138 Ohio App. 3d 168 | Ohio Ct. App. | 2000
The facts of this case are detailed in this court's prior opinion, State v. Morrison (June 17, 1999), Cuyahoga App. No. 74184, wherein we held that a reasonable suspicion existed for a police officer to initiate an investigatory stop of the appellant based upon information provided by an anonymous informant where the informant stated that the appellant was carrying a firearm and the informant correctly predicted the appellant's race, sex, direction of travel and gave a detailed description of the appellant's clothing. The Ohio Supreme Court declined jurisdiction to review this court's decision on November 4, 1999. On April 5, 2000, the United States Supreme Court vacated the judgment of this court and remanded the case to this court for further consideration in light of Florida v. J.L., supra.
In Florida v. J.L., supra, the Supreme Court was presented with a fact pattern which was very similar to the one presented in the instant case. In Florida, supra, an anonymous informant called the Miami-Dade Police Department and reported that a young black male standing at a particular bus stop and wearing a plaid shirt was carrying a gun. Officers responded to the bus stop and found three young black males, one of whom was wearing a plaid shirt. The officers searched all three of the individuals and in the process confirmed that the individual in the *170
plaid shirt was, in fact, carrying a concealed weapon without a license. The trial court granted the defendant's motion to suppress the use of the gun as evidence as the fruit of an unlawful search. Although the intermediate appellate court reversed the trial court's ruling, the Supreme Court of Florida held that the trial court had properly granted the motion to suppress as the search was invalid under the
The appellant's sole assignment of error herein states:
I. THE TRIAL COURT ERRED BY DENYING APPELLANT'S MOTION TO SUPPRESS EVIDENCE SEIZED AS THE PRODUCT OF HIS UNLAWFUL DETENTION IN VIOLATION OF HIS RIGHT TO BE FREE FROM UNREASONABLE SEARCHES AND SEIZURES AS GUARANTEED BY THE
FOURTH ANDFOURTEENTH AMENDMENTS TO THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION AND ARTICLE ONE, SECTION FOURTEEN OF THE OHIO CONSTITUTION.
Based on the holding of Florida v. J.L., supra, the appellant's sole assignment of error is well taken. The Supreme Court has clearly chosen to limit the situations where an investigatory stop may be premised on information received by an anonymous informant. We do note, however, Justice Kennedy's concurring opinion wherein he noted that the Court's opinion does not apply to all tips received by informants, such as where the informant places his anonymity at risk or where the identity of the informant is confirmed through caller identification or voice recording. Therefore, cases involving investigatory stops occasioned by an anonymous police informant will still need to be reviewed on a case-by-case basis in order to determine whether such tips lack sufficient indicia of reliability so as to render the search invalid.
This case is hereby remanded to the trial court for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.
This cause is reversed and remanded for proceedings consistent with this opinion.
It is, therefore, considered that said appellant recover of said appellee his costs herein.
It is ordered that a special mandate be sent to said court to carry this judgment into execution.
A certified copy of this entry shall constitute the mandate pursuant to Rule 27 of the Rules of Appellate Procedure.
_______________ KARPINSKI, P.J.
ROCCO, J., CONCUR. *171