in the Matter of A.T.H.

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 8, 2003
Docket03-02-00401-CV
StatusPublished

This text of in the Matter of A.T.H. (in the Matter of A.T.H.) 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
in the Matter of A.T.H., (Tex. Ct. App. 2003).

Opinion

TEXAS COURT OF APPEALS, THIRD DISTRICT, AT AUSTIN

NO. 03-02-00401-CV

In the Matter of A.T.H.

FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF TRAVIS COUNTY, 98TH JUDICIAL DISTRICT NO. J-21,779, HONORABLE W. JEANNE MEURER, JUDGE PRESIDING

OPINION

A.T.H. was adjudicated delinquent for possession of marihuana within 1,000 feet of a

school and placed on probation. See Tex. Health & Safety Code Ann. '' 481.121, .134 (West Supp.

2003); Tex. Fam. Code Ann. ' 54.03 (West 2002). He appeals, contending that the district court erred in

denying his motion to suppress the State=s evidence because the police officer had neither reasonable

suspicion nor probable cause to conduct the pat-down during which the drugs were discovered. We will

reverse and remand.

Austin Police Officer Joe Chavez testified that he was stationed at Travis High School in

January 2002. At about 9:40 a.m., he received a phone call from a caller who refused to give his name and

told Chavez that he Awas near a business or at the business@ located about twenty-five feet from the

school=s eastern fence line. The unidentified caller complained that four juveniles who he assumed were

Travis High School students were smoking marihuana behind the business. Chavez testified that the caller said, A[A]s we=re speaking they=re walking off and the only person I could really identify for you is a black

male wearing a Dion Sanders football jersey.@ Chavez walked into the eastern parking lot to see if he could

intercept the students, and Athe only person I saw was, you know, a black man wearing a . . . Dion Sanders

football Jersey walking onto the parking lot which is our campus.@ When Chavez approached, the man,

identified at the hearing as A.T.H., was cooperative and told Chavez his name and birth date. Chavez was

wearing his uniform, badge, and gun at the time. Chavez did not know A.T.H., so, AFor my safety and his

safety I asked himCI told him that I was going to, you know, do a pat-down for officer=s safety and for his

safety.@ Chavez told A.T.H., AI=m just going to need you to put your hands on top of your head or behind

your head,@ and A[r]ight before he did, I hadn=t even touched him yet, he reached in his front left pocket and

retrieved a clear plastic baggie which contained a green leafy substance.@ Chavez said, AI was directly

behind him B so when he did he had the clear plastic baggie cuffed inside of his hand right here behind his

head where it was actually right in front of my eyes at that time.@ The baggie contained marihuana. On

cross-examination, Chavez testified, A[I]t wasn=t a search, it=s what we call a pat-down just for weapons.@

He said, AAs soon as I, you know, identified him, I told him I was going to do a pat-down, to put his hands

back behind his head.@ Chavez arrested A.T.H., who attended high school elsewhere, and issued a criminal

trespass warning.

The district court overruled A.T.H.=s motion to suppress, concluding that Chavez acted

reasonably in stopping A.T.H. based on the anonymous tip because A.T.H. Alooked like a student, was

student age, and only later was it determined he was a student at a different school,@ and because Aa

policeman stationed at a school as a school resource officer stands in the same place as a school

2 administrator and so can search a student based on an anonymous tip of illegality.@ The court stated, AI do

not believe that [A.T.H.] abandoned the property or voluntarily disclosed it when he tried to hide it from the

police because he would not have been hiding it but for the policeman=s actions, so it was a stop. He was in

control of the police when he did that. But I believe the stop, the investigatory stop was permitted because

of, as I said, he=s acting as a school administrator and was on a school campus even though it was just an

anonymous tip.@

A trial court=s ruling on a motion to suppress will be set aside only on a showing of an abuse

of discretion. Villarreal v. State, 935 S.W.2d 134, 138 (Tex. Crim. App. 1996); In re V.P., 55 S.W.3d

25, 30 (Tex. App.CAustin 2001, pet. denied). The trial court is the sole trier of fact and judge of the

weight and credibility to be given a witness=s testimony. State v. Ballard, 987 S.W.2d 889, 891 (Tex.

Crim. App. 1999); Villarreal, 935 S.W.2d at 138; V.P., 55 S.W.3d at 30. We give almost total

deference to a trial court=s determination of the facts and Amixed questions of law and fact@ that turn on an

evaluation of witness credibility and demeanor. V.P., 55 S.W.3d at 30-31; In re L.M., 993 S.W.2d 276,

286 (Tex. App.CAustin 1999, pet. denied); see Guzman v. State, 955 S.W.2d 85, 89 (Tex. Crim. App.

1997). Where there is no disagreement about the facts, we may review questions not turning on credibility

and demeanor de novo. V.P., 55 S.W.2d at 31; L.M., 993 S.W.2d at 286.

A.T.H. first argues that the Areduced standard of reasonable suspicion@ set out in New

Jersey v. T.L.O., 469 U.S. 325, 340-41 (1985), only applies to school officials, not to police officers like

Chavez staffed as Astudent resource officers@ to investigate disruptive and criminal activity on campuses, and

that the district court therefore erred in applying the T.L.O. standard to this pat-down. However, because

3 we believe that Chavez lacked justification for his pat-down of A.T.H. even under the T.L.O. standard, we

need not address the question of what standard should be applied in student encounters with police officers

staffed on campuses.1

1 The search of a student by a school official is governed by standards similar to those applied to an investigative stop or a pat-down for weapons conducted by a police officer in a non-school setting. See New Jersey v. T.L.O., 469 U.S. 325, 341-42 (1985) (quoting Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 20 (1968)). The Waco Court of Appeals recently examined the issue of Awhat standard should apply to a school search in which a law enforcement official is involved.@ Russell v. State, 74 S.W.3d 887, 891 (Tex. App.CWaco 2002, pet. ref=d). The Russell court, after reviewing cases from across the country, noted that searches of students involving police officers in a school setting are divided into A(1) those where school officials initiate a search or where police involvement is minimal, (2) those involving school police or liaison officers acting on their own authority, and (3) those where outside police officers initiate a search,@ and adopted those categories in its analysis. Id. at 891-92 (quoting People v. Dilworth, 661 N.E.2d 310, 317 (Ill. 1996)).

4 Ordinarily, a police officer may not conduct a seizure2 and search of a suspect without

Aprobable cause@ that a crime has been committed. Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 20 (1968); see T.L.O.,

469 U.S. at 340. An exception to the requirement of probable cause allows the police to make a ATerry

stop@ and Abriefly detain a person for investigative purposes if the officer has a reasonable suspicion

supported by articulable facts that criminal activity >may be afoot,= even if the officer lacks probable cause.@

United States v.

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