STATE OF FLORIDA
v.
DIXIE LEIGH BOUNDS

Fla. 6th DCA | 2026-05-29
No. 2025-0460
Jordan, J., Wozniak, J., Brownlee, J., Pratt, J.
2026 FL 6487 Florida District Court of Appeal, Sixth District (2026) Positive Treatment
Cited by 1 case

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Holding

The State did not meet its burden to establish by a preponderance of evidence that evidence would have been inevitably discovered through normal investigative procedures independent of the improper police conduct.


Headnotes

[1] The inevitable discovery doctrine requires the State to establish by a preponderance of evidence that police would have discovered evidence independently of improper cond…

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Key Quotes

“The inevitable discovery doctrine requires the State to establish by a preponderance of evidence that the police ultimately would have discovered the evidence independently of the improper police conduct by means of normal investigative measures that inevitably would have been set in motion as a matter of routine police procedure. There does not have to be an absolute certainty of discovery but rather a reasonable probability.”

Concurring opinion citing Wall v. State, 333 So. 3d 348, 351 (Fla. 5th DCA 2022), explaining the standard for applying the inevitable discovery doctrine.

Facts & Procedural History

Police conducted a search and seized contents from Bounds' satchel. The trial court suppressed the evidence, finding the inevitable discovery doctrine…

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Opinion of the Court

SIXTH DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL

STATE OF FLORIDA

Case No. 6D2025-0460 Lower Tribunal No. 2023-CF-007838

STATE OF FLORIDA, Appellant, v. DIXIE LEIGH BOUNDS, Appellee.

Appeal from the Circuit Court for Orange County. John E. Jordan, Judge.

May 29, 2026

PER CURIAM.

AFFIRMED. See Wall v. State, 333 So. 3d 348, 352 (Fla. 5th DCA 2023) ("Because the trial court could not determine that the evidence seized from Wall's purse would inevitably have been discovered, we find that the court erred in denying the motion to suppress."); cf. White v. State, 170 So. 3d 77 (Fla. 2d DCA 2015) (holding that inevitable discovery doctrine applied where defendant indicated he wanted to take his backpack with him to the jail).

WOZNIAK and BROWNLEE, JJ., concur. PRATT, J., concurs specially.

NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO FILE MOTION FOR REHEARING

AND DISPOSITION THEREOF IF TIMELY FILED

PRATT, J., concurring.

I fully concur in the majority's decision. On this set of facts, the State did not meet its burden to show that the inevitable discovery doctrine applied pursuant to the inventory search rationale and the trial court therefore appropriately suppressed the contents of Appellee's satchel. See generally Wall v. State, 333 So. 3d 348, 351 (Fla. 5th DCA 2022) (“[The inevitable discovery] doctrine requires the State to establish by a preponderance of evidence that the police ultimately would have discovered the evidence independently of the improper police conduct by means of normal investigative measures that inevitably would have been set in motion as a matter of routine police procedure. There does not have to be an absolute certainty of discovery but rather a reasonable probability." (citations and internal quotation marks omitted)).

James Uthmeier, Attorney General, Tallahassee, and Kristen L. Davenport, Assistant Attorney General, Daytona Beach, for Appellant.

Adam Pollack, of Law Office of Adam L. Pollack, P.A., Orlando, for Appellee.

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