Morrison, Corey Dawan v. State

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 19, 2004
Docket14-02-00925-CR
StatusPublished

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Bluebook
Morrison, Corey Dawan v. State, (Tex. Ct. App. 2004).

Opinion

Affirmed and Opinion filed February 19, 2004

Affirmed and Opinion filed February 19, 2004.

In The

Fourteenth Court of Appeals

____________

NO. 14-02-00924-CR

NO. 14-02-00925-CR

COREY DAWAN MORRISON, Appellant

V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

On Appeal from the 351st District Court

Harris County, Texas

Trial Court Cause Nos. 901,102 & 918,723

O P I N I O N

Appellant Corey Dawan Morrison challenges his convictions for possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance and possession of a firearm by a felon.  In three points of error, appellant argues: (1) the trial court erred when it denied his motion to suppress evidence because the evidence was obtained during an illegal search; (2) he received ineffective assistance of counsel; and (3) the prosecutor assaulted appellant during her closing argument in the punishment phase of trial.  We affirm.


I.  Factual and Procedural Background

Officer K.Y. King of the Houston Police Department=s Narcotics Division obtained a combination search and arrest warrant on January 30, 2002, after a confidential informant purchased cocaine from a man known as AGucci.@  The warrant authorized the arrest of Aany person(s)[] including but not limited to . . . [>]Gucci[=],@ and the search of a business known as Video 2000, where the informant had purchased the drugs.  The officer conducting surveillance for the narcotics division monitored activity just prior to the raid at Video 2000, which was located in a strip center.  He testified that, shortly after surveillance began, AGucci,@ later identified as Kenneth McDonald, left the store for approximately 20 minutes.  McDonald had returned and was in the video store when a white Escalade arrived.  At this point, the raid team was en route to execute the warrant.  Two males (one later identified as appellant) and a female exited the vehicle and entered the store.  McDonald then left Video 2000 and walked to a convenience store in the same strip center.  The raid team arrived,  took McDonald into custody at the convenience store, and brought McDonald back with them to Video 2000.

The four individuals in the video store (McDonald, appellant, another male, and one female) were told to lay on the floor while officers performed a search of the premises.  Accounts of what occurred next differ.  According to testimony from at least one of the officers, the individuals were, at some point during this process, patted down, handcuffed, and placed in chairs.  During the suppression hearing, appellant testified that he was never placed in a chair, but was instead on his knees.  Officer King testified that she then noticed appellant Adigging around@ behind him and told him to be still.  Sergeant Garcia, whose primary objective was to secure the scene, also testified that appellant had his hands behind his back Aas if trying to place his hands . . . in the back of his pants.@  Officers King and Massey notified Officer Siewert that appellant was told several times to Aquit digging in the rear of his pants.@  At the suppression hearing, appellant denied that he was ever Adigging@ in his pants.


When appellant apparently refused to remain still, Officers Siewert and Massey took him to a back room of the store where the adult movies were displayed.  Once in the room, Officer Siewert testified that he pulled appellant=s pants back and observed a piece of plastic protruding from appellant=s buttocks.[1]  At the time, three other members of the raid team were present.  Officer Siewert testified that he then had appellant pull his pants down and bend over.  He retrieved the plastic bag, the contents of which were later identified as Arocks@ of crack cocaine.  During this period, appellant was resisting the officers and, consequently, the officers had to physically bend him over to retrieve the bag.  Appellant claimed, during the suppression hearing, that officers were holding the bag against his buttocks, he could not reach it, and it did not belong to him.  After recovery of the bag, appellant was placed under arrest.  While conducting the search of the premises, the officers also seized several guns and body armor from the video store.

Appellant was charged by indictment with possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance and with possession of a firearm by a felon.  A jury found appellant guilty of both offenses and, after finding two enhancement paragraphs to be true, assessed punishment at forty-five years= confinement for possession of a firearm by a felon and seventy-five years= confinement for possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance.

Appellant filed a motion for new trial on September 23, 2002, alleging prosecutorial misconduct, jury misconduct, and trial court error in instructing the jury on the law.

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