Case: 19-13576 Date Filed: 05/26/2020 Page: 1 of 4
[DO NOT PUBLISH]
IN THE UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS
FOR THE ELEVENTH CIRCUIT
________________________
No. 19-13576
Non-Argument Calendar
________________________
D.C. Docket No. 5:18-cr-00048-JDW-PRL-1
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
Plaintiff - Appellee,
versus
JOVAN DEMETRIUS FREDERICKS,
a.k.a. Jovan D. Fredericks,
Defendant - Appellant.
________________________
Appeal from the United States District Court
for the Middle District of Florida
________________________
(May 26, 2020)
Before WILLIAM PRYOR, MARTIN and ROSENBAUM, Circuit Judges.
PER CURIAM:
Case: 19-13576 Date Filed: 05/26/2020 Page: 2 of 4
Jovan Demetrius Fredericks appeals his convictions for being a felon in
possession of a firearm, for possessing narcotics with the intent to distribute, and
for possessing a firearm during and in furtherance of a drug trafficking crime.
18
U.S.C. §§ 922(g)(1), 924(e), 924(c)(1)(A)(i);
21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), 841(b)(1)(C).
Fredericks appeals the denial of his motion to suppress. He argues that the officers
violated his right to be free from an unlawful seizure under the Fourth Amendment
when they exceeded their authority to conduct an investigatory stop and arrested
him without probable cause or a warrant. We affirm.
We review the denial of a motion to suppress evidence as a mixed question
of law and fact. United States v. Perez,
443 F.3d 772, 774 (11th Cir. 2006). We
review rulings of law de novo and related findings of fact for clear error.
Id.
The district court did not err by denying Fredericks’s motion to suppress. As
Officer Erik Cabrales of the Ocala Police Department and Officer Rodriguez
patrolled an apartment complex known for violence and drug sales, they observed
Fredericks sitting outside holding a cigarette that had been hand-rolled in brown
paper. Cabrales noticed Fredericks was partially concealing the brown, hand-rolled
cigarette in the palm of his left hand. So he asked Fredericks what he had in his
hand, but Fredericks did not respond. Cabrales asked again, and Fredericks
displayed a cigarette lighter in his other hand but continued to conceal the
cigarette. The district court found after viewing body-camera video from the
2
Case: 19-13576 Date Filed: 05/26/2020 Page: 3 of 4
officers that Cabrales then told Fredericks, “I see what you got in your hand, Man.
I could see it from where I was at.” At this point, the officers “ha[d] a reasonable,
articulable suspicion that criminal activity [was] afoot,” Illinois v. Wardlow,
528
U.S. 119, 123 (2000), and could detain Fredericks to investigate.
Cabrales asked Fredericks to stand up. But when Fredericks stood, he
abruptly reached behind his back with his hand that was holding the cigarette.
Cabrales grabbed Fredericks’s arm to prevent him from reaching behind his back.
As Cabrales did so, he felt a bulge on Fredericks’s right hip, which he suspected
was a firearm. Cabrales immediately advised Rodriguez, “He’s got a gun on him.”
For their safety, the officers placed Fredericks in handcuffs before removing the
concealed firearm from Fredericks’s waist. The officers had the right to handcuff
Fredericks to ensure their safety and to complete their investigation. Cabrales also
had probable cause to arrest Fredericks based on the firearm concealed under
Fredericks’s shirt. See
Fla. Stat. § 790.01(2) (“A person who carries a concealed
firearm on or about his or her person commits a felony of the third degree”);
Fla.
Stat. § 790.001(2) (defining “concealed firearm” as “any firearm . . . which is
carried on or about a person in such a manner as to conceal the firearm from the
ordinary sight of another person”). As the officers escorted Fredericks to a patrol
car, he tugged repeatedly at a pocket, from which the officers had the right to seize
3
Case: 19-13576 Date Filed: 05/26/2020 Page: 4 of 4
a black pouch containing methylenedioxymethamphetamine,1 marijuana, cocaine,
and heroin.
We AFFIRM Fredericks’s convictions.
1
After the incident, law enforcement tested the substance in the cigarette Fredericks was
holding when Cabrales and Rodriguez encountered him. It also contained methylenedioxy
methamphetamine.
4
