402 So. 2d 1265 | Fla. Dist. Ct. App. | 1981
Murphy and Gould were convicted on pleas of nolo contendere of bookmaking and wagering, respectively, and having preserved for review the denials of their dis-positive motions to suppress evidence derived from an electronic surveillance conducted on a telephone in Murphy’s residence,
We reverse the judgments of conviction upon a holding that the affidavit filed in support of the application for an order authorizing the interception of communications on Murphy’s phone failed to establish reasonable grounds that Murphy, whose communications were to be intercepted, was committing or was about to commit an offense. The affidavit, read closely,
Reversed with directions to vacate the convictions of the defendants.
. Gould’s conversations were intercepted during the wiretap.
. The State emphasizes that the affidavit consists of fourteen legal-size pages. Most of the affidavit is devoted to the background of the affiant and his familiarity with gambling and allegations concerning why investigative techniques other than wiretap would not succeed.
. This information was gained from a previous court order authorizing the use of a pen register.
. This allegation lends no support at all to the football bookmaking theory of the affidavit and, because of the limited number of calls, no support to the anonymous caller’s tip that Murphy operated a year-round sports betting operation.
. The “documents” are not described. We assume that were Murphy’s name and phone number found in bookmaking records, rather than on a slip of paper or in someone’s address book, that fact would have been prominently noted.
. There is not the slightest indication that this individual either in 1975 or in 1979 was a known bookmaker or gambler.
. This anonymous tip, so obviously deficient under Aguilar v. Texas, 378 U.S. 108, 84 S.Ct. 1509, 12 L.Ed.2d 723 (1964), and Spinelli v. United States, 393 U.S. 410, 89 S.Ct. 584, 21 L.Ed.2d 637 (1969), is mentioned only because it is stated.
. Our disposition makes it unnecessary to address the defendants’ other attacks upon the validity of the affidavit and order.