Adair v. State

427 S.W.2d 67, 1967 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 775

• Court: Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas
• Decided: March 27, 1967
• Docket: 40795
• Status: Published

Opinions

OPINION

DICE, Judge.

The conviction is for unlawfully carrying a pistol; the punishment, a fine of $101.

Trial was before the court, a jury being waived, upon appellant’s plea of not guilty.

The evidence shows that the pistol was recovered from underneath the arm rest in the middle of the front seat of appellant’s automobile by a City of Dallas police officer on the occasion of his arrest for a moving traffic violation.

It was further shown that prior to the search, the appellant “kept getting in front” of the officer as he walked toward the automobile, which actions aroused the officer’s suspicions and indicated to him that appellant was trying to hide something.

In his brief, appellant urges one ground of error, designated as a proposition of law, which is as follows:

“The search of the defendant’s automobile was unreasonable in violation of the Fourth and Fourteenth Amendments to the Constitution of the United States for the reason that said search was not based upon probable cause.”

Recently, in Lane v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 424 S.W.2d 925, Cause No. 40,222, opinion delivered April 12, 1967, not yet reported, this court overruled a similar contention in upholding the search of an automobile, incident to the arrest of the driver for a traffic violation, which led to the finding of a pistol in the glove compartment.

We adhere to such holding, and overrule appellant’s contention.

The judgment is affirmed.