Coleman v. State

577 S.W.3d 623
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 9, 2019
DocketNo. 02-17-00123-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 577 S.W.3d 623 (Coleman 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
Coleman v. State, 577 S.W.3d 623 (Tex. Ct. App. 2019).

Opinion

Opinion by Justice Pittman *628INTRODUCTION

Appellant Glenn Coleman appeals his conviction and 99-year sentence for possession of a controlled substance, methamphetamine. In four issues, Coleman argues that: (1) the State violated the Michael Morton Act, his due process rights, and his rights under Brady v. Maryland , 373 U.S. 83, 87, 83 S. Ct. 1194, 1196-97, 10 L.Ed.2d 215 (1963), by failing to learn the identity of the informant whose tip led police to arrest him and by not disclosing the informant's criminal history; (2) the trial court erred by denying his motion for disclosure of the informant's identity; (3) the trial court abused its discretion by not allowing him to "timely" use a prior statement of the arresting officer for impeachment purposes; and (4) the trial court abused its discretion by overruling his objection to the prosecutor's jury argument during the punishment phase of trial. After review, for the reasons set forth herein, we affirm Coleman's conviction, but we reverse and remand for a new trial on punishment.

BACKGROUND

I. Coleman's Efforts to Learn About the Informant Pre-Trial

A grand jury indicted Coleman for possession of methamphetamine in an amount of four or more grams but less than 200 grams, a second-degree felony. See Tex. Health & Safety Code Ann. §§ 481.102(6), .115(a), (d). The indictment included two enhancement paragraphs that if found true would elevate the statutory range of confinement from two to twenty years to a range of twenty-five years to 99 years or life. Tex. Penal Code Ann. §§ 12.33, 12.42(b).

Before the trial, Coleman learned that what led the arresting officer to Coleman on the day of his arrest was a tip from an informant. As a result, Coleman filed two pretrial motions in an attempt to learn the identity of the informant. First, Coleman filed a request for discovery pursuant to Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 39.14. See Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Ann. art. 39.14. Second, Coleman filed a motion seeking the disclosure of the identity of the informant. After conducting a hearing regarding Coleman's disclosure motion, the trial court held an in camera hearing with the arresting officer to determine whether the State should be required to disclose the informant's identity. After the in camera hearing, the trial court sent a letter to the parties in which it ruled that the State was not required to disclose the identity of the informant. In the letter, the trial court expressed that because the informant was not at the scene when the arresting officer apprehended Coleman and discovered the methamphetamine, the informant could not provide any information or testimony that would go to the determination of whether Coleman possessed the methamphetamine. The trial *629court also stated in the letter that "[a]t the time the [tip] was provided[,] the informant did not have any criminal charges pending[,] to the [arresting officer's] knowledge, but [the informant] has from time to time had criminal cases."

After receiving this letter ruling, Coleman filed a third discovery motion asking for production of any materials "pertaining to the Confidential Informant that was utilized, relied on[,] or referenced to in this cause." Coleman claimed that he was entitled to this information under Brady , 373 U.S. at 87, 83 S. Ct. at 1196-97. The trial court denied Coleman's third motion before trial.

II. Trial Proceedings

A. Detective Fitzgerald Testifies.

At trial, Detective Craig Fitzgerald with the City of Denton Police Department testified that on March 24, 2015, he received a phone call from an informant who told him that Coleman was in possession of methamphetamine. Fitzgerald said he was familiar with Coleman because he had both received information about him and made personal contact with him in the past. Regarding the informant's tip, Fitzgerald stated that the informant told him where Coleman was and that he was riding a bicycle and was in possession of methamphetamine. According to Detective Fitzgerald, based on this information, he proceeded in his unmarked police cruiser to Saint Andrews Church in Denton, which he knew served meals to the homeless. Fitzgerald testified that when he arrived, he saw Coleman getting off his bicycle. By Fitzgerald's account, Coleman began to walk away, but Fitzgerald caught up to him and asked him what he was doing. Fitzgerald said that Coleman appeared nervous and fidgety.

Detective Fitzgerald testified that he told Coleman he had received a tip that Coleman was carrying methamphetamine. Coleman denied this claim but, according to Fitzgerald, began to sweat, became even more nervous, and shifted from side to side. Fitzgerald said that he asked Coleman if he would empty his pockets, and Coleman did so, emptying his pockets onto the hood of Fitzgerald's cruiser. Among the items that Coleman allegedly placed on the hood was a SunMaid raisin box. Fitzgerald stated that he then opened Coleman's raisin box and saw what he believed to be "a lot" of methamphetamine. At that point, Fitzgerald's partner2 arrived, and they arrested Coleman. Both initial field testing and later laboratory testing confirmed the substance to be almost twenty-one grams of methamphetamine.

During cross-examination, defense counsel asked Detective Fitzgerald about the informant. Fitzgerald averred that he knew the informant for more than twenty years and found the informant credible. When asked whether "[d]uring that period of time" the informant had a "criminal history," Fitzgerald stated that he did not recall. Defense counsel then asked Fitzgerald whether he was saying that he did not know if "this person ha[d] any criminal history?" Fitzgerald answered, "I don't know if they've been arrested. I know recently they've been arrested, but I don't know if they've been arrested prior to that." Detective Fitzgerald then stated that he believed the informant's recent arrest involved narcotics. Fitzgerald said that the informant was a person who was not paid for information and was not "working off [a] case[ ]." He also said that he did not ask the informant how the *630informant knew that Coleman possessed methamphetamine.

B. Coleman Testifies.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
577 S.W.3d 623, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/coleman-v-state-texapp-2019.