Meza v. State

549 S.W.3d 672
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 4, 2017
DocketNo. 04-16-00735-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 549 S.W.3d 672 (Meza 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
Meza v. State, 549 S.W.3d 672 (Tex. Ct. App. 2017).

Opinion

Opinion by: Marialyn Barnard, Justice

A jury found appellant Janie Meza guilty of endangering a child. The trial court sentenced Meza to two years' confinement, probated for two years. On appeal, Meza contends: (1) the trial court erred in denying her motion to quash; (2) the trial court erred in permitting a police officer to testify about Meza's possible drug consumption; and (3) the evidence is insufficient to sustain the conviction.2 We affirm the trial court's judgment.

BACKGROUND

Sometime after 11:00 p.m., Walter Ortiz Gonzalez, an employee of the InTown Suites hotel, received a telephone call from a guest, who was concerned about a "little girl" running around in the building. Upon investigation, Mr. Gonzalez saw a little girl running around in the building and climbing on the third floor balcony. Mr. Gonzalez stated he did not see an adult with the girl; he was concerned for her safety. He testified he feared she would fall "or someone will rape her." Mr. Gonzalez called the police. While he was waiting for authorities to arrive, he asked the little girl, "Where is your mom?" The girl could not speak very well, saying only, "My mommy. Mommy. Mom." The little girl then ran toward a car parked in the hotel parking lot next to a dumpster. Mr. Gonzalez approached the car and saw a woman "sleeping" inside; the motor of the car was running. The child knocked on the car door repeating, "Mom. Mom. Mom." However, the woman did not wake up until authorities arrived and woke her up.

Mr. Gonzalez testified that as part of his duties, he is required to clean up the parking lot every morning and then again before he leaves. He stated there are often broken bottles and other debris in the parking lot, especially around the dumpster, which is sometimes overfilled. Mr. Gonzalez also stated the hotel is located on a very busy roadway, which is busy even in *677the evenings. He also advised that guests' cars enter and leave the parking lot at all hours of the night.

Officers Travis Gourley and Newman3 of the San Antonio Police Department were working with the DWI unit near the InTown Suites when the 911 call made by Mr. Gonzalez appeared on the patrol car computer screen.4 Because they were close to the InTown Suites, they took the call. Based on information from the patrol car computer, they knew the call concerned "a small child walking around the complex unattended" and it was suspected "the mother of the child was passed out in a parked vehicle" in the hotel parking lot. The officers had a description of the car and when they arrived, they found a car matching the description in the back of the InTown Suites' parking lot. When they approached, the car's headlights were on and the engine was running. Officer Gourley stated he suspected the car was occupied, but he could not see any movement within the car.

Officer Gourley also saw a child walking with two men near the hotel. He estimated the child was between four and six years old. He believed she was barefoot. The officers approached the car and saw "a female sleeping in the front seat." At trial, Officer Gourley identified the "female" as Meza. He tried to open the driver's door, but it was locked. Officer Newman was able to open the unlocked passenger-side door, and Officer Gourley, who had moved to the passenger side of the car, was then able to reach inside and turn off the motor. At that point, the child entered the car and woke up the driver. It was ultimately determined Meza was the child's mother.

Officer Gourley returned to the driver's side of the vehicle and opened the door. When he did, he saw a "nearly empty" bottle of wine in plain view. When he began talking with the driver-Meza-he detected "a faint odor of intoxicants." Meza "admitted to drinking something," but her answers to officers were confusing. Meza claimed she was at the hotel to meet a friend, but the friend never showed up. Meza claimed she put her daughter to sleep in the car and she then fell asleep.

Officer Gourley stated he and Officer Newman conducted a DWI investigation given the circumstances. At trial, he described the standardized field sobriety tests: (1) the horizontal gaze nystagmus ("HGN") test where officers look for an "involuntary jerking" of the subject's eyes, which can be caused by alcohol or a central nervous system ("CNS") depressing drug; (2) the walk-and-turn test where the subject is required to take nine heel-to-toe steps in a straight line and then return to the starting point; and (3) the one-leg stand where the subject is asked to stand on one foot with his or her hands to the side, counting out loud for approximately thirty seconds. Officer Gourley supervised Officer Newman as she administered the tests. At the conclusion of the testing, and based on other observations, the officers suspected Meza had been driving under the influence and arrested her. Although Meza agreed to take a breath test at the scene, the officers did not have the capability to administer the test there.

Ultimately, after the officers obtained a search warrant, a blood draw was taken *678from Meza approximately two hours after the 911 call was received. The results established Meza was not intoxicated, and the evidence showed the charge of "DWI with a child" was dismissed for insufficient evidence. However, Officer Gourley opined, based on his training and experience, that because alcohol was ruled out, he believed Meza was under the influence of some sort of drug, a depressant. Officer Gourley, who received training as a "drug recognition expert" ("DRE"), explained that because nystagmus was present during the HGN portion of the field sobriety test-as well as other intoxication indicators, but alcohol was ruled out as the cause, he suspected Meza was under the influence of a CNS depressing drug.

In addition to Officer Gourley, the State also produced testimony from Officer Eric Theodore Alvarez and Detective Alison Tamez. Officer Alvarez, a patrol officer with SAPD, testified the InTown Suites is in the area where he was assigned to patrol at the time Meza and her child became the subject of the 911 call. He stated that during the time he patrolled that area, it was the subject of numerous police calls, including calls for assaults, vehicle thefts, shootings, prostitution, rapes, and drug activity. More specifically, he testified he had responded to calls at the InTown Suites, which included calls for disturbances by the homeless, drug activity, family violence, assaults, burglaries, thefts, and stolen vehicles.

Officer Alvarez testified that around 11:30 p.m., he and his partner that evening, Detective Tamez, were dispatched to the InTown Suites "for an individual that was asleep in a vehicle and a child was walking the parking lot of the hotel." When they arrived, Officers Gourley and Newman were already there. At that time, Meza was awake and the officers were speaking with her. Mr. Gonzalez, the hotel employee who had called 911, approached Officer Alvarez, and when the officer learned he was the 911 caller, he asked him what had happened. Officer Alvarez also spoke to the hotel guest who first saw the little girl roaming the hotel grounds and reported it to Mr. Gonzalez.

Officer Alvarez stated that when he and Detective Tamez arrived, he saw a little girl who he estimated to be four to five years of age.

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

Related

Abilene Schnieder v. the State of Texas
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2025
Christopher Revill v. the State of Texas
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2021
People v. Penning
2021 IL App (3d) 190366 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2021)
Erica Hampton Bicknell v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2020
Justin Allen Lee v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2019

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
549 S.W.3d 672, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/meza-v-state-texapp-2017.