Florida’s Ubiquitous Screened-In Porches Protected From Searches

Protections against unreasonable searches and seizures extend to breezy porches, known as “Florida Rooms,” in a ruling that could cost prosecutors a homicide conviction and prevent police across the state from snooping in defendants’ screened-in property.

Police violated the Fourth Amendment by shining a flashlight through the darkened screen of a porch in the massive Holiday RV Village retirement complex in hopes of finding evidence for a murder committed next door, a Florida appellate court ruled Friday. Without a warrant, police used the light to pierce through the opaque screen into the furnished room where they spied a rifle, and ...