McQuarters v. State

58 S.W.3d 250, 2001 Tex. App. LEXIS 6457, 2001 WL 1098006
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedSeptember 20, 2001
Docket2-00-198-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by283 cases

This text of 58 S.W.3d 250 (McQuarters 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
McQuarters v. State, 58 S.W.3d 250, 2001 Tex. App. LEXIS 6457, 2001 WL 1098006 (Tex. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinions

OPINION

LIVINGSTON, Justice.

INTRODUCTION

Danny Lee McQuarters appeals his conviction for felony possession of five to fifty pounds of marijuana. The jury found appellant guilty. The court assessed punishment at eight years’ confinement. Appellant complains of the reasonableness of the search and challenges the legal sufficiency of the evidence to sustain his conviction. We reverse and remand.

BACKGROUND

Shortly before midnight on April 6,1998, Officer Kirk Beauchamp observed a car driven by appellant traveling north on Interstate 35. Officer Beauchamp was a narcotics interdiction officer for the North Central Texas Narcotics Task Force. He had been a narcotics interdiction officer for four years. Interstate 35 consists of two lanes in the northbound direction and two lanes in the southbound direction. Appellant was driving north in the left lane. Officer Beauchamp first noticed appellant because he was traveling at a slow speed in the left lane, the passing lane, with no other cars in the vicinity. He also saw appellant cross the left lane stripe nearest to the center median twice. At this point, Officer Beauchamp also suspected that appellant was either falling asleep at the wheel or possibly intoxicated, so he stopped appellant.

Officer Beauchamp approached appellant’s car and asked him to step out. He explained to appellant that he stopped him for the traffic violations and because he thought he might be falling asleep or intoxicated. Officer Beauchamp quickly concluded that appellant was not intoxicated because appellant did not smell of alcohol or exhibit any other signs of intoxication. While questioning him, Officer Beauchamp [254]*254noticed that appellant was nervous: he could not make eye contact, his hands were shaking, and his breathing was shallow. He also learned that the car appellant was driving was rented. The rental agreement identified someone other than appellant or his passenger as the authorized driver of the car.

Officer Beauchamp also questioned the passenger. Her description of their recent visit to Dallas conflicted with appellant’s. Officer Beauchamp testified that he did not smell marijuana in the car while he was questioning the passenger from the open passenger window. He then told appellant that he was going to write him a warning then let him go. He returned to his patrol car and checked appellant’s name and date of birth in the computer records and discovered appellant’s driver’s license was revoked. While in his car, he spoke into his microphone describing his observations about the rental agreement and conflicting stories, and wrote two warnings for the traffic violations. Officer Beauchamp waited for a back-up officer to arrive then re-approached appellant. When the back-up officer arrived Officer Beauchamp turned off his microphone temporarily. He then approached appellant, with his microphone back on, issued the two warnings and returned the rental agreement to appellant. After issuing the warnings, Officer Beauchamp explained to appellant that his driver’s license had been revoked and that the passenger would have to drive from then on. Next, he asked appellant if there was anything of an “illegal nature” in the car. Appellant said, “No,” and Officer Beauchamp asked for consent to search the car. Appellant refused. He then told appellant he would be right back. As Officer Beauchamp walked toward his patrol car appellant said something to him to which Officer Beauchamp responded, “No, stay right here.”

At this point in the stop, Officer Beau-champ “felt like” he had a reasonable suspicion that appellant had narcotics in the car, so he retrieved his narcotics search canine from his patrol car. At the beginning of the olfactory search by the dog, Officer Beauchamp’s microphone shut off so that no sound was recorded. The dog sniffed around the car and eventually alerted to the passenger door jam. Officer Beauchamp then searched the car and recorded what he found through his microphone which he turned back on when he started searching the passenger compartment of the car. He discovered a large plastic sack in the trunk. He found about nine to ten pounds of marijuana separated in ziploc bags inside the sack. The sack was wrapped in a jacket that would fit appellant. Officer Beauchamp found a release slip from a medical institution and a prescription card bearing appellant’s name inside a pocket of the jacket. The trunk also contained two sets of men’s clothing and two sets of women’s clothing. The men’s clothing was consistent with appellant’s size. The passenger stated that the clothing in the trunk belonged to appellant and her.

Prior to trial, appellant filed a motion to suppress the marijuana. The court heard his motion and denied it. The jury found appellant guilty, and he now appeals.

DISCUSSION

Investigative Detentions

In appellant’s first point he complains that the trial court erred by denying his motion to suppress because the search of the car he was driving violated the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution. Specifically, appellant argues that the initial stop by Officer Beauchamp was not justified and that his continued detention was not based upon reasonable suspicion.

[255]*255We review the denial of a motion to suppress by giving almost total deference to a trial court’s determination of historical facts and reviewing de novo the court’s application of the law. Carmouche v. State, 10 S.W.3d 323, 327 (Tex.Crim.App.2000). When the trial court does not make explicit findings of historical facts, we review the evidence in the light most favorable to the trial court’s ruling. Id. at 327-28. In determining whether a trial court’s decision is supported by the record, we generally consider only evidence adduced at the suppression hearing because the ruling was based on it rather than evidence introduced later. Rachal v. State, 917 S.W.2d 799, 809 (Tex.Crim.App.), cert. denied, 519 U.S. 1043, 117 S.Ct. 614, 136 L.Ed.2d 539 (1996). However, this general rule is inapplicable where the suppression issue has been consensually relitigated by the parties during trial on the merits. Id. Where the State raises the issue at trial either without objection or with subsequent participation in the inquiry by the defense, the defendant has made an election to re-open the evidence, and consideration of relevant trial testimony is also appropriate in our review. Id. Here, appellant objected at trial and re-urged his motion to suppress when the State offered the physical evidence found in the trunk. Although the trial court summarily denied the objection and admitted the marijuana, we will only consider the evidence adduced at the suppression hearing.

Law enforcement officers may stop and briefly detain persons suspected of criminal activity if the circumstances upon which the officers rely objectively support a reasonable suspicion that the person detained actually is, has been, or soon will be engaged in criminal activity. Davis v. State, 947 S.W.2d 240, 244 (Tex.Crim.App.1997).

“Reasonable suspicion” exists if the officer has specific articulable facts that, when combined with rational inferences from those facts, would lead him to reasonably suspect that a particular person has engaged or is (or soon will be) engaging in criminal activity.

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

Related

The State of Texas v. Timothy Robertson
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2024
Emilio Morales v. the State of Texas
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2023
Dustin Michael Vardeman v. the State of Texas
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2021
Whitney Charles Frilot v. the State of Texas
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2021
Jose Salvador Flores v. the State of Texas
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2021
Jose Salvador Aguilar v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2020
Frank Phillip McNabb AKA Frank McNabb v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2020
Walter Dennis Dunlap v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2020
Kody Austin Lott v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2019
Dudley Leon Johnson v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2019
Jimmy Edward Henderson v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2018
Thomas Damien McLean v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2018
John Paige Paschall v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2018
Daniel Ores Pulver v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2016
Bradley Leroy Thompson v. State
Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2015
Heather Thomas v. State
420 S.W.3d 195 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2013)
Brithe Thompson v. State
408 S.W.3d 614 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2013)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
58 S.W.3d 250, 2001 Tex. App. LEXIS 6457, 2001 WL 1098006, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcquarters-v-state-texapp-2001.