Dywan Brooks v. State

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 15, 2016
Docket09-15-00291-CR
StatusPublished

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Bluebook
Dywan Brooks v. State, (Tex. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinion

In The

Court of Appeals Ninth District of Texas at Beaumont ____________________ NO. 09-15-00290-CR NO. 09-15-00291-CR NO. 09-15-00292-CR NO. 09-15-00293-CR ____________________

DYWAN BROOKS, Appellant

V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

On Appeal from the 253rd District Court Liberty County, Texas Trial Cause Nos. CR31009, CR31010, CR31011, and CR31012

MEMORANDUM OPINION

After the trial court denied his motion to suppress evidence, appellant

Dywan Brooks (Brooks) pleaded guilty to one count of evading arrest, one count

of tampering with evidence, and two counts of possession of at least one gram but

less than four ounces of a controlled substance. The trial court found the evidence

supported a finding of guilt on all counts and assessed punishment on each count at

1 twenty years’ confinement, with the sentences to run concurrently. Brooks raises

three issues on appeal. We affirm the trial court’s judgments.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Brooks was indicted for one count of evading arrest, one count of tampering

with evidence, and two counts of possession of at least one gram but less than four

grams of a controlled substance. See Tex. Penal Code Ann. §§ 37.09(a), (c)

38.04(a), (b)(1), (West Supp. 2015); Tex. Health & Safety Code Ann. § 481.115(c)

(West 2010).1 The indictment included enhancements for prior convictions. See

Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 12.42 (West Supp. 2015). On or about April 8, 2015,

Brooks filed a motion to suppress, which alleged, in relevant part, that Brooks

. . . was pulled over without reasonable suspicion for an alleged unsafe lane change in violation of the Texas Traffic Code and changing lanes prior to one hundred feet of intersection. As to the unsafe lane change, the officer does not state any specific traffic code violation nor ticket Mr. Brooks for it. Furthermore, changing lanes 100 feet prior to the intersection is not a violation in Texas, nor did the officer ticket Mr. Brooks for it.

The motion further argued that, because the officer who made the stop “did not

have reasonable suspicion that Mr. Brooks violated a traffic offense[,] the evidence

in this matter must be suppressed.” The trial court conducted a hearing on the

1 We cite to the current version of statutes in this opinion inasmuch as any amendments subsequent to the date of the offense do not affect our analysis of this case. 2 motion on July 6-7, 2015. At the hearing on the motion to suppress, the State

presented testimony from four witnesses. The trial court also heard arguments from

the State and from Brooks. Thereafter, the trial court denied the motion to

suppress.

Testimony of Deputy Taylor Wells

Liberty County Sheriff’s Deputy Taylor Wells (Wells) testified that he was

on duty on March 27, 2014, working “high drug volume[] areas.” He stated that he

works in the Criminal Interdiction Unit, and he agreed that, on that date, he was by

himself and he was “out looking for drug activity[.]”

Wells testified that Brooks was driving westbound in the middle lane on

Highway 90, another vehicle was slightly behind Brooks in the right lane, and

Wells was about four-to-five car lengths behind Brooks. Wells saw Brooks use a

turn signal and pull into an Exxon station just past the intersection of Highway 90

and Bowie Street, and that in the process, Brooks cut off the vehicle in the right

lane. According to Wells, both drivers had to slam on their brakes to keep from

hitting one another. Wells agreed that he regarded Brooks’s lane change from the

middle lane and across the right lane as unsafe and that Brooks’s car could have

collided with the vehicle in the right lane.

3 Wells explained that, after he observed Brooks’s actions, Wells slowed

down, turned on the emergency lights, and followed Brooks onto the Exxon

property in an attempt to stop Brooks. He also stated that he had to make “an

evasive lane change” himself in order to get behind Brooks to make the traffic

stop. After both his vehicle and Brooks’s vehicle were stopped, a woman exited

Brooks’s vehicle and was trying to go into the Exxon station, and Wells called out

to her and told her that she needed to come back to the car. Wells testified that he

found it “extremely suspicious[]” that a person got out of a vehicle he had just

stopped. Wells stated that “[t]ypically when something like that happens, it leads

[him] to believe . . . something suspicious is going on and perhaps they’re trying to

hide something or get rid of something. It definitely raised [his] suspicion as to the

chain of events.”

Wells further explained that he identified himself to Brooks and stated to

Brooks the reason for the stop. Wells was talking with Brooks while Brooks was

still seated inside of Brooks’s vehicle. At that time, Wells observed “in plain view,

in the cup holder, a plastic bag that had been tied-up with a crystalline-like

substance that [Wells] believed to be methamphetamine.” According to Wells,

when he observed the bag, he asked Brooks to step out of the vehicle. Wells

explained that he believed the substance in the bag was methamphetamine based

4 on his training, experience, and involvement with methamphetamine

investigations. Wells testified that he asked Brooks what was in the bag in the

center console of his car. Wells explained that Brooks then “reached in, in between

[Wells] and the car, grabbed the bag, held it directly in front of [Wells’s] face and

took off running.”

Wells testified that Brooks ran north and that Wells “continued to chase

[Brooks] on foot continuously yelling to stop.” Wells said he lost his footing and

fell when crossing some train tracks, but he then continued to chase Brooks and

eventually caught Brooks. Wells explained to the court that, as a result of his fall,

he received a three-inch laceration to one leg, his badge bent in half, and his

ballistic vest ripped. According to Wells, once he fell on the train tracks, he was

able to use his radio to call for assistance and other deputies also arrived. On cross-

examination, Wells said that when Deputy Young arrived, Young told Wells that

they were “hot,” meaning the events were then being recorded. Wells denied

searching Brooks at that time, and Wells explained that after he had put Brooks in

hand restraints and other deputies had arrived, he retraced his steps and located “a

clear plastic baggie with a crystalline-like substance” that he believed was

methamphetamine.

5 Wells testified that the video camera in his vehicle was not operating at that

time, and there was no video of the events leading up to his interaction with

Brooks at the Exxon station. On cross-examination, Wells agreed he had asked the

Exxon station for surveillance video and that he had received a copy, but Wells

could not “recall exactly” whether he obtained video from the store clerk on the

day of the incident because, at the time, he was “still dazed and confused from

hitting the train tracks[.]” On redirect, Wells admitted he was mistaken about

having acquired recordings of video surveillance cameras at the Exxon property.

Wells agreed that his report of the incident, written four days after the

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