Leon Gamble, Jr. v. State

Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided November 29, 2012·No. 01-11-00154-CR·Published

Opinion

Opinion issued November 29, 2012.

In The

Court of Appeals

For The

First District of Texas

possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance.1 The trial court adjudged Gamble guilty and assessed punishment at twenty-five years’ confinement on each count, with the sentences to run concurrently. In his sole issue on appeal, Gamble contends the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress because the search warrant affidavit failed to establish probable cause given its reliance on unreliable hearsay, conclusory statements, stale information, and activity that was not illegal per se. We issued a memorandum opinion on March 29, 2012 in which we concluded that Gamble lacked standing to contest the search. Gamble has filed a motion for rehearing.2 We deny Gamble’s motion, withdraw our March 29 opinion and judgment, and issue the following in their stead. Our disposition of the appeal remains the same. We affirm the trial court’s judgment.

1 See TEX. HEALTH & SAFETY CODE ANN. § 481.112(a) (West 2010).

2 In our March 29 opinion, we based our holding on the State’s argument that Gamble lacked standing to challenge the search of the premises at issue in this appeal because the record did not establish that Gamble owned the premises, exercised control or dominion over the premises, or had a possessory or other interest in the premises consistent with historical notions of privacy. On rehearing, Gamble has persuaded us that the State waived its standing challenge by characterizing the premises searched as Gamble’s residence during the hearing on his motion to suppress. See Wilson v. State, 692 S.W.2d 661, 668 (Tex. Crim.

App. 1984) (op. on reh’g) (recognizing that State may lose its right to challenge standing for first time on appeal if challenge is inconsistent with State’s position in trial court). Accordingly, we now proceed with consideration of Gamble’s sole issue on appeal.

Background

M.D. Ratterman, a nineteen-year veteran of the Houston Police Department and a Sergeant Investigator with the narcotics diversion unit, investigates the diversion of pharmaceuticals for unlawful purposes. He obtained a search warrant of the trailer in which Gamble resided based on his affidavit that described the diversion of pharmaceuticals generally and Gamble’s conduct in particular.

Sergeant Ratterman explained in his affidavit that “a trend in drug diversion is the utilization of the homeless/unemployed of Houston to acquire prescription drugs.” A “crew leader” transports a group of homeless or unemployed men and women to “pain clinics” or provides group members with fraudulently obtained prescriptions. The members of the group hand over the filled prescriptions to the crew leader for “a payment of $15 or $20 or a fast food meal.” Leon Gamble became the subject of the investigation of such unlawful prescription drug operations when police discovered that several vehicles involved in drug cases were rented by Gamble’s wife.

HPD set up surveillance of Gamble at the premises described as follows:

[A] trailer located in a boot leg mechanic shop in the block of 2309 ½ Ferguson Way, Houston, in Harris County, Texas. The said trailer is brown in color and is one room situated on the west side of the lot with the front door facing south. The trailer . . . is constructed of a metal siding. The main entrance to the lot faces north. The lot is located on the south side of the roadway and typically has several vehicles in the lot with a gate across the front entrance into the lot[.]

Surveillance officers observed vehicles “owned by [Gamble and his wife] and rented by [his wife] . . . being used to transport crews.” Specifically, officers observed persons using the vehicles meet with Gamble “at 2309 ½ Ferguson Way and transfer to him what [was] believed to be prescribed pills obtained at several known pharmacies.” Officers, however, were unable to obtain a statement from any “homeless/unemployed person leaving 2309 ½ Ferguson [W]ay.”

According to Sergeant Ratterman’s affidavit, HPD also set up surveillance outside of a Houston-area pharmacy. There, officers observed a “crew” inside of a rented vehicle―a gold Saturn SUV reported as stolen from an Alamo Rental lot where Gamble’s brother was employed. The driver of another vehicle―a blue Ford Fusion―waved to the driver of the gold Saturn. The driver of the blue Ford then drove to a nearby restaurant and parked. The driver of the gold Saturn followed and parked next to the blue Ford, at which point a male passenger in the blue Ford, whom Ratterman identified as Andre Roberson, exited the blue Ford, approached the gold Saturn, exchanged cash for four pharmacy bags, and placed the pharmacy bags in the blue Ford’s trunk.

Sergeant Ratterman explained that HPD officers then intervened, taking the driver of the gold Saturn and Roberson into custody. The officers’ search of the Ford turned up four pharmacy bags containing four bottles of Hydrocodone and four bottles of Alprazolam. Roberson told the officers that he was transporting the

pills to Gamble. Roberson further stated that “he drives to Ferguson Way and drives into a boot leg mechanic lot and that on the lot is a brown trailer with the front door facing away from the street.” Ratterman immediately recognized the location described by Roberson as Gamble’s trailer on Ferguson Way, which was already under surveillance. Roberson explained that the operation taking place inside the trailer involved four drivers who delivered prescription medications to Gamble each day. Roberson recounted that he had been in the trailer on Ferguson Way that morning, had seen multiple prescription drug bottles in the trailer, and knew that the prescription pill bottles are kept there. Ratterman confirmed with another officer that the trailer at Ferguson Way had been under surveillance since the time officers stopped the blue Ford and gold Saturn and that “no bags of pills or people carrying pills ha[d] left the location.” A magistrate signed a warrant for the search of the trailer the same day.

Following the search, a grand jury indicted Gamble for two counts of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance. See TEX. HEALTH & SAFETY CODE ANN. § 481.112(a) (West 2010). Gamble moved to suppress all evidence seized during the search, arguing that the search warrant was obtained based on unreliable hearsay, conclusory statements, stale information, and activity that was not illegal per se. At the hearing on the motion to suppress, no evidence other than the search warrant and probable cause affidavit was offered by either

Gamble or the State. Both sides, however, tendered argument on the issues raised in Gamble’s motion. After hearing the argument of counsel, the trial court denied Gamble’s motion to suppress. Gamble pleaded guilty without an agreed recommendation as to sentencing, and the trial court certified his right to appeal.

Standard of Review

We review a trial court’s ruling on a motion to suppress using a bifurcated standard of review, giving almost total deference to the trial court’s findings of historical fact that depend on credibility and reviewing de novo the trial court’s application of the law. See State v. McLain, 337 S.W.3d 268, 271 (Tex. Crim. App. 2011); Hubert v. State, 312 S.W.3d 554, 559 (Tex. Crim. App. 2010); Carmouche v. State, 10 S.W.3d 323, 327 (Tex. Crim. App. 2000). When a trial court determines probable cause to support the issuance of a search warrant, however, there are no credibility determinations; rather, the trial court is constrained to the four corners of the affidavit. See McLain, 337 S.W.3d at 271. Courts apply a highly deferential standard in reviewing a magistrate’s decision to issue a warrant because of the constitutional preference for law enforcement officials to obtain warrants rather than conduct warrantless searches. See id. After-the-fact, de novo review of the sufficiency of affidavits is disfavored. See id. at 272.

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