$27,877.00 Current Money of the United States

331 S.W.3d 110, 2010 Tex. App. LEXIS 10125, 2010 WL 5187608
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 23, 2010
Docket02-10-00035-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 331 S.W.3d 110 ($27,877.00 Current Money of the United States) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
$27,877.00 Current Money of the United States, 331 S.W.3d 110, 2010 Tex. App. LEXIS 10125, 2010 WL 5187608 (Tex. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinions

OPINION

LEE GABRIEL, Justice.

Appellant Brendan Scott Roberts appeals the seizure of his property pursuant to chapter 59 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. See Tex.Code Crim. Proc. Ann. arts. 59.01-.14 (Vernon Supp.2010). In four points, Roberts challenges the validity and constitutionality of the seizure and the factual sufficiency of the evidence supporting the trial court’s conclusion that the seizure was proper. We affirm.

Background Facts

In March 2007, Carrollton Police Department Narcotics Officer Mai Tran received information from a confidential informant that Roberts was trafficking marihuana and alprazolam (also known as Xanax) from a house in The Colony, Texas, where Roberts lived with his girlfriend and some friends. Officer Tran obtained a search warrant from a City of Carrollton magistrate (with jurisdiction in Dallas and Denton Counties) and executed the warrant at 4249 Malone Avenue, The Colony, Texas (the Malone address), in Denton County.

At the Malone address, Carrollton police officers found 8.5 tablets of alprazolam, 2 tablets of hydrocodone, 4.48 grams of marihuana, and $4,857 in cash. Roberts was arrested.

After the arrest, Officer Tran received additional information that Roberts, fearing that the police would raid his home, had moved drugs and money to two separate places. Specifically, the information was that Roberts had moved drugs to the house of James Savoldi, a friend and alleged “runner” for Roberts, and had moved money to Roberts’s parents’ house. Carrollton Police Officer Jeremy Sanchez, a canine handler, and his dog, Bosko, performed a “sniff search” on Savoldi’s home at 4601 Freeman Drive, The Colony, Texas (the Freeman address), in Denton County. Bosko “alerted” to an odor at the front door of the house. Based on the information from the informant and the sniff search, Officer Tran obtained a search warrant for the Freeman address.

During the execution of the warrant, Savoldi admitted to the police that he was holding the drugs for Roberts. Savoldi had hidden a black gym bag with approximately two pounds of marihuana at the Freeman address. When he heard from Roberts’s girlfriend that the police had searched the Malone address, Savoldi took the bag of marihuana from his house to a hotel in Addison, Texas, where it was later confiscated by Carrollton police officers. Roberts pleaded guilty to the felony offense of possession of more than four ounces but less than five pounds of mari[114]*114huana for the marihuana that the officers found in the Addison hotel room.

While in jail, Roberts made a phone call and advised an unknown person that “the money” was in a bag under his brother’s bed at Roberts’s parents’ house, 4628 Archer Drive, The Colony, Texas (the Archer address), in Denton County. Officer Sanchez and Bosko conducted a sniff search around the exterior of the Archer address, and Bosko alerted at the bottom of the garage door. Officer Tran obtained a search warrant for the Archer address from the same magistrate in Carrollton as the previous two warrants and executed that warrant. There, the police found $23,020 under the brother’s bed, in bills of various denominations, tied with hair bands. In a written statement to the police, Roberts’s brother denied any knowledge or ownership of the money.

The money recovered from the Archer address was taken to the Carrollton Police Station, where Officer Sanchez conducted another sniff search. This time, he took three new paper bags and put the money in one of them. Each bag was closed by folding over the top and all three bags were placed in a hallway about six feet apart. Bosko sniffed all three bags and alerted on the sack containing the money.

In April 2007, the State filed its notice of seizure and intended forfeiture, alleging, among other things, that Roberts owned the money and that it was contraband as proceeds from the sale of narcotics. Roberts denied the allegations and asserted affirmative defenses, including illegal search and seizure.

After the asset forfeiture hearing, the trial court issued forty findings of fact and four conclusions of law in which it conelud-ed that the $28,020 seized from the Archer address “is the proceeds of Brendan Roberts’s illegal drug trafficking activities,” and is therefore contraband. The trial court ordered the money to be forfeited to the State under article 59.02 of the code of criminal procedure.1 This appeal followed.

Standard of Review

Forfeiture proceedings are civil in nature. Tex.Code Crim. Proc. Ann. art. 59.05(b) (Vernon 2006). The State must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the property is subject to forfeiture. Id. Money is subject to forfeiture if it is derived from manufacturing, delivering, selling, or possessing a controlled substance. Id. arts. 59.01(2), 59.02(a); State v. $11,014.00, 820 S.W.2d 783, 784 (Tex.1991).

In forfeiture proceedings, the State must show probable cause for seizing a person’s property. Tex. Const. art. I, § 9; $11,011-00, 820 S.W.2d at 784. To show probable cause, the State must establish a reasonable belief that a substantial connection exists between the property to be forfeited and the criminal activity defined by the statute. $11,01⅛.00, 820 S.W.2d at 784. This is accomplished when the State proves that it is more reasonably probable than not that the seized currency was either intended for use in, or derived from, a violation of the offenses listed in the forfeiture statute. State v. Five Thousand Five Hundred Dollars in U.S. Currency, 296 S.W.3d 696, 701 (Tex.App.-El Paso 2009, no pet.). The substantial connection may be proved by circumstantial evidence. $11,011.00, 820 S.W.2d at 785. When relying on circumstantial evidence, “the State is required to offer proof which does more than raise a mere surmise or [115]*115suspicion regarding the source of money.” Antrim v. State, 868 S.W.2d 809, 812 (Tex.App.-Austin 1993, no writ) (quoting Money of the United States $8,500.00 v. State, 774 S.W.2d 788, 792 (Tex.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 1989, no writ)).

Discussion

I.

We address Roberts’s second issue first, as it is arguably dispositive. See Tex. R.App. P. 47.1. Roberts claims the search at the Archer address was unlawful because it was conducted by Carrollton police officers outside Carrollton city limits. Roberts directed the trial court to the local government code and to State v. Kurtz, 152 S.W.3d 72 (Tex.Crim.App.2004), to support his argument that Carrollton police only have jurisdiction within their city limits for any action they take in then-police capacity. Because the search occurred in The Colony and not in Carroll-ton, he contends the search was illegal. Roberts further argues that the trial court erred by applying a good-faith exception sua sponte and based upon insufficient evidence.

The local government code grants general-law municipalities the right to establish and regulate a municipal police force.2 Tex. Loc. Gov’t Code Ann. § 341.001(a) (Vernon 2005).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

1812 Franklin Street, Bonham, Texas v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2020
Crayton v. State
485 S.W.3d 488 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2016)
in the Interest of D.W. and K.W., Children
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2015
Acosta, Victor Manuel
429 S.W.3d 621 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2014)
$132,265.00 in U.S. Currency v. State
409 S.W.3d 17 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2013)
2005 Honda Civic v. State
408 S.W.3d 528 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2013)
Manuel Cardenas v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2012
Nieves E. Roman v. Cuprum S.A. De C v.
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2012
Christopher Charles Meadows v. State
356 S.W.3d 33 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2011)
One (1) 1998 Blue Chevrolet Camaro v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2011
$27,877.00 Current Money of the United States
331 S.W.3d 110 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2010)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
331 S.W.3d 110, 2010 Tex. App. LEXIS 10125, 2010 WL 5187608, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/2787700-current-money-of-the-united-states-texapp-2010.