Dyar v. State

125 S.W.3d 460, 2003 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 74, 2003 WL 1917729
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 23, 2003
Docket1794-01
StatusPublished
Cited by161 cases

This text of 125 S.W.3d 460 (Dyar 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
Dyar v. State, 125 S.W.3d 460, 2003 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 74, 2003 WL 1917729 (Tex. 2003).

Opinions

PRICE, J.,

delivered the opinion of the Court,

in which MEYERS, WOMACK, JOHNSON, HOLCOMB, and COCHRAN, JJ., joined.

The issue on this appeal is whether the appellant’s warrantless arrest was made while the appellant was in a “suspicious place” and therefore, authorized under Article 14.03(a)(1) of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. The appellant was charged with driving while intoxicated. Before trial, the appellant moved to suppress the blood specimen, asserting that it was obtained pursuant to an illegal arrest. After a pre-trial hearing, the trial court denied the motion and the appellant entered a plea of nob contendere. The Third Court of Appeals held that the arrest was legal and that the blood specimen taken pursuant to that arrest was untainted. Dyar v. State, 59 S.W.3d 713, 717 (Tex.App.-Austin 2001). We affirm.

FACTS

The appellant was in a one-car accident in Smithville, Texas, around midnight on New Year’s Eve, 2000. The appellant, the lone occupant of the vehicle, was taken to Smithville Hospital before the police responded to the accident scene. After arriving at the scene of the accident, Trooper Thompson observed that the appellant’s vehicle had left the road and landed upside down. Trooper Thompson went to the hospital emergency room to speak with the appellant about the accident. The appellant told the trooper that he had been partying in Austin for New Year’s Eve and [462]*462was attempting to drive back to Houston. The appellant admitted to drinking alcohol and driving. The trooper noticed that the appellant had slurred speech, red glassy-eyes, a strong smell of alcohol, and that many of the appellant’s answers were unintelligible.

Based on the above information, coupled with the details of the accident, Trooper Thompson believed that he had established probable cause. Trooper Thompson read the appellant his Miranda warnings and the DWI statutory warning and arrested the appellant for driving while intoxicated. The appellant consented to providing a sample of his blood.

The appellant was charged by information with driving while intoxicated. The appellant moved to suppress the blood specimen, claiming that it was obtained pursuant to an illegal arrest. The trial court denied the appellant’s motion finding that, due to the facts and circumstances known to Trooper Thompson on that night, it was reasonable to conclude that the appellant had committed a breach of the peace. See Tex.Code Crim. Proc. art. 14.08(a)(1).

The appellant entered a plea of nolo contendere. The trial court sentenced the appellant to 180 days confinement in the county jail, but suspended the sentence and placed the appellant on community supervision for two years. The trial court ordered the appellant to pay a $750 fine, to pay restitution of $64.92, and to perform 100 hours of community service.

On appeal, the appellant noted that Article 14.03(a)(1) permits the warrantless arrest only of persons found in “suspicious places.” Dyar v. State, 59 S.W.3d 713, 715 (Tex.App.-Austin 2001). The appellant argued that the hospital where he was arrested is not a “suspicious place.” Ibid. Under the totality of the circumstances test, the Third Court Appeals found that the accident scene coupled with Trooper Thompson’s observations at the hospital constituted the “suspicious place” leading to the appellant’s lawful arrest. Id. at 717.

DISCUSSION

Generally, a trial court’s ruling on a motion to suppress is reviewed under an abuse of discretion standard. Maddox v. State, 682 S.W.2d 563, 564 (Tex.Crim. App.1985). However, the instant case presents us with a question of law based on undisputed facts, thus we perform a de novo review. Guzman v. State, 955 S.W.2d 85, 89 (Tex.Crim.App.1997).

The appellant claims that the Court of Appeals erred when it held that the appellant’s warrantless arrest was authorized by Article 14.03(a)(1) of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. The article in question provides in part:

a) any peace officer may arrest, without warrant:
1) persons found in suspicious places and under circumstances which reasonably show that such persons have been guilty of some felony, violation of Title 9, Chapter 42, Penal Code, breach of the peace, or offense under Section 49.02, Penal Code, or threaten, or are about to commit some offense against the laws.

Tex.Code Crim. Proc. art. 14.03(a)(1). Specifically, the appellant argues that the hospital where he was arrested was not a suspicious place under the above Article. Moreover, the appellant claims that the courts, in interpreting the above Article, have not given meaning to “suspicious places.”

The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution imposes certain requirements upon arrests and other “seizures” of the person. George E. Dix & Robert O. Dawson, 40 Texas Practice § 7.11, at 443 (2d ed.2001). But there is [463]*463no general requirement of a warrant, and there is nothing in the United States Supreme Court’s prior case law indicating that, under the Fourth Amendment, a warrant is required to make a valid arrest. United States v. Watson, 428 U.S. 411, 416-17, 96 S.Ct. 820, 46 L.Ed.2d 598 (1976).

As for- the Texas Constitution, this Court recently stated:

It is our holding that Article I, Section 9 of the Texas Constitution contains no requirement that a seizure or search be authorized by a warrant, and that a seizure or search that is otherwise reasonable will not be found to be in violation of that section because it was not authorized by a warrant.
This is not to say that statutes which require warrants for seizure or search may be ignored. Nor do we say that the issuance of a warrant by a neutral magistrate may not be a factor in the totality of circumstances by which we judge whether a seizure or search was reasonable.

Hulit v. State, 982 S.W.2d 431, 436 (Tex. Crim.App.1998).

Texas statutory law imposes a number of requirements beyond those mandated by the federal constitution. George E. Dix & Robert 0. Dawson, 40 Texas Practice § 7.11, at 444 (2d ed.2001). Most significantly, Texas law imposes a general requirement — subject to exception — that arrests be made pursuant to arrest warrants. Ibid. Because warrant-less arrest are permissible only when authorized by statute, Texas statutory law deals extensively with officers’ power to make warrantless arrests. Ibid.

The Texas Legislature has acknowledged that certain circumstances justify the use of arrest powers even though a warrant has not been issued. Texas courts have interpreted these statutes as requiring that a warrant be obtained before an arrest is made, unless one of the limited statutory exceptions applies. Randall v. State, 656 S.W.2d 487, 490 (Tex. Crim.App.1983).

Chapter Fourteen of the Code of Criminal Procedure provides the authority for most lawful warrantless arrests in Texas.1

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
125 S.W.3d 460, 2003 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 74, 2003 WL 1917729, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dyar-v-state-texcrimapp-2003.