Muniz v. State

672 S.W.2d 804, 1984 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 712
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas
DecidedJuly 18, 1984
Docket61073
StatusPublished
Cited by27 cases

This text of 672 S.W.2d 804 (Muniz v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Muniz v. State, 672 S.W.2d 804, 1984 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 712 (Tex. 1984).

Opinion

OPINION

MILLER, Judge.

This is an appeal from a conviction for burglary of a habitation. Punishment was assessed at twenty-five years.

Appellant’s first three grounds of error challenge the trial court’s denial of a motion to quash the indictment due to discrimination in the grand jury selection process. In his fourth ground of error, which we shall discuss first, appellant contends there was no probable cause for his arrest and any evidence derived therefrom should have been excluded. We find appellant’s grounds of error to be without merit and accordingly affirm his conviction.

In order to review appellant’s claim that there was no probable cause for his arrest a brief recitation of the facts is appropriate. Appellant stands convicted of an October 6, 1977, burglary of the home of Paul Goodson. A police officer called to Good-son’s residence testified that the front door of the home had pry marks on it consistent with forced entry by use of a screwdriver.

The record reflects that on October 21, 1977, at approximately 12:45 p.m., shortly after interviewing a resident-witness to a burglary in the 10500 block of Beinhorn, Officer W.E. Spies, an 18 year veteran of the Village Police Department, observed two males fitting the description of the burglars, given to him by the witness, three blocks away from the reported burglary. Spies testified that after the men saw the police officer in his patrol car they “started throwing things out of their pocket” and were walking “at a fast walk.” Spies stopped the men and asked them what they were doing in the neighborhood and they responded that they were experiencing car trouble. After asking for identification, the two men replied they had both lost their billfolds while they were climbing roofs while working as roofers. Spies then offered to assist the men with their car and drive them to their automobile parked in a church lot one block away. When the offi- *806 eer asked the appellant to start the ear, appellant first replied that he had no car keys. The officer testified that appellant was feeling for his pocket when the police officer stopped him and did a quick pat-down search for weapons. The police officer found the car keys in appellant’s pocket. Appellant then said, “Oh, I didn’t know I had two sets.” At this point appellant and Ruiz were arrested and taken to the Village Police Department. Spies and Officer R.A. Stephens returned to the location where appellant Ruiz had first been sighted and found two watches and a screwdriver which were thrown down by the appellant. The screwdriver, evidence of the October 6th burglary, was admitted into evidence at trial. The watches apparently had been stolen in a third unrelated burglary.

Appellant’s contention that there was no probable cause to justify his arrest is without merit. While “the inarticulate hunch, suspicion, or good faith of an arresting officer is insufficient to constitute probable cause,” Brown v. State, 481 S.W.2d 106 (Tex.Cr.App.1972), the U.S. Supreme Court recognized in Sibron v. New York, 392 U.S. 40, 66, 88 S.Ct. 1889, 1904, 20 L.Ed.2d 917 (1967), that “deliberately furtive actions and flight at the approach of strangers or law officers are strong indicia of mens rea, and when coupled with specific knowledge on the part of the officer relating the suspect to the evidence of crime, they are proper factors to be considered in the decision to make an arrest.”

The test of probable cause for an arrest without a warrant was stated by the U.S. Supreme Court in Beck v. Ohio, 379 U.S. 89, 85 S.Ct. 223, 13 L.Ed.2d 142 (1964), as:

“Whether at that moment the facts and circumstances within the officer’s knowledge and of which [he] had reasonably trustworthy information were sufficient to warrant a prudent man in believing that the [arrested person] had committed or was committing an offense.”

A review of several similar cases is instructive in evaluating whether appellant’s activity constituted probable cause.

Thompson v. State, 533 S.W.2d 825 (Tex.Cr.App.1976), dealt with a case in which officers observed two individuals in a high crime area where many prowlers had been recently reported. The defendant was carrying what appeared to the officers as a woman’s suitcase. This was deemed sufficient probable cause to justify a momentary stop and request for identification. Once stopped, the defendant provided suspicious and inconsistent name and address information and the officers observed in plain view suspicious suitcase tag information. This justified the ultimate arrest and search of the pair.

In Castillo v. State, 494 S.W.2d 844 (Tex.Cr.App.1973), an opinion written by Judge Roberts, it was shown that while patrolling an alley at approximately 12:35 a.m., police officers “observed an automobile parked near the alley. There had been several burglaries in the area recently. Two men were seen exiting the alley, walking at a rapid pace toward the parked vehicle. That car drove off and the officers followed. They soon stopped the car and sought identification.” Id. at 845. Once this investigatory stop had been made, the police officer received inconsistent information from the two and observed that the appearance of the suspects was consistent with criminal activity. This provided justification to detain them until a second police unit could be “dispatched back to the alley and the officers discovered a side of beef, still cold, an adding machine and a calculator, all on one side of the alley. The back door to a meat company had been forced open.” Id. at 846. At this point, the defendant and his companion were arrested.

Presiding Judge Onion discussed a situation involving an experienced police officer “patrolling in the downtown business area on a routine building check” in Baity v. State, 455 S.W.2d 305 (Tex.Cr.App.1970), cert. denied, 400 U.S. 918, 91 S.Ct. 180, 27 L.Ed.2d 158 (1970). At 4:56 a.m., the officer “observed a man enter the alley ... then suddenly turn back out of the alley.” Id. at 306. The officer “sped up his vehicle and observed the man on Eighth Street walking fast with his coat pulled up tight *807 ... walking real fast.” Id. The officer recognized the person as one with a record of arrests for theft and burglary and at this point made an investigatory stop. When the defendant turned in response to the officer’s call, the officer then observed in plain view a burglary tool and some other object which proved to be a coin box. The officer then detained the defendant until he determined that a nearby cafeteria had been burglarized. At this point, the defendant was placed under lawful arrest.

In the instant case, the following facts support a finding that there was probable cause to arrest appellant:

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Bluebook (online)
672 S.W.2d 804, 1984 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 712, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/muniz-v-state-texcrimapp-1984.