Lazaro Ruben Gonzalez v. State Florida

This is an appeal by the defendant from a final judgment of conviction and sentence for trafficking in cocaine which was entered below based on a nolo contendere plea. The defendant, in entering this plea, reserved for appeal the dispositive question of whether the trial court erred in denying his pretrial motion to suppress (a) the subject cocaine, and (b) certain currency, based on Fourth Amendment grounds; this question, in turn, depends on whether the defendants wife voluntarily consented to a police search of the defendants home where the cocaine and currency were seized. For reasons which follow, we conclude that the subject consent was involuntarily obtained and reverse.