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Old April 25, 2013, 11:26 PM   #13
Al Norris
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Join Date: June 29, 2000
Location: Rupert, Idaho
Posts: 9,660
press1280's opinion is correct.

Should this reach the Florida Supreme Court and that Court opines on a federal question, then it may be appealed to the SCOTUS. If however, the FL Court only opines upon the FL analog RKBA, then there is no federal question to appeal.

We saw this back in 2001, with a Utah State case that was ultimately decided by the Utah Supreme Court on US 4A grounds (BRIGHAM CITY v. STUART, No. 20021004., February 18, 2005 - UT Supreme Court | FindLaw, 2005). This was appealed to the SCOTUS and decided in 2006. Here the SCOTUS overturned the State Court (BRIGHAM CITY v. STUART (No. 05-502) 2006).

Here, even thought the Utah 4A analog was held to have better protection for individuals inside their homes, both the trial court, Appeals Court and the State Supreme Court held that an exigent circumstances was not in force, allowing Brigham City police to invoke a warrantless entry and arrest, based upon not the Utah analog, but the US 4A.

Had the arguments been based solely upon the Utah rights, then the Utah Supreme Court would have had the final word.

From my reading, this case is based upon both RKBA analogs and could result in an appeal to the SCOTUS. Since this is essentially a criminal case, I won't attempt to guess a probable outcome.
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