Krug v. State

86 S.W.3d 764, 2002 Tex. App. LEXIS 6252, 2002 WL 1981399
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 29, 2002
Docket08-01-00210-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by119 cases

This text of 86 S.W.3d 764 (Krug 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
Krug v. State, 86 S.W.3d 764, 2002 Tex. App. LEXIS 6252, 2002 WL 1981399 (Tex. Ct. App. 2002).

Opinion

OPINION

ANN CRAWFORD McCLURE, Justice.

Gary Steven Krug appeals from his conviction for driving while intoxicated. Appellant waived his right to a jury trial and entered a negotiated plea of guilty. The trial court found Appellant guilty and assessed his punishment in accordance with the plea bargain at imprisonment for three years. The court suspended the sentence and placed Appellant on community supervision for ten years. On appeal, Appellant challenges the trial court’s denial of his motion to suppress. We affirm.

FACTUAL SUMMARY

Appellant filed a motion to suppress alleging that the deputy who arrested him lacked probable cause. Rather than submitting live testimony at the suppression hearing, the parties stipulated to the following evidence:

*765 On January 28, 2000, Crockett County Deputy Sheriff, TYLER ROY, observed GARY STEVEN KRUG drive a Silver Toyota Station Wagon North on Avenue J, a public roadway in Ozona, Crockett County, Texas, and safely turn his vehicle into the J.B. Miller Mobile Home Park, a private residential area with private driveways. The J.B. Miller Mobile Home Park is located at the 300 block of Avenue J in Ozona, Texas.
According to Deputy Roy, the Defendant, GARY STEVEN KRUG, faded to signal a right hand turn from the public roadway into the private driveway located on the lower level of the mobile home park. Deputy Roy activated his overhead lights on his patrol vehicle and, while in the private driveway, followed the Silver Toyota Station Wagon which safely came to a stop at Defendant’s, GARY STEVEN KRUG, mobile home residence located at the North end of the mobile home park. Deputy Roy subsequently arrested the Defendant, GARY STEVEN KRUG, for the offense of Driving While Intoxicated without a warrant for arrest.

At the conclusion of the hearing, the trial court denied the motion to suppress. Appellant subsequently entered a plea of guilty while reserving his right to appeal the ruling on his motion to suppress.

EXISTENCE OF PROBABLE CAUSE

In his sole issue for review, Appellant contends that the evidence against him was seized as the result of an illegal detention, and therefore, the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress. The State responds that the initial stop of Appellant is supported by probable cause because he committed a traffic violation.

Standard of Review

We generally review a trial court’s ruling on a motion to suppress based upon an alleged lack of probable cause using the bifurcated standard of review articulated in Guzman v. State, 955 S.W.2d 85 (Tex.Crim.App.1997). See Carmouche v. State, 10 S.W.3d 323, 327 (Tex.Crim.App.2000). Under this standard, we afford almost total deference to the trial court’s express or implied determination of historical facts and review de novo the court’s application of the law pertaining to search and seizure to those facts. State v. Ross, 32 S.W.3d 853, 856 (Tex.Crim.App.2000); Carmouche, 10 S.W.3d at 327.

Traffic Violation

When a traffic violation is committed within an officer’s view, the officer may lawfully stop and detain the person for the traffic violation. Walter v. State, 28 S.W.3d 538, 542 (Tex.Crim.App.2000); McVickers v. State, 874 S.W.2d 662, 664 (Tex.Crim.App.1993). Subtitle C of Title 7 of the Texas Transportation Code contains the “Rules of the Road” which govern the conduct of motor vehicle operators. Chapter 545 pertains to turning and signals for stopping and turning. In this case, we are concerned with the interplay of Sections 545.103 and 545.104.

Section 545.103, entitled “Safely Turning” provides:

An operator may not turn the vehicle to enter a private road or driveway, otherwise turn the vehicle from a direct course, or move right or left on a roadway unless movement can be made safely-

Tex.TRAnsp.Code Ann. § 545.103 (Vernon 1999).

Section 545.104(a), entitled “Signaling Turns; Use of Turn Signals,” provides:

An operator shall use the signal authorized by Section 545.106 to indicate an *766 intention to turn, change lanes, or start from a parked position.

Tex.TRansp.Code Ann. § 545.104(a).

Citing Trahan v. State, 16 S.W.3d 146 (Tex.App.-Beaumont 2000, no pet.), Appellant argues that he was not required to use his turn signal because he safely turned from the roadway into a private driveway as required by Section 545.103(a), and did not make a right hand “turn” at an “intersection” as those terms are employed in Sections 545.104(a) and 545.101(a), 1 respectively. In Trahan, the defendant was stopped after he exited a freeway without giving a turn signal. During the ensuing detention, the officer discovered that the defendant was in possession of a controlled substance. Trahan filed a motion to suppress the evidence seized as a result of his detention on the ground that the stop of his vehicle was invalid. He argued that his failure to give a turn signal when he exited the freeway did not violate either Section 545.103 or Section 545.104 of the Transportation Code. The State, on the other hand, took the position that the failure to give a turn signal, in and of itself, is a traffic offense. The trial court denied the motion to suppress.

Construing Section 545.104 as applying only to a ninety degree turn at an intersection, 2 the court of appeals found that there was no evidence that Trahan “turned” or changed lanes in order to exit the freeway, and therefore, Section 545.104 did not apply. Trahan, 16 S.W.3d at 147. Instead, the court found that Trahan did nothing more than move right or left in the roadway, thereby implicating only Section 545.103. Id. Given the absence of any evidence that Trahan’s exit from the freeway was unsafe, the court found that no lawful basis existed for the stop. Id.

We decline to apply Trahan for two reasons. First, the stipulated evidence here showed that Appellant failed to signal a right hand turn when he turned his vehicle from the public roadway into the private driveway. Thus, we are not presented with a case where the operator only moved the vehicle to the right or left in the roadway. Second, we disagree with Tra-han and a subsequent decision in State v. Zeno, 44 S.W.3d 709, 712 (Tex.App.-Beaumont 2001, pet. ref'd) 3

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Pedro Castelo Amancio v. the State of Texas
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2021
State v. Jorge A. Espinoza
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2018
State v. Erlinda Lujan
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2018
Luis Castruita v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2018
William Vieira v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2018
Michael J. Holmes v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2017
Geraline Gregory Lincoln v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2015
Mahaffey v. State
316 S.W.3d 633 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2010)
State v. Portillo
314 S.W.3d 210 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2010)
Flores v. State
299 S.W.3d 843 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2010)
John Robert Sabedra v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2009
Bradley Chance Wells v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2009
Anthony Lynn Falco v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2009
Wehring v. State
276 S.W.3d 666 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2008)
Jeremy Daniel Wehring v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2008
Vafaiyan v. State
279 S.W.3d 374 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2008)
Reza Vafaiyan v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2008
Johnny Andrews Brezina v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2008
Stevie Walker v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2008

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
86 S.W.3d 764, 2002 Tex. App. LEXIS 6252, 2002 WL 1981399, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/krug-v-state-texapp-2002.