Reginald L. Henry v. State of Florida

IN THE DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL
FIRST DISTRICT, STATE OF FLORIDA
REGINALD L. HENRY, NOT FINAL UNTIL TIME EXPIRES TO
FILE MOTION FOR REHEARING AND
Appellant, DISPOSITION THEREOF IS FILED
v. CASE NO. 1D16-2415
STATE OF FLORIDA,
Appellee.
_____________________________/
Opinion filed August 15, 2017.
An appeal from the Circuit Court for Leon County.
William Gary, Judge.
Andy Thomas, Public Defender, and Kathleen Stover, Assistant Public Defender,
Tallahassee, for Appellant.
Pamela Jo Bondi, Attorney General, and Jason W. Rodriguez and Jennifer Moore,
Assistant Attorneys General, Tallahassee, for Appellee.
PER CURIAM.
Appellant challenges the trial court’s denial of two pretrial motions to
suppress regarding a recording the victim made on her cell phone of a conversation
with Appellant in which he made threats in an apparent attempt to extort money from
her. It is well-settled that “to raise an error on appeal, a contemporaneous objection
must be made at the trial level when the alleged error occurred.” Carr v. State, 156
So. 3d 1052, 1062 (Fla. 2015) (quoting J.B. v. State, 705 So. 2d 1376, 1378 (Fla.
1998)). Although section 90.104(1), Florida Statutes (2012), provides that, “[i]f the
court has made a definitive ruling on the record admitting . . . evidence, either at or
before trial, a party need not renew an objection . . . to preserve a claim of error for
appeal,” the statute does not apply to the circumstances in the instant case. Here, the
trial court denied both of Appellant’s motions to suppress and ruled the recording
was admissible. Subsequently, at trial, the State moved to introduce the recording,
and Appellant’s counsel affirmatively stated, “no objection.” Pursuant to the Florida
Supreme Court’s decision in Carr, counsel’s statement of “no objection” acted to
abandon or waive the prior motions to suppress. See 156 So. 3d at 1062.
Accordingly, this issue was not preserved for appeal, and we affirm without further
discussion.
WOLF, RAY, and BILBREY, JJ., CONCUR.
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