Title: Treverrow v. State
Citation: 194 So. 2d 250
Docket Number: 35311
State: Florida
Issuer: Florida Supreme Court
Date: January 25, 1967

194 So. 2d 250 (1967)
James A. TREVERROW, Petitioner,
v.
STATE of Florida, Respondent.
No. 35311.

Supreme Court of Florida.
January 25, 1967.
*251 A.K. Black, Lake City, for petitioner.
Earl Faircloth, Atty. Gen., and Thomas E. Boyle, Asst. Atty. Gen., for respondent.
SACK, Circuit Judge.
We granted certiorari on an alleged conflict between the decision below of the District Court of Appeal, First District, in Treverrow v. State of Florida, Fla., 184 So. 2d 473, and our opinions in Cooper v. State, Fla., 143 So. 217, and Chacon v. State, 102 So. 2d 578, and Harrington v. State, 110 So. 2d 495.
At issue are the questions of the sufficiency of the affidavit upon which the search warrant was issued and the right of the defendant-petitioner to have disclosed to him the name of the informer. The Beverage officer's affidavit contained the following material language:
It will be seen that the agent here affirmed under oath: (a) that the information given him was by one whom he considered reliable, and (b) that the information consisted of a direct observation by the informer of the presence of the mash inside the premises in question.
In the Cooper case, supra, the affidavit only said:
This affidavit stated no factual basis for the alleged knowledge of the informer. Such knowledge could have been based on hearsay or hearsay on hearsay. It contained no statement that the informer had seen or participated in the sale or the possession of the liquor. As we pointed out in our opinion:
While the information given to the officer in the case sub judice came from a third person and would not be admissible at the trial of the cause, yet in Chacon, supra, we announced that the information forming the basis for a search warrant is not to be measured by its admissibility as evidence in the trial of the case. Harrington v. State, supra, lends no support to Petitioner's contention. Accordingly, we find no conflict on the question of the sufficiency of the affidavit.
As to the necessity for disclosure of the identity of the informer, the applicable principles were laid down by the District Court of Appeal, Second District in Spataro v. State, Fla., 179 So. 2d 873, where they said:
In this case, however, the defense gave no intimation whatsoever as to what would be accomplished by a disclosure. There was no motion for a disclosure prior to trial, nor was the subject mentioned in the defendant's motion for a new trial. The subject only arose during cross-examination of one of the Beverage Agents, when he was asked:
The question was objected to by the State, and in reply defense counsel simply asserted: "I have him on cross-examination."
Clearly, since it is the State which has the privilege of non-disclosure, the burden is upon the defendant claiming an exception to the rule to show why an exception should be invoked. From the foregoing history of the transcript no reason whatever was given except a rhetorical *253 approach to the jury. The second point is clearly without merit.
Finding no conflict the writ of certiorari is discharged.
THORNAL, C.J., and DREW and CALDWELL, JJ., concur.
THOMAS, J., agrees to conclusion.