(Download) "Willie Huntley v. State Florida" by Fifth District Court of Appeal of Florida * eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Willie Huntley v. State Florida
- Author : Fifth District Court of Appeal of Florida
- Release Date : January 21, 1991
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 62 KB
Description
At approximately 6 p.m. on January 8, 1990, in a "very high drug area" of Orlando, a uniformed officer in a marked police
car observed the defendant standing close to a young black male who was holding out his right palm in a cupped position. The
officer observed for twenty to thirty-five seconds that defendant was "going in and out of [the young black male's] hand picking
something up." He then saw defendant "exchange a piece of paper" which the officer "thought might have been money", even though
he could not see whether it was green. This situation "appeared" to the officer "as a drug transaction" and he started walking
up to "find out what was going on." As he approached, he yelled "stop", whereupon the youth ran inside the adjacent building
and defendant "took off running on foot." The officer chased defendant "to conduct an investigation." As he ran, defendant
fell to the ground. The officer jumped on the defendant to subdue him. Defendant stood up with the officer on his back and
tried to push the officer off. The officer then "conducted a head restraint", whereupon defendant grabbed the officer's testicles.
The officer concluded he was losing the physical contest and began to tell the defendant that "all [he] wanted to do was arrest
him, find out what was going on, if he was doing what [the officer] thought he was doing." At that point, the defendant stopped
resisting, went down to his knees and allowed himself to be handcuffed. No drugs were found on defendant and the officer acknowledged
that during the five to fifteen second chase of defendant, no drugs were observed to be dropped. Defendant was charged with
battery on a police officer and, for fleeing when told by the officer to stop, resisting an officer without violence. He was
convicted of both offenses. At trial, the defendant moved for judgment of acquittal on the charge of resisting an officer without violence, contending
that the element of "lawful execution of any legal duty" was missing because the officer did not have a founded suspicion
to order the defendant to stop. We agree that the officer's observations were insufficient to give rise to a founded suspicion
that a crime was being committed. The officer briefly observed activities that, even with the benefit of special training,
are at least equally consistent with noncriminal activity. Carter v. State, 454 So.2d 739 (Fla. 2d DCA 1984). The officer
saw neither drugs nor money. See Dames v. State, 566 So.2d 51 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990); Peabody v. State, 556 So.2d 826 (Fla. 2d
DCA 1990). But see Thornton v. State, 559 So.2d 438 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990). The fact that the area was "high crime" is irrelevant.
Gillion v. State, 573 So.2d. 810, 516 F.L.W. 72 (Fla. Jan. 10, 1991). The officer did not have a founded suspicion to detain
appellant.1{/Cite} Proof of lawfulness of the officer's conduct is an essential element of resisting an officer without
violence. The conviction for resisting an officer without violence must be reversed. In the Interest of T.M.M., 560 So.2d
805, 806 (Fla. 4th DCA 1990); M.C. v. State, 450 So.2d 336 (Fla. 5th DCA 1984).
 "Willie Huntley v. State Florida" by Fifth District Court of Appeal of Florida * eBook PDF Kindle ePub Free){kind=link}