Supreme Court of Florida
No. SC2024-0647
STATE OF FLORIDA,
Petitioner,
vs.
KEITH ALEXANDER TIMES,
Respondent.
June 25, 2026
SASSO, J.
The State of Florida appeals an order suppressing evidence
obtained during a search conducted pursuant to a warrant that was
executed on the home of Respondent, Keith Alexander Times. It is
undisputed that law enforcement violated section 933.09, Florida
Statutes (2020), a knock-and-announce statute, 1 during the
execution of the warrant. Based on that violation, the trial court
granted Times’ motion to suppress the evidence. Bound by State v.
1. Section 933.09 is one of two “knock-and-announce” statutes in Florida. Section 933.09 pertains to search warrants while section 901.19, Florida Statutes (2025), pertains to arrests. Cable, 51 So. 3d 434 (Fla. 2010), where this Court held that
exclusion is the applicable remedy for knock-and-announce
violations, the First District Court of Appeal affirmed the trial
court’s order. State v. Times, 383 So. 3d 555, 557 (Fla. 1st DCA
2024). But the First District certified the following question as one
of great public importance:
WHETHER EVIDENCE OBTAINED UNDER A VALID
SEARCH WARRANT MUST BE SUPPRESSED TO
REMEDY A VIOLATION OF THE KNOCK-ANDANNOUNCE REQUIREMENT OF SECTION 933.09,
FLORIDA STATUTES?
Id. at 560. For the reasons below, we answer that question in the
negative. 2 In doing so, we quash the decision below and recede
from our decision in Cable to the extent that it is inconsistent with
this opinion.
I
While investigating a suspected drug trafficking organization
(DTO) in Leon County, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement
(FDLE) determined that one member of the DTO, Ja’Mario
Paramore, was using a residence to store narcotics and the
2. We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 3(b)(4), Fla. Const.
-2-proceeds from their distribution. Based on that information, FDLE
lawfully obtained a search warrant for the residence. FDLE and the
Tallahassee Police Department executed the search warrant after
forcibly entering the home with a battering ram. Times, 383 So. 3d
at 557. Before entry, law enforcement knocked multiple times and
announced their presence twice, demanding that someone come to
the door. Id. However, it was not until seconds before entry that an
officer stated that the police were in possession of a search warrant.
Id. Paramore, Times, and two others were located inside the
residence. Law enforcement located cocaine, the drug “Molly,” over
$23,000 in cash, and two firearms. Times was ultimately charged
with trafficking in amphetamines, possession of cocaine, and
possession of a firearm by a convicted felon. Id.
Times moved to suppress the evidence obtained in the search,
arguing that the officers violated section 933.09. Id. After a
hearing, the trial court concluded that the officers did not comply
with section 933.09 because a resident is not required to open the
door until the officer announces he has a search warrant, and here,
the occupants were not given sufficient time after the officer
announced the warrant to answer the door. Id. at 558. Based on
-3-this Court’s precedent in Cable prescribing exclusion as a remedy
for a violation of the knock-and-announce statute, the trial court
suppressed the evidence. The State appealed, but the First District
affirmed. Id. at 560. In doing so, the First District agreed on the
binding nature of Cable but noted that its holding requiring
suppression for a knock-and-announce violation “appears [to] be
the minority position among the various states that have considered
the issue in the eighteen years since the United States Supreme
Court decision in Hudson [v. Michigan, 547 U.S. 586 (2006)].”
Times, 383 So. 3d at 560. Judge Nordby specially concurred,
agreeing that the evidence must be suppressed but recognizing the
State’s “compelling arguments highlighting why [this Court’s]
precedent should be revisited.” Id. at 561 (Nordby, J., specially
concurring). The State then sought discretionary review of the First
District’s decision based on the certified question of great public
importance. This Court accepted jurisdiction.
II
A
There are two knock-and-announce statutes in Florida. See
§§ 901.19, 933.09, Fla. Stat.; see also Times, 383 So. 3d at 557 n.1.
-4-These are not new laws––section 933.09, which is the applicable
statute here, was first codified in 1923. See ch. 9321, § 9, Laws of
Fla. (1923). The knock-and-announce statutes represented a
codification of the English common law, which “recognized the
fundamental sanctity of one’s home yet nevertheless provide[d] that
an arresting officer ‘may break open doors, if the party refused
upon demand to open them.’ ” Benefield v. State, 160 So. 2d 706,
710 (Fla. 1964) (quoting 1 Sir Matthew Hale, The History of the
Pleas of The Crown 583 (Sollom Emlyn ed., 1736)).
Importantly though, the exclusionary rule was not a feature of
common law. See Cable, 51 So. 3d at 444 (Polston, J., dissenting)
(citing 8 John Henry Whitmore, A Treatise on the Ang[l]o–American
System of Evidence in Trials at Common Law § 2183 (3d ed. 1940)
(“[I]t has long been established that the admissibility of evidence is
not affected by the illegality of the means through which the party
has been enabled to obtain the evidence.” (citing to English
precedent dating to 1723) (emphasis omitted))). Even so, in 1964,
this Court announced an exclusionary rule for knock-andannounce violations. See Benefield, 160 So. 2d at 711; Cable, 51
So. 3d at 438-39. And in 1982, Florida voters amended article I,
-5-section 12 of the Florida Constitution to require conformity to the
United States Supreme Court’s interpretation of Fourth Amendment
issues. See art. I, § 12, Fla. Const. This development inserted the
issue of whether the Federal Constitution demanded the knockand-announce rule into Florida’s Constitution.3
Wilson v. Arkansas, 514 U.S. 927, 931-36 (1995), marked the
first time the United States Supreme Court expressly stated the
knock-and-announce requirement was a feature of the Fourth
Amendment’s reasonableness inquiry and therefore a matter of
federal constitutional law. But in Hudson v. Michigan, 547 U.S. 586
(2006), the United States Supreme Court clarified that violations of
the knock-and-announce rule did not require the suppression of all
evidence found in the search. Id. at 594.
Following Hudson, two Florida district courts of appeal split on
the issue of whether exclusion nevertheless remained the applicable
3. See Erin Elizabeth Cassinelli, Constitutional Law—Fourth Amendment—Knock and Announce: The Ninth Circuit Knocks and the Supreme Court Announces a Re-Emphasis on the Case-by-Case Analysis. United States v. Banks, 540 U.S. 31 (2003), 27 U. Ark. Little Rock L. Rev. 295, 306 (2005) (discussing conflict among state and federal courts about the link between the knock-and-announce rule and the Constitution).
-6-remedy for statutory knock-and-announce violations. Compare
Cable v. State, 18 So. 3d 37, 39 (Fla. 2d DCA 2009) (concluding that
Hudson did not “displace the existing Florida precedent, which
mandates the application of the exclusionary rule”), with State v.
Brown, 36 So. 3d 770, 775 (Fla. 3d DCA 2010) (“[R]eversal is
[independently] required . . . because of the holding of Hudson that
even established violations of the [knock-and-announce] principle
do not implicate the exclusionary rule so as to suppress pertinent
evidence.”). We resolved the conflict between the districts in Cable
by siding with the Second District. 51 So. 3d at 441. We concluded
that the exclusionary rule was the applicable remedy “[a]s a matter
of state law.” Id. at 442. To reach that conclusion, we
characterized our decision in Benefield as holding that “a violation
of Florida’s knock-and-announce statute vitiated the ensuing arrest
and required the suppression of the evidence obtained in
connection with the arrest.” Id. at 435. We concluded that
“because the remedy of exclusion in Benefield was based on a
violation of Florida’s knock-and-announce statute, and not the
Fourth Amendment,” Hudson did not require us to recede from
Benefield. Id.
-7-In addition to distinguishing Hudson, we set forth other
factors that weighed against receding from Benefield. Specifically,
we rejected the State’s argument that the 1982 constitutional
amendment to article I, section 12 of the Florida Constitution,
requiring that section to be interpreted in conformity with the
Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, necessitated
receding. Id. at 442-43. We concluded that, like Hudson, that
amendment was inapplicable to a statutory analysis. Id. We also
rejected the State’s argument that Jenkins v. State, 978 So. 2d 116
(Fla. 2008), governed because, unlike the statute in Jenkins, the
knock-and-announce statute at issue in Cable lacked an “explicit”
remedy. Cable, 51 So. 3d. at 443.
B
Against this backdrop, we analyze the State’s argument that
this Court clearly erred in Cable when it determined that the
remedy of exclusion of evidence should be applied for a violation of
section 933.09. We review this issue de novo. See Statler v. State,
349 So. 3d 873, 878-79 (Fla. 2022) (explaining that holdings
implicating both statutory interpretation and constitutional issues
are reviewed de novo).
-8-The issue in Cable was one of remedy. We therefore begin by
examining the statutory text because the remedy for violations of a
Florida statute “fall[s] within the purview of the Legislature.”
Jenkins, 978 So. 2d at 130. Section 933.09 provides that a law
enforcement officer may forcibly enter a house while executing a
warrant “if after due notice of the officer’s authority and purpose he
or she is refused admittance to said house or access to anything
therein.” § 933.09, Fla. Stat. In other words, a law enforcement
officer may not forcibly enter a home to execute a warrant until he
or she has knocked, announced his or her authority and purpose,
and been refused admittance. See id.
The plain text of section 933.09 does not authorize, let alone
require, the suppression of evidence. See Cable, 51 So. 3d at 444
(Polston, J., dissenting) (“Florida’s knock-and-announce statute at
issue [in section 901.19] does not contain an exclusionary rule.”);
State v. Pruitt, 967 So. 2d 1021, 1032 (Fla. 2d DCA 2007) (Villanti,
J., specially concurring) (concluding that the exclusionary rule
should not apply because “nothing in the language of section
933.09 requires suppression of the evidence if the rule is violated”).
But chapter 933, Florida Statutes, is not without a statutory
-9-remedy. See Times, 383 So. 3d at 561 (Nordby, J., specially
concurring). Indeed, chapter 933 deters violations of section
933.09 by threatening wayward police officers with criminal
penalties. Chapter 933’s enforcement provision—entitled
“[e]xceeding authority in executing search warrant; penalty”—states
that “[a]ny officer who in executing a search warrant willfully
exceeds his or her authority or exercises it with unnecessary
severity, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of the second degree.” §
933.17, Fla. Stat. (2025).4
Because section 933.09 does not itself contain an exclusionary
rule and section 933.17 prescribes remedies for violations of section
933.09, we do not infer that the remedy of exclusion is available for
violations of section 933.09.5 See Jenkins, 978 So. 2d at 130. We
4. This statutory enforcement mechanism dates to the original chapter law codifying the knock-and-announce rule for search warrants. See ch. 9321, §§ 9, 17, Laws of Fla. (1923). Like the current version of the statute, the 1923 enactment made the “[p]enalty for exceeding” an officer’s “authority” under the Act a “fine[]” of up to $500, “imprison[ment] for not more than six months,” and potential “suspension from and removal from office.” Id. § 17.
5. Times argues that section 933.17 does not cover violations of section 933.09 because the former requires one to “willfully” exceed their authority while the latter has no mens rea
- 10 -typically do not insert remedies that the Legislature has omitted.
See, e.g., QBE Ins. Corp. v. Chalfonte Condo. Apartment Ass’n, 94
So. 3d 541, 553 (Fla. 2012); see also Jenkins, 978 So. 2d at 130
(noting that statute at issue did not expressly list the exclusionary
rule as a remedy and, therefore, we do not infer that this remedy is
available for violations of the statute). By contrast, the Legislature
has demonstrated that, when it intends to include a remedy of
exclusion, it knows how to do so. See, e.g., § 934.06, Fla. Stat.
(2025) (prescribing exclusion as penalty for violation of wiretapping
statute); § 318.14(4)(b), Fla. Stat. (2025) (establishing that certain
compelled statements during traffic investigations “shall not be
used as evidence in any other proceedings”); see also Brooks v.
State, 363 So. 3d 181, 184-85 (Fla. 5th DCA 2023) (holding that
section 901.16, Florida Statutes (2018), did not require suppression
of statements where the statute did not include that remedy).
Times argues that absence of explicit legislative authorization
requirement. Times reasons that law enforcement would be free to not train themselves on section 933.09 and then be free from penalization. But this perceived insufficiency is a policy matter and does not make the remedy more or less applicable.
- 11 -of an exclusionary rule should not deter us. This is so, Times
submits, because while not explicitly stated in the statute, the
exclusionary rule is part of the background against which the
Legislature passed the knock-and-announce statute in 1923.
Times therefore urges this Court to conclude that the Legislature
would have understood a remedy of exclusion to be coextensive with
a codification of the common law knock-and-announce rule, such
that the remedy would be necessarily implied by the text. But a
close examination of this argument reveals its weakness.
First, Times’ attempt to demonstrate a historical context that
included the exclusionary rule falls short. For pre-codification
support, Times relies exclusively on Atz v. Andrews, 94 So. 329
(Fla. 1922), in which two justices of this Court joined in an opinion
discussing the exclusionary rule in the context of an alcohol
possession offense. Id. at 332. But Chief Justice Browne’s opinion
in Atz was not an “opinion of this Court,” and his reasoning was
therefore not binding precedent. See id. at 330 (opinion of Ellis &
West, JJ.). So limited, we reject Times’ characterization of this
opinion as the “default” position of the Court. But even if the
opinion were indicative of a developing legal principle, Chief Justice
- 12 -Browne’s reasoning in Atz was based on what this Court viewed as
a constitutional violation6 rather than a statutory violation. Id.
Thus, any time Atz references “illegally” acquired evidence, it is in a
markedly different context. Id. at 332. Atz therefore does not
dissuade us from our understanding that, by codifying common
law, suppression was not an applicable remedy for a violation of
section 933.09.
Second, Times’ post-codification arguments fail as well. Times
argues that if this Court “had interpreted the intent of the
legislature incorrectly . . . there would undoubtedly be a lot more
legislative activity on the issue.” But “[w]e walk on quicksand when
we try to find in the absence of corrective legislation a controlling
legal principle.” Tsuji v. Fleet, 366 So. 3d 1020, 1030 (Fla. 2023)
(quoting Helvering v. Hallock, 309 U.S. 106, 121 (1940)
(Frankfurter, J.)). What is more, the view that we can assume a
certain construction is correct because the Legislature has not
6. Further, the constitutional violation at issue in Atz examined vastly different facts than this case. For example, the police were “admitted by the defendant” into the property and did not have a search warrant. Atz, 94 So. at 330.
- 13 -amended a statute is based on the “patently false premise that the
correctness of statutory construction is to be measured by what the
current [Legislature] desires, rather than by what the law as
enacted meant.” Johnson v. Transp. Agency, 480 U.S. 616, 671
(1987) (Scalia, J., dissenting). So, we reject this argument.
C
Having determined that a remedy of exclusion is not required
nor authorized by section 933.09, we conclude that our decision in
Cable was wrongly decided. And in retrospect, it is clear how we
committed that error.
Our primary mistake in Cable was failing to assess whether
Benefield was correct as a matter of statutory interpretation.
Instead, we presumed that the remedy of exclusion was justified
based on “state law grounds” and concluded that Hudson did not
prohibit a state from providing exclusion as a remedy for knockand-announce violations. Cable, 51 So. 3d at 442.
The problem with employing that presumption is that
Benefield’s decision to exclude the “fruits of the search” was not
grounded in an analysis of the statute, and it is unclear whether we
grounded the remedy in state law or instead in federal
- 14 -constitutional law. Benefield involved a warrantless search that we
concluded was “unreasonable under any standard that would be
approved by a free country.” 160 So. 2d at 709. And although we
noted that one of the officers’ many transgressions included a
disregard of the responsibility to knock and announce, we
ultimately held that “the fruits of the search being the product of an
unlawful arrest and a search incident thereto, should have been
excluded by the trial court upon proper motion.” Id. at 711.
Further, while we noted the common law underpinnings of the
knock-and-announce statute, we did not suggest that an
exclusionary rule was similarly a feature of common law. Id. at
710.
As a result, we erred in Cable when we overread Benefield and
applied it in a case involving a search pursuant to a warrant where
the sole issue was one of remedy for a statutory violation. We then
misunderstood our role as a court, first by discounting section
933.17’s chosen remedy, and then compounding that error by
concluding that we could therefore supply one. That error put us in
tension with precedent like Jenkins, where we have acknowledged
that the inclusion or omission of remedies for statutory violations is
- 15 -a legislative prerogative. 7
A conclusion that a predecessor Court has erred, however,
does not end our analysis. “[O]nce we have chosen to reassess a
precedent and have come to the conclusion that it is clearly
erroneous, the proper question becomes whether there is a valid
reason why not to recede from that precedent.” State v. Poole, 297
So. 3d 487, 507 (Fla. 2020). “The critical consideration ordinarily
will be reliance.” Id. But here, no reliance interest compels
adherence to Cable because no one “ ‘altered his behavior in
expectation of the’ remedy holding from which we recede.” State v.
Manago, 375 So. 3d 190, 203 (Fla. 2023) (citing Poole, 297 So. 3d at
507).
7. The dissent’s position that we should adhere to Cable because it offers a judicial remedy conflicts with precedent and our constitutional role. See, e.g., Jenkins, 978 So. 2d at 130 (“remedies for violation of this statute fall within the purview of the Legislature”); see also art. II, § 3, Fla. Const. (“No person belonging to one branch shall exercise any powers appertaining to either of the other branches . . . .”). Similarly, the dissent’s penalty/remedy distinction in this context is a red herring. We are not authorized to supply a remedy to a statute, even if chapter 933’s enforcement provision is characterized as a penalty, because that policy choice remains with the Legislature. See Dade County. v. Nat’l Bulk Carriers, Inc., 450 So. 2d 213, 216 (Fla. 1984) (“The courts cannot amend or complete acts of the legislature intending to supply relief in instances where the legislature has not provided such relief.”).
- 16 -III
Having receded from our decision in Cable, we answer the
certified question in the negative, quash the decision of the First
District, and remand this case to the First District for further
proceedings consistent with this opinion.
It is so ordered.
MUÑIZ, C.J., and COURIEL, GROSSHANS, FRANCIS, and
TANENBAUM, JJ., concur.
LABARGA, J., dissents with an opinion.
NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO FILE REHEARING MOTION AND, IF FILED, DETERMINED.
LABARGA, J., dissenting.
The certified question before this Court asks whether the
exclusionary rule should be applied to remedy a violation of
Florida’s statutory knock-and-announce requirement. State v.
Times, 383 So. 3d 555, 560 (Fla. 1st DCA 2024). This Court
answered the question in the affirmative sixteen years ago in State
v. Cable, 51 So. 3d 434, 435-37 (Fla. 2010). Because there has
been no change in the law regarding Florida’s knock-and-announce
requirements since Cable was decided, I dissent from the majority’s
decisions to recede from Cable, to quash the First District’s decision
- 17 -in State v. Times, and to answer the certified question in the
negative.
I
Since this Court decided Benefield v. State, 160 So. 2d 706,
(Fla. 1964), in 1964, “the district courts of appeal have applied the
exclusionary rule to violations of the knock-and-announce
statutes.” Cable, 51 So. 3d at 439 (citing Guerrie v. State, 691 So.
2d 1132, 1133 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997); Kistner v. State, 379 So. 2d
128, 128 (Fla. 1st DCA 1979); and Moreno v. State, 277 So. 2d 81,
83 (Fla. 3d DCA 1973)). This Court in Cable approved of this
longstanding practice. Id. at 441-42 (holding the exclusionary rule
should apply to statutory knock-and-announce violations even
though the recent United States Supreme Court decision in Hudson
v. Michigan, 547 U.S. 586 (2006), made “clear that the exclusionary
rule does not apply to Fourth Amendment knock-and-announce
violations”). Therefore, I disagree with the majority’s conclusion
that this Court erred in Cable by “overread[ing] Benefield and
appl[ying] it in a case involving a search pursuant to a warrant
where the sole issue was one of remedy for a statutory violation.”
Majority op. at 15. Cable did not rely on Benefield. Instead, Cable
- 18 -merely declined to recede from Benefield in light of Hudson, because
Benefield, like this case, was decided on statutory, not
constitutional grounds. 51 So. 3d at 435.
Because this case concerns solely a violation of Florida’s
knock-and-announce statute, rather than a constitutional violation,
the majority’s discussion of the conformity clause is misplaced. See
majority op. at 5-6. While it is true that article I, section 12 of the
Florida Constitution is to be construed in conformity to the Fourth
Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, courts are under no such
conformity requirement when construing Florida statutes and
common law, which may provide additional protections. See Cable,
51 So. 3d at 443 (concluding that article I, section 12 is
inapplicable because “Hudson is not automatically dispositive of the
question of whether the exclusionary rule may be applied for
violations of Florida’s knock-and-announce statute because it
involved a Fourth Amendment knock-and-announce violation—not
one based on a state statute”).
I would approve this Court’s decision in Cable.
II
The certified question in Cable expressly acknowledged that
- 19 -the exclusionary rule is a “judicial remedy”—not a statutory one.
Id. at 435. This is in line with United States Supreme Court
precedent on the issue. Davis v. United States, 564 U.S. 229, 248
(2011) (explaining that “the exclusionary rule is not a personal
constitutional right. It is a judicially created sanction, specifically
designed as a windfall remedy to deter future Fourth Amendment
violations.”) (internal quotations and citations omitted). Since
Benefield, the Florida judiciary has used the exclusionary rule as a
windfall remedy for violations of Florida’s knock-and-announce
statutes. But despite the Supreme Court’s definition of the
exclusionary rule as a “judicially created sanction,” id., and this
Court’s reaffirmance that “the judicial remedy of exclusion of
evidence [should] be applied for violations of Florida’s statutory
knock-and-announce provisions,” Cable, 51 So. 3d at 435, 437, the
majority now concludes that this Court erred in Cable by inferring
the remedy of exclusion for statutory knock-and-announce
violations when it was not explicitly authorized by the Legislature.
Majority op. at 8-14. I disagree.
Cable did not “supply” a remedy for knock-and-announce
violations, as the majority claims. Id. at 15. Rather, Cable merely
- 20 -approved of the “judicial remedy of exclusion of evidence” which
Florida courts had been applying to remedy statutory knock-andannounce violations since Benefield. 51 So. 3d at 435, 437-39. In
reaching its decision, this Court in Cable discussed the important
interests protected by the knock-and-announce requirement. These
include “the protection of human life and limb,” “the protection of
property,” and the protection of “those elements of privacy and
dignity that can be destroyed by a sudden entrance.” Cable, 51 So.
3d at 440 (quoting Hudson, 547 U.S. at 594); see Times, 383 So. 3d
at 559 (listing the policies underlying the knock-and-announce
requirements as: “(1) decreasing the risk of violence when executing
a warrant, (2) protecting the privacy of the occupants of the home,
and (3) preventing physical destruction of property” (citation
omitted)). In my view, each of these interests weigh in favor of this
Court’s conclusion in Cable—that Florida courts should apply the
exclusionary rule to remedy statutory knock-and-announce
violations. I dissent from the majority’s decision to recede from
Cable and remove the remedy of exclusion for statutory knock-andannounce violations as it undermines the significant public
interests which Florida’s statutory knock-and-announce provisions
- 21 -are meant to protect.
III
I also disagree with the majority’s conclusion that the
Legislature provided a remedy for statutory knock-and-announce
violations in section 933.17. Under the majority’s view, section
933.17 is the Legislature’s “chosen remedy” and is therefore the
only remedy available for statutory knock-and-announce violations.
Majority op. at 15. However, a remedy is “[t]he means of enforcing a
right or preventing or redressing a wrong.” Remedy, Black’s Law
Dictionary (12th ed. 2024). A “penalty,” on the other hand, is
“[p]unishment imposed on a wrongdoer, usu. in the form of
imprisonment or fine.” Penalty, Black’s Law Dictionary. Because
section 933.17 merely threatens to impose punishment on a
wrongdoing officer, without purporting to “enforce” any “right” or
“prevent” or “redress” any “wrong,” the statute is a penalty, not a
remedy. In addition to lacking any remedial effect whatsoever, the
title of section 933.17 labels it a “penalty.”
Exceeding authority in executing search warrant; penalty.
Any officer who in executing a search warrant willfully
exceeds his or her authority or exercises it with
unnecessary severity, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor of
- 22 -the second degree, punishable as provided in
s. 775.082 or s. 775.083.
§ 933.17, Fla. Stat.
While section 933.17 purports to threaten officers with a
punishment of up to sixty days in jail and up to a $500 fine, this
does not cover all statutory knock-and-announce violations, as
Florida has two knock-and-announce statutes. Section 933.09
governs the execution of search warrants, while section 901.19
governs arrests. Because section 933.17 only applies when
“executing a search warrant,” violations of section 901.19 are
beyond its reach. Further, there are many ways officers could
violate section 933.09 without “willfully” exceeding their authority
or acting with “unnecessary severity.” Such statutory knock-andannounce violations are also beyond the scope of section 933.17
and therefore could not be prosecuted—even if the State so desired.
It is also worth noting that the State does not claim to enforce
its statutory knock-and-announce provisions using section 933.17.
In fact, the State provides no examples of an officer ever being
prosecuted for their knock-and-announce violation under section
933.17. See Pet’r’s Initial Br.; see also Pet’r’s Reply Br. The fact
- 23 -that no officer has been charged for a statutory knock-andannounce violation under section 933.17 since its enactment over
one hundred years ago illustrates that the exclusionary rule is the
only available deterrent for statutory knock-and-announce
violations. Indeed, the absolute absence of criminal prosecutions
against law enforcement officers for violating the knock-andannounce statute since the enactment of section 933.17, of which
there must have been hundreds if not thousands, serves as a
significant indicator of the provision’s functional nullity.
Finally, in the highly unlikely event that an officer was
prosecuted for their statutory knock-and-announce violation under
section 933.17, any evidence the officer obtained through their
commission of the statutory violation could still be used in the
prosecution. Thus, applying section 933.17 in the knock-andannounce context would merely be a “penalty” for the violating
officer, not a “remedy” for the Floridian whose home was entered in
violation of the knock-and-announce statute. While the statute
threatens the violating officer with criminal punishment, it does not
“redress” or “prevent” statutory knock-and-announce violations, so
it cannot be labeled a “remedy” for such violations. Penalty,
- 24 -Remedy, Black’s Law Dictionary. Taken together, these facts
illustrate that section 933.17 is a penal statute which the State
does not use to enforce its knock-and-announce statutes.
Accordingly, I disagree with the majority’s conclusion that “section
933.17 prescribes remedies for violations of section 933.09.”
Majority op. at 10.
CONCLUSION
For decades, Florida courts have applied the exclusionary rule
as a judicial remedy for statutory knock-and-announce violations to
protect the privacy and dignity of any occupants of the home being
entered, to prevent violence, and to protect property. In Cable, this
Court expressly approved of this longstanding practice. By receding
from Cable, the majority fails to adequately protect these essential
public interests. I would approve Cable on the basis of stare
decisis, answer the certified question in the affirmative, and affirm
the First District’s decision in State v. Times.
Because the majority’s decision fails to do so, I dissent.
Application for Review of the Decision of the District Court of Appeal
Certified Great Public Importance
First District - Case No. 1D2022-0887
- 25 -(Leon County)
James Uthmeier, Attorney General, Jeffrey Paul DeSousa, Acting Solicitor General, and Adam B. Wilson, Assistant Attorney General, Tallahassee, Florida,
for Petitioner
Kevin Alvarez of the Law Office of Kevin Alvarez P.A., Tallahassee, Florida,
for Respondent
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