Curtis v. State

519 S.W.2d 883, 1975 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 882
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 12, 1975
Docket49520
StatusPublished
Cited by80 cases

This text of 519 S.W.2d 883 (Curtis v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Curtis v. State, 519 S.W.2d 883, 1975 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 882 (Tex. 1975).

Opinion

OPINION

MORRISON, Judge.

The offense is possession of marihuana; the punishment, four years.

Initially, appellant claims the evidence is insufficient to support his conviction.

The record reflects that upon entering appellant’s Austin apartment, pursuant to a search warrant, officers heard loud music and smelled marihuana. Upon entering the living room, they saw appellant and four others seated in a circle on the living room floor. A manila envelope containing marihuana, as well as an ashtray containing a marihuana cigarette butt, was found near the center of the circle. They discovered a sixth person, Millerdean Brooks, asleep in a bedroom. The officers found a small baggie of marihuana and some cigarette papers in a sport jacket in the closet of that bedroom. Officers also recovered some envelopes addressed to appellant at a Fort Worth address in that bedroom, as well as envelopes addressed to Brooks. In the kitchen the officers retrieved two marihuana butts and four small tinfoil wrappers containing traces of heroin from a trash can. On a counter in the kitchen, they located a small manila envelope, which was not introduced into evidence, containing marihuana particles.

One of the officers testified that the apartment had been under surveillance for approximately two days before the execution of the warrant. He and another officer testified that they observed between five and ten people enter and leave the premises within three hours prior to the execution of the warrant. Further testimony indicated appellant arrived at the apartment a half hour to an hour before the officers executed the warrant.

Another officer testified that the apartment was sparsely furnished and that the bedroom in which Brooks was found was the only one which contained furniture, except for “a few pieces — a couple of lamps . some stereo equipment . . . ” in other parts of the apartment.

The manager of the apartment where the arrest occurred testified that appellant, who represented Brooks as his wife, rented the apartment under the assumed name of William Johnson.

Department of Public Safety Chemist John McCutcheon testified that he analyzed the suspected contraband recovered from appellant’s apartment and determined that it totaled %o of a gram of marihuana. He also stated that the tinfoils contained traces of heroin and 0.3 grams of quinine.

An accused may with another or others jointly possess dangerous drugs or narcotics. Simpson v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 486 S.W.2d 807; Evans v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 456 S.W.2d 911; King v. State, 169 Tex.Cr.R. 34, 335 S.W.2d 378. Mere presence, however, at a place where narcotics or dangerous drugs are being used or possessed by others does not in itself justify a finding of joint possession. Hicks v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 489 S.W.2d 912; Adair v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 482 S.W.2d 247; Culmore v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 447 S.W.2d 915.

The State must show that (a) the appellant exercised, either singularly or jointly, care, custody, control and management over the contraband and (b) that he knew the object he possessed was contraband. The evidence must affirmatively link the accused to the contraband in such a manner that a reasonable inference arises that the accused knew of its existence and whereabouts. Hineline v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 502 S.W.2d 705; Powell v. *886 State, Tex.Cr.App., 502 S.W.2d 705; Williams v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 498 S.W.2d 340. This affirmative link is established by showing facts and circumstances which indicate the accused’s knowledge and control of the contraband. Williams v. State, supra; Powell v. State, supra; Alba v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 492 S.W.2d 555.

The evidence in the case at bar is sufficient to link appellant with the contraband found in the bedroom closet where Brooks was sleeping. Appellant, representing Brooks as his wife, rented the apartment. The manager testified that he lived there and that she was present when he moved in. Letters addressed to both the appellant and Brooks by name were found in that bedroom. The contraband was found in a sport jacket in a closet of that room. One of the officers testified that this bedroom was the only room which contained any significant furniture.

In oral argument before this Court, appellant’s counsel placed great reliance upon Hernandez v. State, 517 S.W.2d 782 (Tex.Cr.App.1975). In that case the defendant’s cousin testified that the night in question was the first that defendant had ever spent in the apartment and that the paraphernalia belonged to her and another person and that she had pleaded guilty to the charges arising out of the incident. There was additional testimony concerning needle marks, but the testimony did not reflect whether any fresh tracks were found on the defendant. This Court reversed the conviction for possession of narcotic paraphernalia and concluded that the evidence did not reflect an affirmative link between the paraphernalia and the defendant, and that the defendant’s mere proximity to the prohibited paraphernalia was insufficient to prove the fact that he possessed it. In the case at bar, however, the record affirmatively reflects the defendant’s control and management of the apartment.

Appellant’s second ground of error challenges the sufficiency of the search warrant affidavit, as well as the introduction of the marihuana, the tinfoil, and one of the envelopes addressed to Brooks. An examination of the affidavit fails to support appellant’s contention that the affidavit does not meet the requirements of Aguilar v. Texas, 378 U.S. 108, 84 S.Ct. 1509, 12 L.Ed.2d 723. Under Aguilar, an affidavit for a search warrant based on hearsay information must set forth two elements. First, the magistrate must be informed of some of the underlying circumstances from which the informant concluded that the narcotics were where he claimed they were, and, secondly, that he be informed of some of the underlying circumstances from which the affiant concluded that the informant was credible and his information reliable.

The pertinent portion of the affidavit recites:

“ . . . affiant has received information from a reliable and credible source that William C. Curtis C/M 1/28/44 and other person or persons unknown to source by name, age or description, are keeping for the purpose of sale, a narcotic drug, to-wit: heroin, at the above described residence. My source has told me that he has been present during the past 48 hours and has seen William C. Curtis C/M selling heroin by the hit and one half gram.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
519 S.W.2d 883, 1975 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 882, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/curtis-v-state-texcrimapp-1975.