State of Florida v. Jose Rodriguez, Jr.
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
Date FiledJune 21, 2023
Docket2D2022-3227
StatusPublished
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Full Opinion
DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL OF FLORIDA
SECOND DISTRICT
STATE OF FLORIDA,
Appellant,
v.
JOSE ANTONIO RODRIGUEZ, JR.,
Appellee.
No. 2D22-3227
June 21, 2023
Appeal from the Circuit Court for Hillsborough County; Christine A.
Marlewski, Judge.
Ashley Moody, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Alicia M. Winterkorn,
Assistant Attorney General, Tampa, for Appellant.
Howard L. Dimmig, II, Public Defender, and Cynthia J. Dodge, Assistant
Public Defender, Bartow, for Appellee.
PER CURIAM.
Affirmed. See Arizona v. Gant, 556 U.S. 332, 351 (2009) ("Police
may search a vehicle incident to a recent occupant's arrest only if the
arrestee is within reaching distance of the passenger compartment at the
time of the search or it is reasonable to believe the vehicle contains
evidence of the offense of arrest. When these justifications are absent, a
search of an arrestee's vehicle will be unreasonable unless police obtain
a warrant or show that another exception to the warrant requirement
applies."); Ancrum v. State, 146 So. 3d 1217, 1220-21 (Fla. 2d DCA 2014)
(citing Gant and determining that the search of a jacket found on a
bedroom floor was not justified when Ancrum had been secured and
removed from the bedroom); Harris v. State, 238 So. 3d 396, 398, 401-02
(Fla. 3d DCA 2018) (applying Gant in a case concerning the search of a
backpack Harris had been wearing when he was stopped on a dirt bike
and arrested for traffic violations, with an officer removing the backpack,
handcuffing Harris, and taking him away from the area where the
backpack was subsequently searched; determining that the warrantless
search was not valid as one incident to arrest when the officers had
gained "exclusive control" of Harris's backpack and that "once an
arrestee has been secured, both justifications for the search incident to
arrest exception—officer safety and preservation of evidence—are
absent").
CASANUEVA, SILBERMAN, and LaROSE, JJ., Concur.
Opinion subject to revision prior to official publication.
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