Possession of Marijuana & Driving While License Suspended | Charges Dropped

Our client was hanging out with friends in a wooded lot in Port St. Lucie, Florida. They planned on a day of “muddin”. While minding their own business, law enforcement approached with weapons drawn. They had nothing better to do but harass some local youths. Eventually, the officer ran our client’s driver's license, which comes back suspended because of some traffic tickets that had gone unpaid. The officer takes our client down for DWLS, Possession of Cannabis, and Drug Paraphernalia. The Defense conducted a thorough investigation, including employing an investigator to document the scene. It turns out there were no signs erected on the property indicating ownership. More importantly, there were no signs with the words “no trespassing” anywhere to be found. Florida law is very clear. In order for someone to commit the offense of trespassing, they have to be given proper notice. The notice requirement had not been met in this case because there were no signs erected on the property. After submitting our photographs to the State and researching the applicable law, a Motion to Suppress was filed and a hearing was set. We argued that law enforcement officials rushed to judgment and conducted a premature and illegal detention of our client. The State dropped all charges.