Murphy v. State

44 S.W.3d 656, 2001 Tex. App. LEXIS 2236, 2001 WL 324758
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 5, 2001
Docket03-00-00193-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by55 cases

This text of 44 S.W.3d 656 (Murphy 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
Murphy v. State, 44 S.W.3d 656, 2001 Tex. App. LEXIS 2236, 2001 WL 324758 (Tex. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

JOHN F. ONION, Justice

(Assigned).

Appellant Michael Francis Murphy appeals his conviction for operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated. See Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 49.04 (West Supp.2001). After the jury found appellant guilty, the trial court assessed punishment after proof of two alleged prior convictions for operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated. The penalty assessed was four years’ imprisonment. See id. § 49.09(b).

Points of Error

Appellant advances four points of error. In the first two points of error, appellant complains that the trial court, over objections, erred in defining the term “normal use” in the jury charge because the instruction (1) singled out testimony and commented on the weight of the evidence, and (2) was an unnecessary and inaccurate definition, a misstatement of law, all in violation of article 36.14 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. See Tex.Code Crim. Proc. Ann. art. 36.14 (West Supp. 2001). In his third and fourth points of error, appellant urges that the trial court erred in admitting evidence that prior to the arrest the police had received an anonymous report that a truck was driving erratically on the highway because (1) the testimony was hearsay, and (2) the admission of the evidence denied appellant his constitutional right of confrontation and cross-examination.

Facts

The State agrees with appellant’s summary of the facts, which provides:

Michael Murphy is a home builder. On April 19, 1999, at about 5:00 a.m., he woke up and prepared to go to work. About 6:00 a.m., he and his step son Jason left their house and drove to his brother’s property in Blanco County, where they were building him a cabin. They had been working on the cabin seven days a week for three weeks, and on April 19, they were finishing the exterior and working on the roof. Mr. Murphy and Jason worked all day, ending around 6:30 p.m. At about 7:00 p.m. Mr. Murphy and Jason went to the 306 Bar and Grill to meet Clois Cox, to discuss building a house for him in the future. Mr. Murphy and Jason stayed at the 306 until about 9:00 p.m., during which time Mr. Murphy had four 12 ounce beers. After leaving the 306, they were going home to go to bed, so they could get up the next day and go to work. Before arriving at home, they stopped off for ten or fifteen minutes to buy gas at the Circle K convenience store at FM 2673 and FM 306 in Comal County.
Shortly after 10:00 p.m., Comal County deputy sheriff Brett Smith received a call from his dispatcher that there was a white truck with boxes in the back weaving all over the road and traveling south on FM 306 from Hancock. The dispatcher did not describe the truck by make, model, license number or occupants. Ten to twelve minutes later deputy Smith spotted a white truck with several tool boxes in the back parked at the gas pump at the Circle K. Unsure whether this truck was the subject of *659 the dispatch, Smith waited until it drove off, then followed.
Deputy Smith followed the truck south on 306 toward Purgatory Road for some distance, during which time it weaved within its own lane, and crossed both the white and yellow lines several times. Deputy Smith had no reason to believe the truck was speeding. After the truck crossed the yellow line the third time, Smith activated his overhead lights, and the truck pulled over onto the grass. As requested, Mr. Murphy produced his drivers’ license and proof of insurance. The officer noticed disorientation and some alcohol smell, and, after determining that there were no outstanding warrants, he asked Mr. Murphy to step out and perform field sobriety tests. Based on the field sobriety tests performed — the horizontal gaze nystagmus test, the walk and turn test, the one leg stand test, and the alphabet test — deputy Smith concluded that Mr. Murphy was intoxicated, and he placed him under arrest for driving while intoxicated. According to the officer, Mr. Murphy offered him first $100.00 dollars, then $1,000.00, if he would just follow him home.
The officer took Mr. Murphy to the sheriffs office where he videotaped him performing the same tests he had previously administered. Mr. Murphy refused to submit to a breath test, insisting that he believed it unreliable. He did, however, repeatedly request, even insist upon a blood test. Deputy Smith testified that he tried to accommodate that request, but he could not obtain a blood vial. Smith did not, however, advise Mr. Murphy that he had a right to have someone of his own choosing administer a blood test.'
Mr. Murphy was 45 years old at the time of trial. According to his brother Bill, Mr. Murphy had the body of a 70 year old from a life time of hard work. He normally walked “like an old man with arthritis.” Bill testified that when he saw him that day, his brother was “[njonnal for Mike.” Mr. Murphy testified that he was tired the night he was arrested, and that his legs were hurting badly. In October 1998, he had had ear surgery. His truck had over 350,000 miles on it and had “a lot of play in the steering wheel.” Mr. Murphy denied that he was intoxicated on April 19, 1999. “Just tired, sore, and worn out.”
The parties stipulated that Mr. Murphy had been twice previously convicted of driving while intoxicated. The written stipulation was introduced in evidence as state’s exhibit one.

“A person commits an offense if the person is intoxicated while operating a motor vehicle in a public place.” Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 49.04(a) (West Supp.2001). 1

The essential element of “intoxicated” is defined by statute. At the time of the instant offense, the term “intoxicated” statutorily meant:

(2)(A) not having the normal use of mental or physical faculties by reason of the introduction of alcohol, a controlled substance, a drug, a dangerous drug, a combination of two or more of *660 those substances, or any other substance into the body; or
(B) having an alcohol concentration of 0.10 or more.

Act of May 29, 1993, 73d, Leg. R.S., ch. 900, § 1.01, 1993 Tex. Gen. Laws 3586, 3696 (former section 49.01(2)(A), (B) of the Texas Penal Code). 2 The statutory definition of “intoxicated” provides two means or modes of committing the same offense. Kilgo v. State, 880 S.W.2d 828, 829 (Tex.App.—Dallas 1994, pet. ref'd).

In discussing the very statute under which appellant was prosecuted, this Court in Atkins v. State, 990 S.W.2d 763 (Tex.App.-Austin 1999, pet. ref'd), stated:

Thus, the statute provides for either an objective standard (.10 blood alcohol concentration) or a subjective standard 5

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Bluebook (online)
44 S.W.3d 656, 2001 Tex. App. LEXIS 2236, 2001 WL 324758, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/murphy-v-state-texapp-2001.