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524 So. 2d 1141

Docket No. 87-1316.

Braxton v. State

Charles BRAXTON, Sr., Appellant, v. STATE of Florida, Appellee.

District Court of Appeal of Florida · decided 1988-05-13

Cited by 10 later decisions — most recently December 1999

10 state decisions

Key passage — most relied on by later courts

“the product of a warrantless search of a probationer's home is not admissible to prove a new criminal offense.”

quoted by 1 later decision, including Soca v. State

“harsh and more severe alternative to ordinary probation.”

quoted by 1 later decision, including 605 So. 2d 155 - Ogden v. State

Relies on Hudson v. Palmer · Grubbs v. State · State v. Mestas

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1988-05-13

View the full empirical analysis of this case →

¶1James Marion Moorman, Public Defender, and Robert F. Moeller, Asst. Public Defender, Bartow, for appellant.

¶2Robert A. Butterworth, Atty. Gen., Tallahassee, and Joseph R. Bryant, Asst. Atty. Gen., Tampa, for appellee.

¶3PER CURIAM.

¶4We reverse defendant's conviction for possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. We agree with defendant's contention that the trial court erred in denying defendant's motion to suppress a firearm found during a warrantless search of his home. Defendant was on community control, and the search was conducted by officers including defendant's community control officer. As a result of the search, defendant was charged with the criminal offense from his conviction for which he is now appealing.

¶5While the product of a warrantless search of a jail inmate's cell is admissible in evidence, Hudson v. Palmer,468 U.S. 517, 104 S.Ct. 3194, 82 L.Ed.2d 393 (1984), the product of a warrantless search of a probationer's home is not admissible to prove a new criminal offense. Grubbs v. State,373 So.2d 905 (Fla. 1979); Croteau v. State,334 So.2d 577 (Fla. 1976). Community control is "a harsh and more severe alternative to ordinary probation," State v. Mestas,507 So.2d 587, 588 (Fla. 1987), but for present purposes we do not equate community control with incarceration. For these purposes we think community control should be considered akin to parole. A parolee does not, by accepting parole, give up his Fourth Amendment rights. Kinsler v. State,360 So.2d 24, 25 (Fla. 2d DCA 1978). "While evidence seized in violation of the Fourth Amendment is admissible at a parole revocation hearing, such evidence is not admissible during a criminal trial." Id., citing Croteau.

¶6The conviction is reversed.

¶7SCHOONOVER, A.C.J., and LEHAN and FRANK, JJ., concur.

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