STATE v. D.M.M., a Child, Appellee. (2020)

District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.

STATE of Florida, Appellant, v. D.M.M., a Child, Appellee.

No. 1D19-2293

Decided: April 01, 2020

Ashley Moody, Attorney General, and Benjamin Louis Hoffman, Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Connor Larkin, Assistant State Attorney, Jacksonville, for Appellant. Andy Thomas, Public Defender, and Jasmine Quintera Russell, Assistant Public Defender, Tallahassee, for Appellee.

We reverse the trial court’s erroneous grant of Appellee’s motion to suppress evidence where the trial court used the subjective test and made the issue of pretext the basis of its decision to grant the motion to suppress. See State v. Williams, 119 So. 3d 544, 545 (Fla. 1st DCA 2013) (“[W]hether the stop was pre-textual is irrelevant as long as the officers had probable cause to believe a violation of law had occurred.”). Here, the officer had probable cause to stop and search Appellee after viewing Appellee violate a pedestrian traffic statute, section 316.130(4), Florida Statutes (2018). See id. at 545 (holding that officer had probable cause to stop based on violation of section 316.130(4), Florida Statutes (2012)). Accordingly, the trial court erred by granting the motion to suppress.

Reversed and Remanded.

B.L. Thomas, J.

Lewis and Nordby, JJ., concur.

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