Opinion
No. 5D10–3299.
2011-10-14
Arnold Norman FANT, Appellant,v.STATE of Florida, Appellee.
James S. Purdy, Public Defender, and Nancy Ryan, Assistant Public Defender, Daytona Beach, for Appellant.Pamela Jo Bondi, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Pamela J. Koller, Assistant Attorney General, Daytona Beach, for Appellee.
James S. Purdy, Public Defender, and Nancy Ryan, Assistant Public Defender, Daytona Beach, for Appellant.Pamela Jo Bondi, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Pamela J. Koller, Assistant Attorney General, Daytona Beach, for Appellee.
Arnold Fant appeals the denial of his dispositive motion to suppress evidence obtained from a search incident to his arrest on January 10, 2006. He argues that probable cause for that arrest stemmed directly from an illegal stop and search on October 5, 2005, and thus, the evidence seized on January 10 was fruit of the poisonous tree. We agree that the evidence seized from Fant should have been suppressed, and reverse the trial court's order.
The trial court found that Fant was in a high crime area (known for its drug activity) on October 5, 2005, when police approached him on the property of a small apartment complex to determine if he was trespassing there. The trial court further found that Fant fled as soon as he saw the officers approaching him. Police immediately pursued Fant, caught him, and conducted a pat-down search of his person—finding pills hidden in his socks, that were later confirmed to be controlled substances. When one of these same officers next encountered Fant on January 10, 2006, he arrested Fant (without a warrant) for possession of the narcotics found on his person approximately three months earlier, on October 5, 2005.
We agree with the State that the October 5, 2005 detention (or Terry