Farmah v. State

789 S.W.2d 665, 1990 Tex. App. LEXIS 990, 1990 WL 57381
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 26, 1990
Docket01-89-00364-CR, 01-88-00834-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 789 S.W.2d 665 (Farmah 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
Farmah v. State, 789 S.W.2d 665, 1990 Tex. App. LEXIS 990, 1990 WL 57381 (Tex. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinions

OPINION

DUNN, Justice.

A jury found appellant guilty of aggravated sexual assault on September 7, 1988 and sentenced him to a 30-year prison term. On September 29, 1988, the court found appellant guilty of aggravated robbery and imposed a five-year prison sentence. The parties stipulated that the trial court would consider all evidence, trial [667]*667records, and exhibits produced from the sexual assault hearing.

On November 25, 1987, in West University Place in Harris County, complainant was accosted at gunpoint by two males who forced her into an automobile, that was driven by a third male. She was raped and robbed by the three males.

In points of error one and two appellant contends that the trial court erred in overruling the motion to suppress the written confession because it was unlawful. Appellant argues that the State did not establish probable cause for the warrantless arrest, nor did it establish satisfactory proof that exigent circumstances made it unnecessary to obtain a warrant.

On appeal, challenges to the voluntariness of a confession generally should be directed to whether the court abused its discretion in one of the findings or whether the court properly applied the law to the facts. Sinegal v. State, 582 S.W.2d 135, 137 (Tex.Crim.App.1979). If the trial court’s findings of fact are supported by the record, this Court’s only inquiry will be whether the trial court improperly applied the law to the facts. Burdine v. State, 719 S.W.2d 309, 318 (Tex.Crim.App.1986), cert. denied, 480 U.S. 940, 107 S.Ct. 1590, 94 L.Ed.2d 779 (1987); Johnson v. State, 698 S.W.2d 154, 159 (Tex.Crim.App.1985), cert. denied, 479 U.S. 871, 107 S.Ct. 239, 93 L.Ed.2d 164 (1986). Because the trial court is the sole trier of fact at a motion to suppress hearing, the Court is not at liberty to disturb any finding which is supported by the record. Green v. State, 615 S.W.2d 700, 707 (Tex.Crim.App.1980), cert. denied, 454 U.S. 952, 102 S.Ct. 490, 70 L.Ed.2d 258 (1981).

More specifically, appellant argues that the State failed to produce the initial arresting officer, Horn, who detained appellant. Appellant also claims that Johnson did not have probable cause to believe appellant was a suspect in the case, nor probable cause to arrest him without a warrant under Tex.Code Crim.P.Ann. art. 14.04 (Vernon Supp.1990). Appellant admits that Johnson may have had “satisfactory proof” that a felony had been committed, but argues that Horn, the initial arresting officer, did not have probable cause to arrest him.

The written confession that appellant complains of is as follows:

A. Last Wednesday I was at Russell’s house when Kiko and James came and asked if they could use my car. I didn’t know them that well, but Russell said they were okay, so I told them I would take them. We went to West University and saw a lady walking down the street. They told me to stop, they wanted to ask the lady something. Before I knew it, they snatched the lady and had her in the car. James was in the back seat holding her down and Kiko was in the front reaching over the back to help James. She was kicking and trying to get her legs out the window. James was holding the gun on her and told her if she didn’t do what he wanted he was going to blow her — ”
Q. (Prosecutor) Read it as it is.
A. He was going to blow her motherfucking head off. We drove around, and James and Kiko went through the purse. Then they started taking off her clothes. Kiko crawled over into the back seat. James put a jacket over her head, and Kiko raped her first. After that, James raped her. Then Kiko switched places with me, and I acted like I was raping her, but I didn’t even put it in. They were watching me so I had to do something, but the jacket was covering me so they couldn’t tell. We took her credit cards and checks and let her out. We gave her purse back. Then we went back to Westheimer.

Appellant and Johnson were the only witnesses to testify at the hearing on the motion to suppress. Appellant testified that he was on Westheimer in front of McDonald’s or Church’s. He was sitting on the back of the car which had broken down. An HPD officer (Horn) pulled up behind him, got out of his car, spoke to him, and then got back into his car. Horn got out a second time, handcuffed him, and placed him in the back of his police car. Not long thereafter, Johnson came and picked him up. Johnson took him to the [668]*668West University police station where he stayed until he signed a statement. Appellant stated that he was driving a 1974 two-door white and maroon Buick with license plate number 783 QVE; that the car was not registered in his name at the time he was taken into custody by the HPD officer; and that there was no way the officer could have known that he had just bought the vehicle.

Johnson testified that he was in charge of investigating a sexual assault which occurred in West University on November 25, 1987. The information available to him was that the complainant was abducted by three black males as she walked down the street; that the three black males raped her repeatedly as they drove through the area; that they robbed the complainant of her money and credit cards; that she did not know their names, nor was she able to give a license plate number of the vehicle; that she gave a description of the automobile, i.e. a used late 60’s or early 70’s model Buick with a white top over a maroon bottom. Johnson stated that on December 3, 1987, he received a call from a United Parcel Service driver (UPS) who said when he heard about the assault, he realized that he had witnessed the abduction of the complainant; that the description given by the driver was consistent with the description given by the complainant; that the driver witnessed two black males force the complainant into the car; and that he recorded the license plate of the automobile which he gave to Johnson. Johnson further testified he felt the information was reliable because it came from a UPS employee and it was consistent with the complainant’s statement. After receiving this information, Johnson stated he ran a registration check on license plate number, 783 QVE, the number he had received from the UPS driver. He found that it was the license number of the Buick described by the UPS driver and the complainant. It was registered to a Joan Mosely. He contacted the registered owner, Mosely, who stated that she sold the vehicle several years before, but did not have the name of the person she sold it to. On receiving this information, Johnson stated that he entered all the information, including the registered owner of the vehicle, into the national crime information center, which distributes information to HPD and all other law enforcement agencies in Harris County.

On December 4, 1987, one day after registering the information with the crime center, an HPD dispatcher contacted him and told him that an HPD officer had reported he had the vehicle and an accompanying person. Johnson then proceeded to the corner of Westheimer and Graustark where the vehicle was located. He saw the vehicle bearing license plates consistent with the description he entered into the central crime center. Horn was detaining appellant until Johnson arrived.

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Farmah v. State
789 S.W.2d 665 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1990)

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Bluebook (online)
789 S.W.2d 665, 1990 Tex. App. LEXIS 990, 1990 WL 57381, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/farmah-v-state-texapp-1990.