Johnson v. State

864 S.W.2d 708, 1993 Tex. App. LEXIS 3144, 1993 WL 384542
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided September 30, 1993·No. 05-89-01086-CR·Published·Cited by 73 cases

Opinion

OPINION ON REMAND

LAGARDE, Justice.

The trial court convicted Ricardo Lloyd Johnson of aggravated possession of cocaine with intent to deliver and assessed punishment at fifty years’ confinement. On original submission, this Court held that, based solely on the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution, the trial court erred in overruling Johnson’s motion to suppress because the police officers had neither reasonable, articulable suspicion nor probable cause to make a warrantless search and because there were insufficient specific articulable facts to justify a temporary detention. Further, we held that Johnson did not voluntarily abandon the contraband. Consequently, we reversed the trial court’s judgment and remanded the cause for further proceedings. Johnson v. State, 802 S.W.2d 325 (Tex.App.—Dallas 1990), vacated, 825 S.W.2d 126 (Tex.Crim.App.1992). After quoting the following portion of this Court’s majority opinion, “The flaw in the State’s case is that none of the circumstances preceding the officer’s detention of appellant justified a reasonable suspicion that he was involved in criminal conduct,” the court of criminal appeals vacated this Court’s judgment and remanded this cause for our reconsideration of Johnson’s suppression argument “by reviewing the totality of the circumstances of appellant’s arrest in light of California v. Hodari D.” Johnson v. State, 825 S.W.2d 126, 127 (Tex.Crim.App.1992); see California v. Hodari D., 499 U.S. 621, 111 S.Ct. 1547, 113 L.Ed.2d 690 (1991).

*712 Pursuant to Robinson v. State, 790 S.W.2d 334, 336 (Tex.Crim.App.1990), we allowed re-briefing. Johnson now challenges the overruling of his motion to suppress under the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution and article one, section nine of the Texas Constitution. Reviewing the totality of the circumstances of Johnson’s arrest, we now determine that Johnson was “seized” under the Fourth Amendment and article one, section nine of the Texas Constitution when he dropped the contraband; thus, he did not voluntarily abandon the contraband. However, we further conclude that the police had probable cause to arrest him for an offense committed within their view and that the contraband was recovered in a search incident to that lawful warrantless arrest. Accordingly, we hold that the trial court did not err in denying Johnson’s motion to suppress. We also hold that his sentence of fifty years’ imprisonment does not constitute cruel and unusual punishment. Accordingly, we overrule both points of error and affirm the trial court’s judgment.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

Dallas Police Officer Charles Ray Bailey testified that at about 1:45 p.m., he and his partner, Police Corporal Clifford E. Lewis, were conducting a foot patrol of an apartment complex located in a high-crime area noted for drug transactions, some of which occurred in public view. As the officers approached a breezeway, Bailey “heard someone say that there was a large stash of marijuana being kept in a house somewhere.” Bailey heard two distinctive voices discussing the matter, but he could not see any of the persons in the breezeway. Bailey did not recall anything else being said during the conversation. When Bailey and Lewis walked around the corner of the breezeway, Johnson and two other men immediately ran. Bailey noticed Johnson was carrying a “purplish thing,” later identified as a Crown Royal bag. When the three men ran away from the officers, Bailey chased after Johnson. During the chase, Bailey twice ordered Johnson to stop running. Bailey noticed Johnson fumbling with what appeared to be a handgun, twice ordered Johnson to drop the weapon, and drew his own weapon in response. Shortly thereafter, the Crown Royal bag and the weapon either became dislodged or were dropped by Johnson. Johnson then stopped. Lewis appeared, arrested Johnson, and recovered the Crown Royal bag containing 162 envelopes of suspected contraband, 1 a small amount of marijuana, and $1454.10. Bailey recovered the loaded 9-mm pistol that Johnson dropped. , Bailey testified that, in his experience, handguns are used during drug transactions and that, before he entered the breezeway, it was reasonable to suspect that someone might be armed. After the officers had read Johnson his rights, he said, “You didn’t find this on me. This was not found on me.”

Lewis testified that, while conducting a patrol of an apartment complex in a high-crime area, he overheard a conversation in a breezeway “about a stash [of marijuana] that somebody had somewhere.” Lewis could not see who was talking, but he heard two voices. When Lewis and Bailey entered the breezeway, three men began to run. Lewis instructed Bailey “to get the gentleman with the bag in his hand.” When Lewis saw Bailey chase Johnson around the end of the building, Lewis ran back through the breezeway and up to the end of the building to put himself in front of Johnson. As Johnson came around the end of the building, Lewis saw Johnson “fumbling (indicating) with his front, and the weapon was coming out of the front, or it was already out. I can’t remember which.” Lewis then drew his gun and yelled at Johnson to stop and drop the gun. “[A]t that point in time the gun and the bag was [sic] dropped.” The officers then “converged on him into [sic] the next breezeway.” Lewis was only fifteen feet away from Johnson when he saw Johnson “fumbling with the weapon.” After they arrested Johnson, Lewis searched the bag and found the cocaine, marijuana, and money in it. When the officers searched Johnson, they did not find any drug paraphernalia on him. Lewis further *713 testified that, prior to entering the breezeway, he “had a reasonable belief ... that the crime was about to be committed.” He thought that he had sufficient grounds to make an investigatory detention and that, once Johnson began to run, Johnson was not free to leave the area.

Johnson filed a pre-trial motion to suppress. Because trial was before the court, the trial judge agreed to rule on Johnson’s motion at the close of the evidence at the guilt-innocence phase of trial. The trial court overruled Johnson’s motion, stating that the officers were entitled to detain and subsequently to arrest and search Johnson.

Johnson did not testify at the guilt-innocence phase of trial but did testify at the punishment hearing. Johnson stated that he was at the apartment complex to return a car he had borrowed. He was in the breezeway with a man who was telling him about some marijuana the man’s son had found in a refrigerator. When Johnson saw the man run away, Johnson panicked, turned around to run, and fell down. The police then arrested him. Johnson denied having a gun, holding a Crown Royal bag, or having drugs in his possession. He also denied fleeing from the police officers. Johnson stated that the approximately $1400 the officers found was his, 2 however, and that he had intended to use $1000 of the money to purchase T-shirts for resale.

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Johnson v. State, 864 S.W.2d 708, 1993 Tex. App. LEXIS 3144, 1993 WL 384542 (Tex. Ct. App. 1993).

864 S.W.2d 708 (Johnson v. State) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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