Adams v. State

969 S.W.2d 106, 1998 Tex. App. LEXIS 2467, 1998 WL 199783
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 27, 1998
Docket05-96-01737-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 969 S.W.2d 106 (Adams v. State) 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
Adams v. State, 969 S.W.2d 106, 1998 Tex. App. LEXIS 2467, 1998 WL 199783 (Tex. Ct. App. 1998).

Opinion

OPINION

CHUCK MILLER, Justice (Retired).

Appellant Justin Matthew Adams was charged by indictment with the offense of intoxication assault. 3 He waived his right to trial by jury and, upon his plea of not guilty, the case went to trial before the court, which ultimately found him guilty. The trial court sentenced him to serve ten years’ confinement in the Institutional Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice. Imposition of sentence was then suspended and Adams was placed on community supervision for ten years. On appeal, Adams brings six points. Points one, two, and six allege, essentially, insufficiency of the evidence in certain respects; points three and four reflect Adams’s assertion that the trial judge committed reversible error in disallowing certain proffered evidence; the fifth point complains of the trial court’s failure to quash a subpoena. We affirm.

To put these points in context, a rendition of the facts of the case is in order. The trial took place approximately fifteen months after the events in question. The evidence admitted at trial showed that in the early morning hours of Monday, July 5, 1995, Adams, who that day attained the age of 18 years, was driving his Chevrolet Blazer when it collided with a pickup truck operated by the victim, *108 twenty-six-year-old Julie Patterson, causing her serious bodily injury. The events leading up to the collision were described in detail by Patterson at the trial. On the night in question, Patterson had dropped a Mend off at an apartment complex in north Dallas. As she was stopped at a four-way stop intersection within the complex, she saw Adams run one of the four stop signs and cross her path, nearly causing a collision. Upon leaving the complex, the two vehicles traveled in the same direction south on Preston Road through several major intersections. Adams’ erratic driving caused Patterson to suspect that he was intoxicated and convinced her that she should be wary of the Blazer. After losing sight of the other vehicle, Patterson was stopped for a red light at the intersection of Preston Road and Alexis Drive when she again spotted Adams’ Blazer approaching at a high rate of speed in her traffic lane. She watched as the Blazer collided with the rear-end of her pickup. The resulting impact caused severe damage to the vehicle and serious bodily injury to Patterson. Quickly after the collision, Adams'exited his vehicle and approached Patterson. With a thick tongue, Adams invited Patterson to pull over into a parking lot. Patterson replied that she was too injured to comply.

Soon thereafter, Dallas Police Officer Rogelio Reyes and his partner, Allen Lash, while on routine patrol received a radio report of the collision. Responding to the call, they arrived at the scene. Reyes inquired into Adams’ welfare, and then Patterson’s. After speaking with Patterson and observing that she appeared to be in pain, Reyes immediately summoned an ambulance. The officer then focused on Adams, who he noticed in the initial encounter had bloodshot eyes, unsteady balance, and smelled of alcohol. Reyes asked Adams how the collision occurred. Adams gave two varying accounts of the precipitating events. After further conversation with Adams, Reyes formed the opinion that Adams was intoxicated due to the introduction of alcohol into his body. Lash also observed Adams’ slurred speech and unsteady balance, as well as a strong odor of alcoholic beverage emanating from Adams’ person. Lash reached the same conclusion that Adams was intoxicated due to alcohol.

Reyes then called for a backup officer trained in detecting the effects of different types of intoxicants on individuals. Dallas Police Officer David Ruiz responded. Ruiz, possessed with the enhanced expertise intoxicant recognition, conducted three field sobriety tests on Adams. Adams failed the horizontal gaze nystagmus test (HGN), the stationary balance test, and the one-legged stand test. Based on these failures and the odor of alcohol about Adams, Ruiz formed the conclusion that Adams was intoxicated due to alcohol.

Reyes, after conferring with Ruiz, arrested Adams for driving while intoxicated, and transported him to jail. At the jail, Adams was taken to an intoxilizer room and, in the presence of Reyes, Lash, and an intoxilizer operator, given his Miranda rights. The events that transpired in the intoxilizer room were recorded on videotape.

The extent of Patterson’s injuries became a hotly contested issue in the trial. Patterson testified that she suffered serious bodily injury in the wreck. At the scene, she refused the offer of an ambulance, citing economic reasons, but accepted a ride home from the police officers. Later, during normal business hours on July 5,1995, Patterson contacted Adams’ insurance company and reported the collision and her injuries. She also visited an emergency room at Baylor/Riehardson Medical Center, but after the taking of x-rays of her back area, she was not admitted.

Five days later, Patterson saw her physician, Dr. Robert DeVries, with complaints of pain throughout her back and also in her chest area. After seeing the results of an MRI scan, DeVries ordered physical therapy for Patterson, suggested referring her to a medical specialist, and prescribed a muscle relaxer, a painkiller and an anti-inflammatory medication. By all accounts, Patterson had suffered what is commonly referred to as a soft tissue injury. Patterson began physical therapy at White Rock Physical Therapy in mid-July. At that time, she complained of pain so severe that she could not sit, stand, lift, bend, or walk. According to Patterson, *109 the next month of therapy produced no positive results. After reporting to DeVries that she actually felt worse after her month of working with White Rock Physical Therapy, the doctor referred her to Dr. Richard Jones, a sports medicine specialist.

Patterson began seeing Jones on August 17, 1995. At that time, she still maintained that the pain prevented her from sitting, standing, lifting, bending, or walking. Jones’ diagnosis, after examination, was that Patterson suffered a closed head injury, traumatic sacroiliac inflammation, bulging disks in the lumbar spine, sacroiliac strain that caused a popped pelvic connecting bone, strain to the tissue surrounding the spinal disks, and, potentially, fibromyalgia. Jones prescribed sleeping medication and physical therapy. Jones further suggested that Patterson undergo psychological testing as a precaution to further evaluate the effects of the trauma she had suffered. Patterson remained on painkillers.

Patterson continued in various forms of physical therapy until mid-October, when she ceased therapy for economic reasons. She then moved to Minnesota to stay with a friend who would take care of her. There she returned to medical treatment and chiropractic therapy. Patterson returned to Dallas for the trial, testifying that she was in worse pain than ever and had difficulty, because of the pain, doing routine motions such as walking or bending. At trial, she believed that her injuries were worse, not better, after all her medical treatment and therapy. Except for a failed attempt at employment in mid-December of 1995, attributed to her physical pain in moving around, she had not worked since the collision. Patterson was applying for social security benefits.

The defense called Dr.

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Bluebook (online)
969 S.W.2d 106, 1998 Tex. App. LEXIS 2467, 1998 WL 199783, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/adams-v-state-texapp-1998.