Edward Gene Moody Jr. v. the State of Texas

CourtTexas Court of Appeals, 2nd District (Fort Worth)
DecidedJanuary 30, 2026
Docket02-25-00119-CR
StatusPublished

This text of Edward Gene Moody Jr. v. the State of Texas (Edward Gene Moody Jr. v. the State of Texas) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Texas Court of Appeals, 2nd District (Fort Worth) primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Edward Gene Moody Jr. v. the State of Texas, (Tex. Ct. App. 2026).

Opinion

In the Court of Appeals Second Appellate District of Texas at Fort Worth ___________________________

No. 02-25-00119-CR ___________________________

EDWARD GENE MOODY JR., Appellant

V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS

On Appeal from the 297th District Court Tarrant County, Texas Trial Court No. 1838738

Before Sudderth, C.J.; Kerr and Birdwell, JJ. Memorandum Opinion by Justice Birdwell MEMORANDUM OPINION

Appellant Edward Gene Moody Jr. appeals his conviction for driving while

intoxicated (DWI) third or more. See Tex. Penal Code Ann. §§ 49.04, 49.09(b)(2). In

two issues, he argues (1) that the trial court erred by denying his motion to suppress

evidence related to his blood draw because the search warrant for the blood draw was

based on an affidavit that failed to establish probable cause and (2) that the evidence

was insufficient to establish the two jurisdictional prior DWI convictions.

Because we conclude (1) that the magistrate had a substantial basis for

determining that probable cause existed and (2) that the evidence sufficiently

established the two jurisdictional priors, we affirm.

I. Background

In August 2024, Moody was involved in a major accident with another vehicle.

Mansfield Police Officer Nicholas Barlette responded to the scene and identified

Moody as the driver of one of the vehicles. Moody had struck the back of the other

vehicle while it was stopped at a temporary construction-signal light.

When he arrived on scene, Officer Barlette heard from another officer and one

of the fire department “guys” on scene that they had smelled alcohol coming from

Moody. And a few witnesses reported that they had seen Moody throwing beer cans

into the nearby ditch. When Officer Barlette approached Moody, he smelled a strong

odor of alcohol on Moody’s breath. Moody told him that he had had only two

2 24-ounce beers, which he “stuck with” throughout the encounter. Officer Barlette

opined that Moody was cordial and cooperative with him.

As he spoke with Moody, Officer Barlette located the beer cans that had been

thrown into the ditch next to Moody’s vehicle. Moody admitted that he had thrown

the cans into the ditch and that two of them were his. Officer Barlette then found

more beer cans inside the vehicle. He asked Moody for his consent to perform

standardized field sobriety tests (SFSTs), and Moody complied. Based on the results

of the SFSTs and on Officer Barlette’s overall observations, Officer Barlette

determined that Moody was intoxicated and arrested him for DWI.

Officer Barlette subsequently requested Moody’s consent to draw his blood,

and he refused to sign the consent form for a blood draw. Officer Barlette then

prepared an affidavit and a search warrant for the blood draw, had the warrant signed

by a magistrate, and took Moody to the hospital for a nurse to collect the blood

sample, which was sent for a blood-alcohol test. Moody’s blood-alcohol concentration

was 0.163.

Moody was charged with DWI felony repetition. 1 Before trial, he filed a motion

to suppress the blood-draw evidence, asserting that the search-warrant affidavit

prepared by Officer Barlette failed to show that his blood “would contain evidence of

DWI or that [he] committed DWI.” The trial court heard the motion and denied it,

1 The indictment also included a habitual offender notice, which Moody does not challenge on appeal.

3 allowing the evidence to be admitted at trial. The trial court also allowed the State to

admit—over Moody’s objections—evidence of Moody’s two jurisdictional priors: a

1995 DWI conviction and a 2022 DWI second conviction.

After hearing all the evidence, the jury found Moody guilty, and the trial court

sentenced him to forty years’ confinement. Moody timely appealed.

II. Motion to Suppress

In his first issue, Moody argues that the trial court erred by denying his motion

to suppress the evidence of his blood draw. He contends that the search-warrant

affidavit failed to establish probable cause that his blood “would contain evidence of

intoxication.” We disagree.

A. Standard of Review and Applicable Law

The police may obtain a defendant’s blood for a DWI investigation through a

search warrant. Farhat v. State, 337 S.W.3d 302, 305 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth 2011,

pet. ref’d). The search warrant cannot issue unless it is based on probable cause that

evidence of that offense will be found through the execution of the warrant. Hyland v.

State, 574 S.W.3d 904, 910 (Tex. Crim. App. 2019); Farhat, 337 S.W.3d at 306.

Probable cause to support the issuance of a search warrant exists when, under

the totality of the circumstances, there is a fair probability that evidence of a crime will

be found at a particular location. State v. Baldwin, 664 S.W.3d 122, 130 (Tex. Crim.

App. 2022). This is not a demanding standard. Id. A search-warrant affidavit must be

read in a commonsense and realistic manner, and a magistrate may draw reasonable

4 inferences from the facts and circumstances contained in the four corners of the

affidavit. Martin v. State, 620 S.W.3d 749, 763 (Tex. Crim. App. 2021); see also State v.

Elrod, 538 S.W.3d 551, 556 (Tex. Crim. App. 2017) (“[T]he magistrate’s determination

of probable cause must be based on the facts contained within the four corners of the

affidavit.”).

Ordinarily, we apply a bifurcated standard of review to a trial court’s ruling on a

motion to suppress evidence. State v. Martinez, 570 S.W.3d 278, 281 (Tex. Crim. App.

2019). But when reviewing a magistrate’s determination of probable cause to issue a

search warrant, we apply a highly deferential standard of review because of the Fourth

Amendment’s strong preference for searches conducted pursuant to a warrant over

warrantless searches. State v. McLain, 337 S.W.3d 268, 271–72 (Tex. Crim. App. 2011);

see also Baldwin, 664 S.W.3d at 130 (“[R]eviewing courts give great deference to a

magistrate’s probable[-]cause determination to encourage police officers to use the

warrant process.”). We will uphold the probable-cause determination “so long as the

magistrate had a ‘substantial basis for . . . conclud[ing]’ that a search would uncover

evidence of wrongdoing.” Illinois v. Gates, 462 U.S. 213, 236, 103 S. Ct. 2317, 2331

(1983) (quoting Jones v. United States, 362 U.S. 257, 271, 80 S. Ct. 725, 736 (1960),

overruled on other grounds by United States v. Salvucci, 448 U.S. 83, 100 S. Ct. 2547 (1980));

see Swearingen v. State, 143 S.W.3d 808, 811 (Tex. Crim. App. 2004) (applying Gates

standard of review).

5 In our review, we are limited to the four corners of the affidavit. Martin, 620

S.W.3d at 766 n.24. Our duty is simply to ensure that the magistrate had a substantial

basis for determining from the facts and circumstances contained in the affidavit that

probable cause existed.

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Related

Jones v. United States
362 U.S. 257 (Supreme Court, 1960)
Jackson v. Virginia
443 U.S. 307 (Supreme Court, 1979)
United States v. Salvucci
448 U.S. 83 (Supreme Court, 1980)
Illinois v. Gates
462 U.S. 213 (Supreme Court, 1983)
Swearingen v. State
143 S.W.3d 808 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2004)
Hooper v. State
214 S.W.3d 9 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2007)
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220 S.W.3d 919 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2007)
Hogan v. State
329 S.W.3d 90 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2010)
Farhat v. State
337 S.W.3d 302 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2011)
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State v. Neesley
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