Clifton Crews Hoyt v. State

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 12, 2016
Docket03-15-00228-CR
StatusPublished

This text of Clifton Crews Hoyt v. State (Clifton Crews Hoyt 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
Clifton Crews Hoyt v. State, (Tex. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

TEXAS COURT OF APPEALS, THIRD DISTRICT, AT AUSTIN

NO. 03-15-00228-CR

Clifton Crews Hoyt, Appellant

v.

The State of Texas, Appellee

FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF TOM GREEN COUNTY, 391ST JUDICIAL DISTRICT NO. D-13-0316-SB, HONORABLE THOMAS J. GOSSETT, JUDGE PRESIDING

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Clifton Crews Hoyt was charged with driving while intoxicated. See Tex. Penal

Code § 49.04(a) (listing elements of offense). The indictment also alleged that Hoyt had previously

been convicted of the offense on two prior occasions, which elevated the level of the offense to

a third-degree felony. See id. § 49.09(b)(2). In addition, the indictment alleged that Hoyt was also

previously convicted of a felony-level offense for driving while intoxicated, which elevated the

permissible punishment range for the offense at issue to that of a second-degree felony. See id.

§ 12.42(a). Prior to trial, Hoyt filed a motion to suppress evidence relating to his arrest, and the

district court denied the motion after the trial started. Once the district court ruled on the motion to

suppress, a video recording from the dashboard camera of the arresting officer, Officer Antonio

Aguilar, was admitted into evidence and played for the court. At the end of the bench trial, the

district court found Hoyt guilty and sentenced him to fourteen years’ imprisonment. See id. § 12.33 (setting out permissible punishment range for second-degree felony). In two issues on appeal, Hoyt

asserts that the district court erred by denying his motion to suppress and that the evidence is legally

insufficient to support his conviction. We will affirm the district court’s judgment of conviction.

DISCUSSION

Motion to Suppress

In his first issue on appeal, Hoyt asserts that the district “court erred in its denial of

[his] motion to suppress based on lack of probable cause” to initiate the traffic stop and to further

detain him in order to have Hoyt perform field-sobriety tests.1

Although Hoyt contends that there was not probable cause to support the traffic stop

or his continued detention, probable cause is not required to initiate an investigative detention.

See Townsend v. State, 813 S.W.2d 181, 185 (Tex. App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 1991, pet. ref’d).

Instead, an officer may initiate a traffic stop if he has reasonable suspicion that a crime is about to

be committed or has been committed. See Guerra v. State, 432 S.W.3d 905, 911 (Tex. Crim. App.

2014). In order for reasonable suspicion to exist, an actual violation does not need to have occurred;

rather, it is only necessary that “the officer reasonably believed a violation was in progress.” Green

1 As mentioned above, the ruling on the motion to suppress was made during the trial and before the video was admitted into evidence and played for the district court. Accordingly, when evaluating whether the district court abused its discretion by denying the motion to suppress, we limit our review to the evidence before the district court when it made its ruling. See Herrera v. State, 80 S.W.3d 283, 290-91 (Tex. App.—Texarkana 2002, pet. ref’d) (on reh’g) (stating that general rule is that courts “consider only the evidence adduced at the suppression hearing because the ruling was based on that evidence rather than evidence introduced later” but that there is exception to general rule “when the suppression issue has been consensually relitigated by the parties during trial”).

2 v. State, 93 S.W.3d 541, 545 (Tex. App.—Texarkana 2002, pet. ref’d); see Carmouche v. State,

10 S.W.3d 323, 328 (Tex. Crim. App. 2000) (noting that officer may briefly detain person for

investigative purposes on less than probable cause where specific and articulable facts along with

inferences from those facts reasonably warrant detention). “In assessing whether the intrusion was

reasonable, an objective standard is utilized: would the facts available to the officer at the moment

of the seizure or search warrant a man of reasonable caution in the belief that the action taken was

appropriate.” Davis v. State, 947 S.W.2d 240, 243 (Tex. Crim. App. 1997); see also Garcia v. State,

43 S.W.3d 527, 530 (Tex. Crim. App. 2001) (explaining that “[t]his standard is an objective one:

there need only be an objective basis for the stop; the subjective intent of the officer conducting the

stop is irrelevant”). Moreover, the assessment is made in light of the totality of the circumstances.

Woods v. State, 956 S.W.2d 33, 38 (Tex. Crim. App. 1997).

In addition, the analysis considers the cumulative information that was known to the

cooperating officers, and it is not necessary that the detaining officer have knowledge of every fact

supporting reasonable suspicion. Derichsweiler v. State, 348 S.W.3d 906, 914 (Tex. Crim. App.

2011); see Illinois v. Andreas, 463 U.S. 765, 771 n.5 (1983) (explaining that if law enforcement

officials are cooperating in investigation, “the knowledge of one is presumed shared by all”).

Provided that the traffic stop is based on reasonable suspicion, then the detention “does not violate

Texas law.” Guerra, 432 S.W.3d at 911. Furthermore, if during a valid detention, “the officer

develops reasonable suspicion that the detainee is engaged in criminal activity, prolonged or

continued detention is justified.” Haas v. State, 172 S.W.3d 42, 52 (Tex. App.—Waco 2005,

pet. ref’d); see also State v. Woodard, 341 S.W.3d 404, 414 (Tex. Crim. App. 2011) (determining

3 that information known to officer gave him reasonable suspicion to detain and administer

field-sobriety tests).

Appellate courts review a trial court’s ruling on a motion to suppress for an abuse of

discretion. Arguellez v. State, 409 S.W.3d 657, 662 (Tex. Crim. App. 2013). Under that standard,

the record is “viewed in the light most favorable to the trial court’s determination, and the

judgment will be reversed only if it is arbitrary, unreasonable, or ‘outside the zone of reasonable

disagreement.’” State v. Story, 445 S.W.3d 729, 732 (Tex. Crim. App. 2014) (quoting State v. Dixon,

206 S.W.3d 587, 590 (Tex. Crim. App. 2006)). Moreover, appellate courts apply “a bifurcated

standard, giving almost total deference to the historical facts found by the trial court and analyzing

de novo the trial court’s application of the law.” State v. Cuong Phu Le, 463 S.W.3d 872, 876 (Tex.

Crim. App. 2015); see Arguellez, 409 S.W.3d at 662 (explaining that appellate courts afford “almost

complete deference . . . to [a trial court’s] determination of historical facts, especially if those are

based on an assessment of credibility and demeanor”). “The same deference is afforded the trial

court with respect to its rulings on application of the law to questions of fact and to mixed questions

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Related

Jackson v. Virginia
443 U.S. 307 (Supreme Court, 1979)
Illinois v. Andreas
463 U.S. 765 (Supreme Court, 1983)
Ford v. State
158 S.W.3d 488 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2005)
Garcia v. State
43 S.W.3d 527 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2001)
State v. Dixon
206 S.W.3d 587 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2006)
Hooper v. State
214 S.W.3d 9 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2007)
Clayton v. State
235 S.W.3d 772 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2007)
Carmouche v. State
10 S.W.3d 323 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2000)
Markey v. State
996 S.W.2d 226 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1999)
Bracken v. State
282 S.W.3d 94 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2009)
Townsend v. State
813 S.W.2d 181 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1991)
Woods v. State
956 S.W.2d 33 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1997)
Kirsch v. State
306 S.W.3d 738 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2010)
Herrera v. State
80 S.W.3d 283 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2002)
Green v. State
93 S.W.3d 541 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2002)
Haas v. State
172 S.W.3d 42 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2005)
Brooks v. State
323 S.W.3d 893 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2010)
State v. Robinson
334 S.W.3d 776 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2011)
Crain v. State
315 S.W.3d 43 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2010)
Davis v. State
947 S.W.2d 240 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1997)

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