Daniel v. State

547 S.W.3d 230
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 10, 2017
DocketNo. 11-15-00059-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 547 S.W.3d 230 (Daniel 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
Daniel v. State, 547 S.W.3d 230 (Tex. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

MIKE WILLSON, JUSTICE

The jury convicted Debra Vinson Daniel of the offense of driving while intoxicated.1 The trial court assessed Appellant's punishment at ninety days in the county jail, probated for a term of twelve months, and imposed a $500 fine. On appeal, Appellant asserts three issues. We affirm.

I. The Charged Offense

The State charged Appellant, by information, with the offense of driving while intoxicated (DWI). The State later amended the information to drop the allegation that Appellant was intoxicated because she had a blood-alcohol concentration of 0.08 or greater. The State added the allegation that Appellant was intoxicated "by loss of use of her normal mental and physical faculties by reason of the introduction of alcohol, a controlled substance, a drug, a dangerous drug, or a combination of two *235or more of those substances, or any other substance, into her body."

To obtain a conviction for DWI, the State must prove that the defendant operated a motor vehicle in a public place while intoxicated. PENAL § 49.04(a). "Intoxicated" means that the person does not have the normal use of his or her mental faculties because of taking into his or her body alcohol, drugs, a dangerous drug or controlled substance, or a combination of those, or any other substance. PENAL § 49.01(2). Appellant pleaded "[n]ot guilty" to that charged offense and proceeded to trial.

II. Evidence at Trial

As Laura and Andrew Dunlap drove their vehicle on Highway 83 in Stonewall County, they saw Appellant drive erratically and weave across both lanes of traffic at seventy-five to eighty miles per hour before she drove off the road, drove through a fence, struck a culvert, and then struck a telephone pole. The Dunlaps called 9-1-1 and reported Appellant's single-vehicle accident. Sheila Faye Harrison, a deputy with the Stonewall County Sheriff's Department, was the first officer on the scene. A short time later, Sheriff Bill Mullen and his wife, Stephenia Mullen, arrived to assist Deputy Harrison. Sheriff Mullen worked to secure the telephone pole that Appellant had hit. The pole was leaning, and he was worried about the lines breaking and the telephone pole falling.

Shortly after Sheriff Mullen and his wife arrived at the scene, Brandon Craig Tidmore, a trooper with the Texas Department of Public Safety, arrived. Trooper Tidmore spoke with Appellant, and she denied drinking any alcohol that day. However, Appellant did tell Trooper Tidmore that she was taking several prescription medications. Trooper Tidmore also testified that he observed that Appellant was crying, that she was unsteady on her feet, and that her speech was slow and slurred. When Trooper Tidmore asked for Appellant's driver's license, she told him that it was in her vehicle. Trooper Tidmore then went to get Appellant's driver's license from her vehicle because he "had to work the crash." Before Trooper Tidmore went to Appellant's vehicle, Sherriff Mullen explained that he had already gone to the vehicle because he wanted to "gather[ ] up [Appellant's] belongings" before her vehicle was towed.

Sheriff Mullen took several prescription medication bottles from the floorboard and the glove compartment of the vehicle and placed them inside Appellant's purse. Trooper Tidmore took photographs of all of Appellant's prescription medication bottles-including the ones found by Sheriff Mullen in Appellant's glove compartment-prior to the time that he arrested Appellant. Afterward, Trooper Tidmore attempted to perform a horizontal gaze nystagmus test, which is a field-sobriety test, on Appellant, but he stopped after the third attempt because she stumbled and he felt that it would not be safe to continue. Trooper Tidmore arrested Appellant for the offense of driving while intoxicated.

III. Issues Presented

In her first issue, Appellant argues that the trial court erred when it denied her motion to suppress evidence. In her second issue, which has two parts, she argues that the evidence at trial was insufficient to support her conviction and contends that the trial court erred when it failed to include a jury instruction in accordance with *236Article 38.23(a) of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure.2 In her third and final issue, Appellant argues that the trial court erred when it admitted lay opinion testimony in violation of Texas Rules of Evidence 701 and 702.3

IV. Analysis

We will first address Appellant's sufficiency-of-the evidence complaint. Afterward, we will address her motion to suppress. Then, we will address her Article 38.23 complaint and, finally, her third issue in which she complains about the admission of lay opinion testimony by three witnesses.

A. Issue Two, Part One: The State adduced sufficient evidence that Appellant, while in Stonewall County, committed the offense of driving while intoxicated.

The standard of review for sufficiency of the evidence is whether any rational jury could have found Appellant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson v. Virginia , 443 U.S. 307, 318, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979) ; Brooks v. State , 323 S.W.3d 893, 912 (Tex. Crim. App. 2010) ; Hooper v. State , 214 S.W.3d 9, 13 (Tex. Crim. App. 2007). We review the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict and determine whether any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt. Jackson , 443 U.S. at 319, 99 S.Ct. 2781 ; Isassi v. State , 330 S.W.3d 633, 638 (Tex. Crim. App. 2010). The trier of fact may believe all, some, or none of a witness's testimony because the factfinder is the sole judge of the weight and credibility of the witnesses. Sharp v. State , 707 S.W.2d 611, 614 (Tex. Crim. App. 1986) ; Isham v. State , 258 S.W.3d 244, 248 (Tex. App.-Eastland 2008, pet. ref'd).

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Bluebook (online)
547 S.W.3d 230, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/daniel-v-state-texapp-2017.