Daryl Wayne Alexander v. State

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 15, 2010
Docket01-09-00300-CR
StatusPublished

This text of Daryl Wayne Alexander v. State (Daryl Wayne Alexander 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
Daryl Wayne Alexander v. State, (Tex. Ct. App. 2010).

Opinion

Opinion issued April 15, 2010

In The

Court of Appeals

For The

First District of Texas


NO. 01-09-00300-CR


DARYL WAYNE ALEXANDER, Appellant

V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee


On Appeal from the 174th District Court

Harris County, Texas

Trial Court Cause No. 1189119


MEMORANDUM OPINION

          A jury convicted Daryl Wayne Alexander of the state jail felony of possession of a controlled substance, cocaine, weighing less than one gram.  See Tex. Health & Safety Code Ann. §§ 481.102(3)(D), 481.115(a)–(b) (Vernon Supp. 2009).  The trial court assessed punishment at two years’ confinement pursuant to Alexander’s agreement with the State.  On appeal, Alexander contends that (1) the State failed to present legally and factually sufficient evidence that Alexander possessed the cocaine; (2) the trial court erred in denying Alexander’s motion to suppress evidence because the cocaine was not in plain view and the arresting officers unreasonably believed that Alexander possessed cocaine at the time of arrest; and (3) the trial court erred in denying Alexander’s proposed article 38.23 jury instruction.  We conclude that (1) sufficient evidence supports the jury’s verdict, (2) the trial court did not err in denying the motion to suppress, and (3) Alexander waived his complaint about the jury charge.  We therefore affirm.

Background

On October 25, 2008, Houston Police Department Officers McNichols, Williams, and Sampson patrolled downtown Houston on bicycle.  Around eight o’clock in the evening, Officer McNichols saw Alexander’s car parked under the Pierce Elevated section of Interstate 45.  McNichols noticed that the passenger side door was slightly open, the driver’s side window was rolled down about six inches, and the two passengers, Alexander and Jack Hill, had angled their heads toward the middle of the car.  Because this area is known for its drug and prostitution problem, McNichols decided to investigate further.

McNichols testified that it was not yet dark outside when he noticed the vehicle, and the remaining natural light combined with the artificial lighting under the bridge of the Pierce Elevated allowed him to see “very well.”  While still on his bicycle, he pulled up to Alexander’s car, leaned against the door, and saw that Alexander, sitting in the passenger’s seat, and Hill, in the driver’s seat, each held what appeared to be a small rock of crack cocaine.  McNichols then called to Officers Williams and Sampson, who had ridden several feet ahead while McNichols stopped at Alexander’s car, and asked them to bring their flashlights.  Officer Sampson used his flashlight and Officer Williams used the light mounted on his bicycle to look into Alexander’s car, and all three officers observed Alexander and Hill looking down at the cocaine rocks in their hands.  At this point, Alexander and Hill noticed the flashlights and the officers outside the car.  After the officers removed both men from the vehicle, Hill admitted that the rocks were crack cocaine that he had bought down the street and he was splitting them with Alexander.  The rocks all field-tested positive for cocaine.  Criminalist James Miller testified that he later confirmed that the substance was cocaine, and the rocks held by Hill and Alexander weighed 0.05 and 0.07 grams, respectively.  Miller also stated that he labeled the bag containing the smaller quantity with an “A” and the bag containing the larger quantity, a rock which was broken into two pieces, with a “B.”  The trial court admitted both bags of cocaine into evidence.

McNichols testified that although he encountered Alexander and Hill around eight o’clock in the evening, there was still enough light to see into the vehicle and he asked his fellow officers for their flashlights only to “get a better view.”  McNichols also stated that he had “seen crack cocaine before” and thus suspected that the substance was cocaine, but he could not be positive until the officers performed a field test.  Officer Williams testified that, at the time, the only available light was from the streetlights under the Pierce Elevated.  He initially stated that was able to see into Alexander’s vehicle without the aid of a flashlight; however, on cross-examination, he conceded that additional lights beyond the streetlights were necessary to see inside the car.

After the State rested, Alexander moved for an instructed verdict on the grounds that the State failed to prove which of the two bags of cocaine Alexander possessed.  The trial court allowed the State to recall Officer McNichols, who testified that he took the cocaine from Hill, placed it in a piece of paper, and kept that rock separate from the rocks taken from Alexander until Officer Williams placed the rocks into the two separate bags at the narcotics room.  According to McNichols, the bag Miller labeled with a “B,” which held 0.07 grams of cocaine, contained the cocaine taken from Alexander.  McNichols recognized it because that bag contained two pieces of cocaine and Alexander held two rocks at the time of his arrest.  The trial court denied Alexander’s motion for an instructed verdict.

Alexander called Jack Hill to testify on his behalf.  Hill testified that he was walking up the street when he saw Alexander’s car parked under the Pierce Elevated and recognized Alexander sitting inside.  According to Hill, he showed Alexander the cocaine but never intended to share any of it, and Alexander only took possession of a rock after they noticed the officers standing outside the car.  Hill also testified that the windows of the car were tinted, the driver’s side window was closed, minimal artificial lighting existed under the Pierce Elevated, and one could see “very, very little” inside the car without the aid of a flashlight. 

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