Joseph Frank Tooker v. State

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 27, 2017
Docket03-17-00348-CR
StatusPublished

This text of Joseph Frank Tooker v. State (Joseph Frank Tooker 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
Joseph Frank Tooker v. State, (Tex. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

TEXAS COURT OF APPEALS, THIRD DISTRICT, AT AUSTIN

NO. 03-17-00348-CR

Joseph Frank Tooker, Appellant

v.

The State of Texas, Appellee

FROM THE DISTRICT COURT OF LAMPASAS COUNTY, 27TH JUDICIAL DISTRICT NO. 9622, HONORABLE JOHN GAUNTT, JUDGE PRESIDING

MEMORANDUM OPINION

After Officer Fidel Morua discovered methamphetamine during a traffic stop,

Joseph Frank Tooker was charged in a single indictment with one count of possession of less

than one gram of a controlled substance (methamphetamine) and with one count of tampering

with or fabricating physical evidence by “intentionally and knowingly conceal[ing] a baggie of

methamphetamine . . . with intent to impair its availability as evidence.” See Tex. Health & Safety

Code §§ 481.102(6) (listing methamphetamine as substance included in “Penalty Group 1”), .115(a),

(b) (providing that person commits offense by possessing “a controlled substance listed in Penalty

Group 1” and that offense is state-jail felony if amount of controlled substance is “less than one

gram”); Tex. Penal Code § 37.09 (a), (c) (setting out elements of offense of tampering with physical

evidence and providing that offense is, in general, third-degree felony). At the end of the guilt-or-

innocence phase, the jury found Tooker guilty of both offenses, and Tooker elected to have the district court assess his punishment. At the end of the punishment phase, the district court determined

that Tooker should be imprisoned for two years for the possession count and for five years for the

tampering count but elected to place Tooker on community supervision for both convictions, and the

district court rendered its judgments of conviction accordingly. See Tex. Penal Code §§ 12.34-.35

(setting out permissible punishment ranges for third-degree and state-jail felonies). In two issues on

appeal, Tooker contends that the evidence was legally insufficient to support his convictions. We

will affirm the district court’s judgment of conviction for possession of a controlled substance,

modify the judgment of conviction for tampering with evidence to correct a clerical error, and as

modified, affirm the judgment of conviction for tampering with evidence.

BACKGROUND

During a traffic stop, Tooker was arrested after methamphetamine was discovered

by the investigating officers. Following the arrest, a trial was held in which the State called several

witnesses to the stand, including Chelsa Hazle, who was Tooker’s girlfriend at the time of the

incident, and Officer Morua, who initiated the traffic stop, and Tooker elected to take the stand and

testify on his own behalf.

In her testimony, Hazle explained that on the day in question she was riding as a

passenger in her car with her boyfriend, Tooker, when Officer Morua initiated a traffic stop for

speeding. Further, she explained that Officer Morua asked for her and Tooker’s driver’s licenses,

that Officer Morua learned that there were warrants out for her arrest, that Officer Morua placed her

under arrest, and that after she was arrested, she stood between her car and Officer Morua’s police

car with Tooker. Further, she recalled that she and Tooker had purchased methamphetamine prior

2 to the traffic stop, that she had methamphetamine “stashed in [her] bra,” that she pulled “it out of

[her] bra and slipped it into” Tooker’s hands while they were hugging, and that Tooker knew that

she had methamphetamine in her bra because he had seen her place methamphetamine in her bra “on

other trips.” When describing why she handed Tooker the methamphetamine, Hazle testified that

she did it “[b]ecause [she] knew that [she] was going to jail, and if they had found it on me in the

jail, then it would have been a charge of bringing drugs into a correctional facility.” In addition,

Hazle explained that she was also charged and sentenced for possession of methamphetamine as a

result of this incident but that she was not asked to testify in this case until after she had already been

sentenced. Moreover, Hazle admitted that she had been arrested for possession of methamphetamine

before the incident at issue and that Tooker was present during one of those prior arrests.

After Hazle finished her testimony, Officer Morua was called to the stand. In his

testimony, Officer Morua explained that during the traffic stop, he learned that there was “an active

warrant” for Hazle “for possession of a dangerous drug.” Further, he recalled that Hazle became

upset when she learned that she was going to be arrested based on the warrant, that he asked Tooker

if he would like to stand by Hazle to comfort her, and that Tooker went to stand with Hazle between

her car and the police car. Moreover, Officer Morua related that when he later told Tooker to say

goodbye to Hazle, Tooker “reached to give her a hug and a kiss, but his arms came to the front

of him and front of” Hazle. In addition, Officer Morua testified that Tooker kept “his hands in

the front of” Hazle. Furthermore, Officer Morua explained that after Tooker returned to the car,

Officer Morua found “a baggy with some crystalized substance in it” on the ground by Hazle and

that later testing performed on the substance revealed that it was methamphetamine. Moreover,

3 Office Morua testified that his dashboard camera and his body camera were working on the day in

question and captured much of the exchange, and he explained that the recording from the dashboard

camera captures Tooker “reach[] in front of [Hazle] with his hands . . . and . . . . move[] his right

hand over” before “the baggy of meth f[e]ll to the ground.” In addition, Officer Morua testified

that he watched the recording from the dashboard camera in slow motion and that the recording

shows Tooker drop the bag of methamphetamine.

During Officer Morua’s testimony, the two recordings were admitted into evidence

and played for the jury. The videos are generally consistent with Officer Morua’s testimony,

document that the traffic stop occurred at night, and show an officer assisting Officer Morua place

Hazle in handcuffs with her hands in front of her after the officers confirmed that there was an

active warrant for Hazle’s arrest. Further, the video from the dashboard camera shows Tooker

saying goodbye to Hazle, kissing Hazle, grabbing Hazle’s hand and holding it for about five seconds

near her chest, and then tossing something to the side away from where the officers were standing.

In addition, the video documents how Tooker did not appear surprised or angry when he took

something from Hazle’s hand; on the contrary, the video shows that Tooker continued to kiss Hazel

after tossing the item and did not inform the police about the object. Finally, the video chronicles

how neither officer saw the baggie drop, how the officers continued to talk with Hazle as Tooker

returned to the car, and how Officer Morua then discovered a baggie on the ground near where

Tooker and Hazle had been standing, which contained a crystalline substance.

In his case in chief, Tooker testified on his own behalf. During his testimony, Tooker

stated that he was aware that Hazle “had a drug habit,” was present when she was arrested previously,

4 and asked Hazle after they were pulled over by Officer Morua if she had any drugs in her car, but

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