ROBERT MAJOR ROLLO v. STATE OF FLORIDA (2022)

District Court of Appeal of Florida, First District.

ROBERT MAJOR ROLLO, Appellant, v. STATE OF FLORIDA, Appellee.

No. 1D21-2429

Decided: November 30, 2022

Jessica J. Yeary, Public Defender, and Kathleen Pafford, Assistant Public Defender, Tallahassee, for Appellant. Ashley Moody, Attorney General, and Jovona I. Parker, Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, for Appellee.

Rollo appeals an order denying his motion to dismiss based on objective entrapment after entering an open plea. See Fla. R. App. P. 9.140(b)(2)(A)(i) (allowing appeals from pleas if the defendant “expressly reserve[s] the right to appeal a prior dispositive order.”). Rollo argues the conduct of law enforcement in engaging a confidential informant to initiate a drug transaction with Rollo as the seller was so outrageous that the government should be barred from invoking the judicial process to obtain a conviction. See State v. Laing, 182 So. 3d 812, 816 (Fla. 4th DCA 2016).

We disagree. Law enforcement's work with the confidential informant was controlled, and otherwise appropriate. Rollo had previously sold drugs to the very confidential informant engaged by law enforcement. This was a traditional, straightforward sting operation that has long been understood to be permissible. See Taylor v. State, 634 So. 2d 1075 (Fla. 1994). We therefore reject Rollo's argument.

AFFIRMED.

PER CURIAM.

B.L. THOMAS, KELSEY, and LONG, JJ., concur.

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