Florida District Courts of Appeal, 1984

State v. Patterson

State v. Patterson
Florida District Courts of Appeal · Decided February 15, 1984 · Anstead, Hersey, Hurley
444 So. 2d 1168; 1984 Fla. App. LEXIS 11778 (Southern Reporter, Second Series)

State v. Patterson

Opinion of the Court

HERSEY, Judge.

Affirmed. See Boynton v. State, 64 So.2d 536 (Fla. 1953); Carter v. State, 238 So.2d 681 (Fla. 1st DCA 1970); Olson v. State, 287 So.2d 313 (Fla. 1973). As we interpret these cases the following language from Carter, 238 So.2d at 683, (quoting a portion of Section 561.07, Florida Statutes) aptly describes the present state of Florida law as we must apply it to the facts before us:

[W]e are of the opinion that the authority of a beverage agent to search the premises of a beverage licensee without a search warrant is restricted to occasions in which the beverage agent is acting in good faith β€˜in the enforcement of the beverage law and the cigarette tax law of this state, and in the prosecution of offenders against such laws.’

The cases prohibit a warrantless search where entry is premised upon suspicion of a crime other than those specified in the particular statute which permits the limited-purpose entry.

Such a subjective standard may be somewhat self-defeating but the policy behind the rule is beyond the authority of this court to attempt to plumb and modify.

Accordingly, we affirm.

AFFIRMED.

ANSTEAD, C.J., and HURLEY, J., concur.

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