Larry Berring v. State

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 18, 2014
Docket05-13-00326-CR
StatusPublished

This text of Larry Berring v. State (Larry Berring 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
Larry Berring v. State, (Tex. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

AFFIRM; and Opinion Filed June 18, 2014.

S In The Court of Appeals Fifth District of Texas at Dallas No. 05-13-00326-CR

LARRY BERRING, Appellant V. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

On Appeal from the Criminal District Court No. 2 Dallas County, Texas Trial Court Cause No. F-1255634-I

OPINION Before Justices FitzGerald, Fillmore, and Evans Opinion by Justice Fillmore

A jury convicted Larry Berring of possession, with intent to deliver, of four grams or

more, but less than 200 grams, of cocaine. The trial court found two enhancement paragraphs

alleged in the indictment to be true and assessed punishment of thirty years’ imprisonment. In

three issues, Berring asserts the trial court erred by denying his motion to suppress, excluding

from evidence medical records that were relevant to his defense, and failing to afford him the

right of allocution. We affirm the trial court’s judgment.

Background

Senior Corporal Jeffrey Grandy, who was a member of the Dallas Police Department’s

Southeast Division Crime Response Team (CRT) in May of 2012, testified the Grand Shopping

Center is in a high crime area and is known for “open air drug sales.” Further, in 2012, the area

surrounding the shopping center had experienced a spike in robberies and burglaries. On May 11, 2012, Grandy drove by the shopping center and noticed a number of people “hanging out and

loitering” in the parking lot.

At approximately 10:00 p.m., the CRT, which consisted of eight officers, went to the

shopping center to investigate possible criminal trespass violations. The CRT approached the

shopping center from more than one direction in multiple marked police cars. When Grandy and

his partner arrived at the shopping center, he saw a small crowd of people in the parking lot in

front of the Grand Liquor Store, one of the stores in the shopping center. 1 The Grand Liquor

Store was closed when the CRT arrived at the shopping center. Grandy, however, agreed the

Grand City Grocery, another store in the shopping center, was open.

According to Grandy, a representative of the Grand Liquor Store had completed a

criminal trespass affidavit (CTA) and provided the CTA to the police department. The CTA

admitted into evidence stated the Dallas Police Department was authorized, in the absence of the

owner or manager of the property, “to enforce the criminal trespass statute, Section 30.05 of the

Texas Penal Code.” A police officer was authorized by the CTA to notify a person who was not

authorized to be on the property “that his entry is forbidden and to leave the property

immediately or face possible arrest pursuant to the criminal trespass statute.” Grandy testified

there was not a “no trespassing” signed posted at the liquor store, but a sign posted over the door

of the liquor store stated, “No drinking. No loitering. No standing on premises” and warned that

police were watching.

According to Grandy, a CTA allows a police officer to act for the business owner if an

individual is not a customer of the business and is “loitering or hanging out” on the premises.

When a location has a CTA on file with the police department, the CRT will briefly detain

people at the location to identify each person. A member of the CRT will then check a database

1 Other members of the CRT were investigating groups of people in other areas of the shopping center.

–2– to see if a person has previously been given a criminal trespass warning for the location. If a

person has been previously warned, that person will be arrested for criminal trespass. If a person

has not previously received a criminal trespass warning for the location, the police officer will

give the person a criminal trespass warning, but not make an arrest, and add the person to the

database for that location. Grandy did not recall who was listed in the database as having already

been warned based on the CTA for the Grand Liquor Store, but did not believe that Berring had

previously received a criminal trespass warning for the location.

Grandy testified that, as he approached the crowd in the parking lot in front of the liquor

store to “investigate possible criminal trespassing,” people began “scattering a little bit.”

Berring, who was in the crowd, started walking around the east side of the shopping center. As

Berring walked away, he continually looked over his shoulder at Grandy. Grandy gave a “loud

verbal command” for Berring to stop. Instead of stopping, Berring began running away from

Grandy. Berring choosing to run raised Grandy’s suspicion because “innocent people usually

don’t run from the police.”

Berring slipped in a mud puddle in the parking lot of the Manhattan Club, a nightclub

located behind the shopping center. While Berring was on the ground, Officer Jesse Rodriguez

got on Berring’s back. Grandy, Rodriguez, and Officer David Roach testified that Berring

resisted arrest and it ultimately required four officers to restrain him. Grandy testified that,

during the altercation, Berring removed a bag from his pocket. The bag contained eighty-two

individually wrapped “rocks” of crack cocaine.

Berring was charged with possession, with intent to deliver, of four grams or more, but

less than 200 grams, of cocaine. Berring filed a motion to suppress “all evidence obtained in this

case as a result of an illegal stop and arrest.” The trial court denied the motion to suppress.

–3– The jury found Berring guilty of possession, with intent to deliver, of four grams or more,

but less than 200 grams, of cocaine. Berring submitted the issue of punishment to the trial court.

The trial court found two enhancement paragraphs alleged in the indictment to be true and

assessed punishment of thirty years’ imprisonment.

Motion to Suppress

In his first issue, Berring argues the trial court erred by denying his motion to suppress

because Grandy did not have reasonable suspicion to detain him and, therefore, the ensuing

arrest was illegal.

Standard of Review

We review a trial court’s ruling on a motion to suppress evidence under a bifurcated

standard of review. Turrubiate v. State, 399 S.W.3d 147, 150 (Tex. Crim. App. 2013). We

review the trial court’s factual findings for an abuse of discretion, but review the trial court’s

application of the law to the facts de novo. Id. We give almost total deference to the trial court’s

determination of historical facts, particularly when the trial court’s fact findings are based on an

evaluation of credibility and demeanor. Id.; Valtierra v. State, 310 S.W.3d 442, 447 (Tex. Crim.

App. 2010). We give the same deference to the trial court’s conclusions with respect to mixed

questions of law and fact that turn on credibility or demeanor. State v. Ortiz, 382 S.W.3d 367,

372 (Tex. Crim. App. 2012) (citing Guzman v. State, 955 S.W.2d 85, 87–89 (Tex. Crim. App.

1997)). We review mixed questions of law and fact that do not turn on credibility and demeanor

as well as purely legal questions de novo. State v. Woodward, 341 S.W.3d 404, 410 (Tex. Crim.

App. 2011); Guzman, 955 S.W.2d at 89.

In conducting our review, we generally consider only evidence adduced at the

suppression hearing. Turrubiate, 399 S.W.3d at 150–51; Gutierrez v. State,

Related

Terry v. Ohio
392 U.S. 1 (Supreme Court, 1968)
Adams v. Williams
407 U.S. 143 (Supreme Court, 1972)
California v. Hodari D.
499 U.S. 621 (Supreme Court, 1991)
Florida v. Bostick
501 U.S. 429 (Supreme Court, 1991)
United States v. Lewis Franklin
323 F.3d 1298 (Eleventh Circuit, 2003)
Valtierra v. State
310 S.W.3d 442 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2010)
Gutierrez v. State
221 S.W.3d 680 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2007)
Balentine v. State
71 S.W.3d 763 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2002)
Johnson v. State
912 S.W.2d 227 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1995)
Rachal v. State
917 S.W.2d 799 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1996)
State v. Garcia-Cantu
253 S.W.3d 236 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2008)
Motilla v. State
78 S.W.3d 352 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2002)
Meeks v. State
653 S.W.2d 6 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1983)
Walters v. State
247 S.W.3d 204 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2007)
State v. Castleberry
332 S.W.3d 460 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2011)
Foster v. State
326 S.W.3d 609 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2010)
Potier v. State
68 S.W.3d 657 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2002)
Crain v. State
315 S.W.3d 43 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2010)
Johnson v. State
864 S.W.2d 708 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1993)
Guzman v. State
955 S.W.2d 85 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1997)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
Larry Berring v. State, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/larry-berring-v-state-texapp-2014.