FL3: Knock and talk outside def’s gate led to consent; he could have refused and asked for DL back

The trial court erred in suppressing defendant’s knock and talk. He was outside his gated property and could have not consented to the entry. While the police had his DL in hand, he could have asked for it back and refused to sign the consent form. State v. Hernandez, 2014 Fla. App. LEXIS 14096 (Fla. 3d DCA September 10, 2014)*:

The defendant was at his own home, not in a car, at an airport, or any other public place. He was outside his own gated property, and the police had already declined the defendant’s invitation to enter the property. The defendant could have simply requested the return of his identification, refused to answer any further questions, and gone back onto his own property inside the gate or into his home. Instead, the defendant signed a consent to search form, locked up his dogs so the police could enter, and escorted the officers to the room where he was cultivating his marijuana. The defendant then executed a Miranda1 rights waiver form in which he agreed that he was speaking freely and voluntarily with the police without counsel.