McDonald v. State

863 S.W.2d 541, 1993 Tex. App. LEXIS 2631, 1993 WL 381252
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided September 30, 1993·No. 01-92-01074-CR·Published·Cited by 23 cases

Opinion

OPINION

DUNN, Justice.

Appellant, Terry Lynn McDonald, appeals from his conviction for driving while intoxicated (DWI) as proscribed by Tex.Rev.Civ. StatAnn. article 67012 — 1(b) (Vernon Supp. 1993).

The information charged appellant with DWI and included an enhancement paragraph alleging that at the time of the offense appellant had an open container of alcoholic beverage in his immediate possession in the passenger compartment of his vehicle. After a jury trial, appellant was convicted of DWI. *543 At the punishment phase of the trial, the trial judge found the enhancement allegation true and assessed punishment at one year in the Harris County jail, probated for two years, and a five hundred dollar fine. As a condition of probation, the trial judge sentenced appellant to 30 days in the Harris County jail. Of this 30 days, only five days were actually required to be served in jail — the rest of the 30-day sentence was to be served by completing 200 hours of community service. We affirm.

Shortly after midnight on May 2, 1992, Anthony Glen Kinsel, a police officer for the Metropolitan Transit Authority, was travel-ling on the North Freeway in Houston. Officer Kinsel observed appellant’s vehicle attempt to exit the freeway, without signalling, from the second to the right lane. Appellant almost collided with a vehicle that was travel-ling in the right lane of the freeway. The vehicle in the right lane had to brake hard to avoid a collision. As a result, Officer Kinsel also had to brake hard. Officer Kinsel turned on his emergency equipment, and appellant pulled over.

Officer Kinsel noticed alcohol on appellant’s breath, performed several field sobriety tests, concluded that appellant was intoxicated, and arrested him.

Officer Kinsel testified that when he looked in appellant’s vehicle he observed a passenger holding an open bottle of Miller Lite beer, and a second, opened bottle of Miller Lite beer on the floor of the vehicle.

Officer Kinsel determined that appellant’s passenger was not intoxicated and, with appellant’s consent, released appellant’s vehicle to the passenger. Before releasing the vehicle to the passenger, Officer Kinsel poured both bottles of beer out and placed the empty bottles in the back of appellant’s truck. Officer Kinsel then transported appellant downtown to the Houston Police Department.

Appellant brings six points of error. In his first point of error, appellant argues that Officer Kinsel seized evidence, the open containers of beer, and purposefully destroyed it by pouring the beer out. Appellant contends that this evidence was exculpatory and could have provided a rebuttal to Officer Kinsel’s testimony about the quantity and character of the contents of the open containers. Appellant argues that the government’s failure to preserve this evidence violated his right to due process as guaranteed by the United States and Texas Constitutions.

The duty to preserve evidence is limited to evidence that possesses an exculpatory value that was apparent before the evidence was destroyed. California v. Trombetta, 467 U.S. 479, 489, 104 S.Ct. 2528, 2534, 81 L.Ed.2d 413 (1984). A defendant must show that the police acted in bad faith to establish that the failure to preserve potentially useful evidence constitutes a denial of due process. Arizona v. Youngblood, 488 U.S. 51, 58, 109 S.Ct. 333, 337, 102 L.Ed.2d 281 (1988). A defendant must also show that the lost evidence was favorable and material. U.S. v. Valenzuela-Bernal, 458 U.S. 858, 873, 102 S.Ct. 3440, 3449, 73 L.Ed.2d 1193 (1982); Nastu v. State, 589 S.W.2d 434, 441 (Tex.Crim.App.1979), cer t. denied, 447 U.S. 911, 100 S.Ct. 3000, 64 L.Ed.2d 862 (1980). A showing that the lost evidence might have been favorable does not meet the materiality standard. Hebert v. State, 836 S.W.2d 252, 254 (Tex.App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 1992, pet. ref'd).

In this case, appellant is unable to show that the evidence is either material or favorable. Officer Kinsel testified that he found two opened Miller Lite bottles in the passenger compartment of appellant’s vehicle. Appellant does not dispute this testimony. At trial appellant testified:

Q. (Counsel) All right. Then what happened?
A. (Appellant) He asked me if I had been drinking, and I told him I had three beers. Actually, the third beer I was referring to was the one that I had open in my vehicle.
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Q. (Counsel) And you’re not disputing that there were open containers of alcohol in your truck cab; isn’t that correct?
A. (Appellant) There was two.

(Emphasis added.)

Having admitted that the bottles in his vehicle contained beer, appellant cannot now argue that the bottles should have been pre *544 served as exculpatory evidence. Appellant has failed to meet his burden to affirmatively show that the containers found in his vehicle would have been favorable and material evidence.

Appellant’s first point of error is overruled.

In his second point of error, appellant contends the offense of consuming an alcoholic beverage while driving is a lesser included offense of DWI, and that the trial court erred by not instructing the jury that appellant could be found guilty of the lesser offense.

A two-pronged test must be satisfied before a defendant is entitled to a charge on a lesser included offense: 1) the lesser included offense must be included within the proof necessary to establish the offense charged; and 2) some evidence must exist in the record that would permit a jury rationally to find that if the defendant is guilty, he is guilty only of the lesser offense. Tompkins v. State, 774 S.W.2d 195, 210 (Tex.Crim.App.1987), aff 'd, 490 U.S. 754, 109 S.Ct. 2180, 104 L.Ed.2d 834 (1989).

Article 37.09 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure reads as follows:

An offense is a lesser included offense if:
(1) it is established by proof of the same or less than all the facts required to establish the commission of the offense charged;
(2) it differs from the offense charged only in the respect that a less serious injury or risk of injury to the same person, property, or public interest suffices to establish its commission;

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McDonald v. State, 863 S.W.2d 541, 1993 Tex. App. LEXIS 2631, 1993 WL 381252 (Tex. Ct. App. 1993).

863 S.W.2d 541 (McDonald v. State) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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