Noah v. State

495 S.W.2d 260, 1973 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 2447
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 6, 1973
Docket46130
StatusPublished
Cited by38 cases

This text of 495 S.W.2d 260 (Noah 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
Noah v. State, 495 S.W.2d 260, 1973 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 2447 (Tex. 1973).

Opinion

OPINION

ONION, Presiding Judge.

This appeal arises out of a conviction for possession of heroin wherein the punishment was assessed at 50 years.

At the outset the appellant urges that the trial court erred in admitting into evidence “contraband which was recovered as a result of the unlawful chase and arrest of the Appellant in violation of the Fourth, Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution.”

On February 2, 1971, Galveston City Police Officer Picard, in company with Officer Melanson, was on Pelican Island in an unmarked police vehicle — a 1966 Ford Mustang — when Picard saw the appellant alight from a 1970 Buick automobile at approximately 3 p.m. Shortly thereafter, he saw the appellant emerge from a brushy area accompanied by Wilburn Charles Hin-son. Officer Picard testified he was on *263 Pelican Island as a result of information he had reecived. 1

Picard observed the appellant and Hin-son speak to each other for a few moments and then go to their respective cars. Pi-card followed the appellant, but was unable to keep up with him as the appellant was travelling in excess of 60 m.p.h. Picard then radioed a dispatch asking for assistance in stopping the appellant’s vehicle, and then gave up the chase when the brakes on the Mustang failed. Officer Williams then took up the chase but soon lost sight of the appellant. Officer C. L. Adams, who heard the police dispatch, took up the chase, and chased the appellant for approximately 15 blocks down Avenue H at speeds up to 90 m.p.h. In the vicinity of 43rd Street and Avenue H, he saw the appellant throw a package from the car and he swerved to avoid hitting it, and he stopped the appellant between 44th and 45th Streets after firing a warning shot. Within three to five minutes after the appellant was placed in the custody of another officer, Adams returned to the place where the package had been thrown from the car and found it in the same position, with no other packages in the area nor people about when he arrived. Officer Rubio arrived and took pictures and attempted to lift fingerprints from the package but only obtained smudges.

A field test performed on the substance in the package showed it to be heroin. It was then packaged and mailed to the Department of Public Safety. The chain of custody was established and the chemist testified the substance was heroin and sufficient to make 625 capsules.

No contraband was found on appellant’s person or in his automobile.

Testifying in his own behalf, the appellant, who had been convicted previously of a felony, denied any involvement with nar-

cotics. He related that on the afternoon in question he was road testing his sister’s automobile because of front end trouble; that he had only stopped to relieve himself in the brushy area on Pelican Island, and that he did not know Hinson. He denied knowing that he was being followed by Officer Picard, and, though he saw a marked police vehicle, he related he did not realize that he was the object of the pursuit until just shortly before he was stopped. He acknowledged he was speeding but insisted he was doing this as a part of the “road testing.”

It is obvious from what has been said that the contraband in question was not obtained as a result of appellant’s arrest and a search incident thereto, but, was recovered from the ground where it had been thrown by the appellant. We find no merit in appellant’s contention. See King v. State, 416 S.W.2d 823, 824 (Tex.Cr.App.1967), and cases there cited; Gonzales v. State, 461 S.W.2d 408 (Tex.Cr.App.1971); Hamilton v. State, 438 S.W.2d 814 (Tex.Cr.App.1969); Harless v. State, 473 S.W. 2d 519 (Tex.Cr.App.1971); Weeks v. State, 476 S.W.2d 310 (Tex.Cr.App.1972).

Appellant further contends “. . . the evidence was insufficient to prove possession of the alleged contraband

This contention is based upon the fact that Officer Adams testified that the package was not in his sight for three to five minutes which time it took him to stop the appellant, place him in the custody of another officer, and walk back to the spot where he retrieved the package. Adams testified, however, the package was in the spot where he had seen appellant throw it, that no other packages were in the area, and he saw no other persons in that immediate area.

*264 Viewing the evidence in the light most favorable to the jury’s verdict, we conclude that the evidence is sufficient to prove possession. See Floyd v. State, 494 S.W.2d 828 (Tex.Cr.App.1973).

Appellant also urges the contraband should not have been admitted into evidence since the proper chain of custody was not established.

There appears to have been an earlier trial which resulted in a mistrial. Appellant’s argument is directed, not so much at the custody from the officers to chemist, but to the fact that the Court Reporter, Ray O’Neill, retained possession of the contraband from the first trial until the second trial. He points to the fact that O’Neill testified that he kept the exhibit in a locker and that there could have been times when the locker had been left unlocked when he was out of the office for a short time thereby rendering access to the locker available to other persons.

The Court Reporter testified that the exhibit had been in his exclusive possession from the time in question until he had turned it over to an Assistant District Attorney during the second trial and that it was in the same condition as when he first received it. He related the locker was kept locked most of the time and that he had the only key. The Assistant District Attorney, the chemist and the officers all testified the package appeared to be in the same condition as when they had earlier handled the same.

There was no showing that the exhibit had been tampered with or changed in any way. The exhibit was not rendered inadmissible. Appellant’s objection on the ground urged went to the weight rather than the admissibility of the evidence. The exhibit was sufficiently identified at the trial by the various witnesses. See Walker v. State, 470 S.W.2d 669 (Tex.Cr.App.1971), and cases there cited; Mitchell v. State, 488 S.W.2d 786 (Tex.Cr.App.1973), and cases there cited.

Appellant claims the trial court erred “. . . in allowing the introduction into evidence of the character and reputation of Wilburn Charles Hinson, thereby allowing the jury to infer guilt by association.”

Picard related he had.seen the appellant with Hinson. When asked who Hinson was, over objection, he replied . .a subject known to me through informants and through his personality . . .

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Bluebook (online)
495 S.W.2d 260, 1973 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 2447, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/noah-v-state-texcrimapp-1973.