.
Rozier appeals his conviction for the possession of controlled substance paraphernalia. He pled nolo contendere below, reserving the right to challenge the court's denial of his motion to suppress the paraphernalia — a hypodermic needle and bottle cap "cooker" — which had been secured by a search of his person after an arrest on an outstanding bench warrant. We hold that the motion to suppress should have been granted because the police officers' initial stop of the defendant, which resulted in the arrest, was based on no more than a "bare suspicion of illegal activity" rather than the "founded" or "reasonable" suspicion constitutionally required to support it. Mullins v. State, 366 So.2d 1162 (Fla.1978), and cases cited; Parker v. State, 363 So.2d 383 (Fla. 3d DCA 1978); Jackson v. State, 319 So.2d 617 (Fla. 1st DCA 1975), cf. State v. Brooks, 281 So.2d 55, 56 (Fla. 2d DCA 1973) ("high crime area" alone insufficient to justify stop). The judgment below is therefore reversed and the cause remanded with directions to grant the motion to suppress.
Reversed and remanded.