State v. Terrell

In State v. Terrell, 731 So. 2d 800 (Fla. 4th DCA 1999), the trial court relied upon our holding in Doney and granted a motion to suppress the crack cocaine. The Court reversed the trial court's ruling. The facts on which the trial court relied were similar to those in Doney. While on patrol, a police officer approached the defendant who was on foot and engaged him in a conversation. Eventually, the officer exited his vehicle and continued the conversation. After exiting his car, he noticed a small white square object in the defendant's mouth, which he immediately identified as cocaine. At the hearing on the motion to suppress, the prosecutor asked the officer if there was any doubt in his mind that it might have been "a mint or gum or something like that." The officer responded that sometimes he waits and continues talking to a suspect for the purpose of confirming that the substance is or is not gum, but that in this case further inquiry was unnecessary since he determined immediately that the object was cocaine. Thereafter, the officer grabbed the defendant and ordered him to spit out the object, which tested positive for cocaine. In distinguishing Doney, Judge Warner noted that the officer stated he observed something in Doney's mouth which he believed to be cocaine, but he was unsure until he asked Doney his name and he responded. Judge Warner points out that in Terrell, the officer had already seen what the officer identified as cocaine in the defendant's mouth before the officer forced the defendant to spit it out. Thus, the officer had more than a bare suspicion. In Doney, the officer was unsure and only suspected that the object was cocaine; whereas, in Terrell, the officer saw the object and was positive. The court thereafter concluded that: "if the positive identification of contraband in a defendant's possession is not probable cause for arrest, we don't know what is." Terrell, 731 So. 2d at 802.