I have never actually drafted a motion to suppress. What is the structure?

The vehicle: Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.190

A Florida motion to suppress is a pretrial motion under Florida Rule of Criminal Procedure 3.190, Pretrial Motions. The rule carries two suppression tracks, one for evidence obtained in an unlawful search and one for a confession or admission obtained illegally, and it is quoted here verbatim from the official rule text. For the search-and-seizure track, a “A defendant aggrieved by an unlawful search and seizure may move to suppress anything so obtained for use as evidence because:”

• “the property was illegally seized without a warrant;”

• “the warrant is insufficient on its face;”

• “the property seized is not the property described in the warrant;”

• “there was no probable cause for believing the existence of the grounds on which the warrant was issued; or”

• “the warrant was illegally executed.”

The rule also sets what the motion must contain: “Every motion to suppress evidence shall state clearly the particular evidence sought to be suppressed, the reasons for suppression, and a general statement of the facts on which the motion is based.” For a statement, the companion track provides that “the court shall suppress any confession or admission obtained illegally from the defendant.” And the timing rule is the same for both: “The motion to suppress shall be made before trial unless opportunity therefor did not exist or the defendant was not aware of the grounds for the motion”.

Rule text quoted verbatim from Florida Rules of Criminal Procedure 3.190 (Florida Bar, official publication). The rule controls; confirm the current text before relying on any phrasing.

The five grounds at a glance

A motion to suppress rests on one of five ground categories, each stated as general Fourth or Fifth Amendment doctrine. No case is cited and no holding is asserted; which ground the record supports, and the controlling authority under it, is a matter to research on the facts and the forum. Here is the whole set, one line each. One of them is worked in full below as a sample; the rest are worked in full in the Suppression Motion Pack.

• 1. Unlawful stop · Fourth Amendment

  Whether the initial seizure of the person was supported by reasonable, articulable suspicion at the moment of the stop.

• 2. Unlawful search or seizure · Fourth Amendment

  Whether a warrantless search fits a recognized exception, or whether a warrant was supported by probable cause, sufficient on its face, and lawfully executed.

• 3. Unlawful arrest · Fourth Amendment

  Whether the arrest was supported by probable cause, and what the search incident, the statements, and the identifications that followed it may inherit if it was not.

• 4. Statements taken in violation of Miranda · Fifth Amendment

  Whether the person was in custody, whether the questioning was interrogation, and whether the warnings, any waiver, and the invocation of rights were honored.

• 5. Fruit of the poisonous tree · Fourth and Fifth Amendments

  Whether the physical evidence, statements, and identifications derived from an earlier illegality must be suppressed along with the illegality itself.

Sample: Unlawful stop worked in full

To show what “worked in full” means, here is the unlawful stop ground taken past the one-line description: the general inquiry it raises and the issue-spotting questions a defender works through. The other four grounds are worked to this depth, with the motion structure and the hearing burden-shift, in the Suppression Motion Pack.

That is one ground. The motion structure (caption, factual basis, legal grounds, evidence to suppress, hearing request) and the suppression hearing with its burden-shifting sequence are the rest of the framework, drafted and worked in the Suppression Motion Pack.

Get the full framework and turn it into the filed motion

The motion is only as strong as the record behind it, so the discovery demand runs first: the reports, the body-camera and dashboard video, the dispatch and stop records, the warrant and its affidavit, and the statement record are things to demand in writing early, because the suppression hearing is built on that record and the credibility of the officers who made it.

This sample is the shape of the motion and one ground worked through. The full framework, every ground worked in full, the per-ground suppression motion already built, and the source-cited template drawn to the specific ground are the Suppression Motion Pack. To attack the credibility of the officers whose stop, search, or arrest the motion challenges, run the officer against their record with Officer Lookup. And to demand the reports, video, and warrant record the hearing is built on, start with the free discovery-demand checklist.

By suppression scenario

The structure above is general. For your specific scenario, the per-ground pack has the scenario-specific authority already marshalled: a structured motion-to-suppress template drawn to the ground, the required contents from the rule, and the argument scaffold for the hearing. Open the pack for the scenario in front of you.

• Terry Stop Motion

• Pretextual Stop Motion

• Consent Search Motion

• Franks Challenge Motion

• Warrant Staleness Motion

• Cell-Site Warrant Motion

• Good-Faith Exception Rebuttal

• Fruit-of-the-Tree Motion

Reference

For the per-ground drafted suppression motion, see the Suppression Motion Pack. To attack the officer credibility the motion turns on, use Officer Lookup. To demand the record the hearing is built on first, use the free discovery-demand checklist. For the full set of Florida references, start at the Florida criminal-defense references hub.