ISHMAEL STEVENS, APPELLANT,
v.
THE STATE OF FLORIDA, APPELLEE
AI-generated. These summaries, headnotes, and key points are machine-generated and may contain errors or omissions. Always verify against the full opinion text below. Not legal advice.
Florida appellate court affirmed cocaine trafficking conviction, holding that police had reasonable suspicion for the Terry stop based on a reliable confidential informant's detailed tip, and that corpus delicti was properly established before the defendant's confession was admitted.
Police had reasonable suspicion to conduct a Terry stop based on a detailed tip from a previously reliable confidential informant whose description matched the defendant's location and behavior, and corpus delicti was established by the informant's information and the officers' observations before the defendant's confession was admitted.
[1] A Terry stop is lawful when police officers have reasonable suspicion based on a detailed tip from a previously reliable confidential informant whose description of the s…
Previewing 1 of 1 headnotes on this case. FLexlaw’s editorially structured points of law — every proposition, pinpointed — are reserved for members.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceIshmael Stevens was stopped by police officers acting on a tip from a previously reliable confidential informant. The officers discovered $5,000 in sm…
The full statement of facts, procedural history, and disposition for this case are member content.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence© FLexlaw, Inc. — AI-generated enrichments are proprietary. All rights reserved.
Explore caselaw by topic → Browse Confidential Informant Reliability cases and more on FLexlaw
PER CURIAM.
Ishmael Stevens appeals from a judgment of conviction for trafficking in cocaine. We affirm. Stevens contends on appeal that he was illegally stopped. We disagree. The record shows that the police officers had a reasonable suspicion that criminal activity was afoot. The tip given by the previously reliable confidential informant was sufficiently detailed, and the location, description, and behavior of the defendant perfectly matched the information provided in the tip. See Hetland v. State, 387 So. 2d 963 (Fla.1980). Therefore, the officers properly effected a Terry1 stop.
Stevens further contends that the state failed to establish the corpus delicti of the crime and that his confession was, therefore, erroneously admitted. We find that argument without merit. After properly stopping the defendant2 and discovering the five thousand dollars in small bills and the bag of crack cocaine, the officers had probable cause to arrest defendant. His confession was, therefore, properly admitted into evidence. The corpus delicti of the crime had been established by the information provided by the confidential informant and by the observations and discoveries of the officers. See State v. Allen, 335 So. 2d 823 (Fla.1976).
AFFIRMED.
. Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968).
. Defendant was read his Miranda rights as soon as he was stopped.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
Trotman v. State, 581 So. 2d 599 (Fla. 2d DCA 1991)…vided enough information for a Terry stop when he predicted no future behavior. Perhaps his prior calls as “Junior” would create sufficient reliability to offset this weakness. See State v. Brown, 556 So. 2d 790 (Fla. 2d DCA 1990); Stevens v. State, 573 So. 2d 1034 (Fla. 3d DCA 1991). I am convinced, however, that the Supreme Court would not accept this information as sufficient for the higher standard required to establish probable cause. I would emphasize that the police could have overcome the thinness of…
Authorities Cited
- Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1 (U.S. 1968)
- State v. Allen, 335 So. 2d 823 (Fla. 1976)
- Hetland v. State, 387 So. 2d 963 (Fla. 1980)