Oguntope v. State

177 S.W.3d 435, 2005 Tex. App. LEXIS 3498, 2005 WL 1111242
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 5, 2005
Docket01-04-00205-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 177 S.W.3d 435 (Oguntope 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
Oguntope v. State, 177 S.W.3d 435, 2005 Tex. App. LEXIS 3498, 2005 WL 1111242 (Tex. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

OPINION

JANE BLAND, Justice.

Appellant Samuel Oguntope waived his right against self-incrimination, his right to trial by jury, and his right to confrontation. He judicially confessed to the State’s allegations that he committed the misdemeanor offense of driving while intoxicated (“DWI”). After finding true an enhancement paragraph alleging a prior felony, the trial court assessed punishment at ten days’ confinement, suspended his driver’s license for one year, and entered an order requiring Oguntope to install an ignition interlock restriction device in his vehicle. 1

Before entering his plea of guilty, Ogun-tope moved to suppress the results of his field sobriety test. The trial court denied the motion. After entry of the plea, he filed a motion for new trial and to withdraw his plea. The trial court denied the motion. On appeal, Oguntope contends the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress the results of his field sobriety test because his agreement to perform the test improperly was coerced. We conclude that the trial court did not err and therefore affirm.

Facts and Procedural History

On December 12, 2003, a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper pulled over Oguntope’s vehicle at approximately 11:45 p.m. The trooper detected an alcoholic odor on Oguntope’s breath, and Oguntope admitted that he had consumed one beer. The trooper instructed Oguntope to follow his finger with his eyes. Oguntope refused. The trooper then requested that he submit to a breathalyzer test. Oguntope did not blow hard enough into the tube to successfully complete the test. The trooper told Oguntope that, “If you can’t do what I’m asking you to do, then I’m going to take you to jail for DWI.” Oguntope then performed several field sobriety tests, including the horizontal gaze nystagmus (“HGN”) test, straight line walk test, and a stand on one foot test. Oguntope failed the field sobriety tests, and the trooper arrested him for DWI. The trooper told Oguntope that he would give him another chance to take a breath test at the jail, and if he blew .08 or less, he would let the district attorney decide whether to keep him in jail. The trooper denied Ogun-tope’s requests to allow him to repeat the field sobriety tests. The trooper read *437 Oguntope the statutory warnings and asked him whether he would perform the breathalyzer test. Oguntope answered both yes and no, which the trooper interpreted as a no.

At trial, Oguntope moved to suppress evidence of the field sobriety tests. After watching the videotaped footage of the field sobriety tests and hearing oral argument, the trial court granted the motion in part and denied it in part. The court agreed to suppress (1) any breathalyzer results, although the trooper gathered no results because Oguntope did not successfully blow into the tube, and (2) the trooper’s statement concerning the district attorney. The trial court refused to suppress the results of the field sobriety tests. Oguntope then pleaded guilty to DWI.

Standard of Review

In reviewing a trial court’s ruling on a motion to suppress, we apply the bifurcated standard of review articulated in Guzman v. State, 955 S.W.2d 85, 89 (Tex.Crim.App.1997). We defer to a trial court’s determination of historical facts, and review de novo the trial court’s application of the law of search and seizure. Carmouche v. State, 10 S.W.3d 323, 327 (Tex.Crim.App.2000) (citing Guzman, 955 S.W.2d at 88-89). If the issue involves the credibility of a witness, we defer to a trial court’s ruling, as a trial court is in a better position to evaluate the credibility of witnesses before it. Guzman, 955 S.W.2d at 87, 89. If the trial court is called upon to apply the law to the facts, and the ultimate resolution of the issue does not turn on an evaluation of the credibility and demeanor of a witness, we review that issue de novo. Id. at 89.

Motion to Suppress

Oguntope contends the trial court erred in refusing to suppress the results of his field sobriety tests. Specifically, Ogun-tope contends the trooper’s comment that he would arrest him if he refused to perform the HGN test constitutes coercion that renders involuntary his agreement to take the test. Oguntope relies on the “due process clause of the federal Constitution” and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeal’s decision in Erdman v. State, 861 S.W.2d 890 (Tex.Crim.App.1993).

Oguntope observes that it is unlawful for “the police to coerce a defendant into producing evidence,” citing Rogers v. Richmond, 365 U.S. 534, 81 S.Ct. 735, 5 L.Ed.2d 760 (1961). In Rogers, the United States Supreme Court held that “convictions following the admission into evidence of confessions which are involuntary, i.e., the product of coercion, either physical or psychological, cannot stand.” 365 U.S. at 540, 81 S.Ct. at 739. Although Rogers holds that the State may not coerce a confession from a defendant, its reasoning does not preclude the State from obtaining evidence from a defendant against his or her will. 365 U.S. at 540-42, 81 S.Ct. at 739-40 (emphasis added). Contrary to Oguntope’s contention, the Court of Criminal Appeals has held that authorities may compel a defendant to submit physical evidence of intoxication. Jones v. State, 795 S.W.2d 171, 175 (Tex.Crim.App.1990); see also Thomas v. State, 723 S.W.2d 696, 704-05 (Tex.Crim.App.1986); Martin v. State, 97 S.W.3d 718, 720 (Tex.App.-Waco 2003, pet. ref'd).

Unlike a confession, the performance of a field sobriety test is not testimonial in nature, but rather is physical evidence of a motorist’s mental and physical faculties. Gassaway v. State, 957 S.W.2d 48, 51 (Tex.Crim.App.1997); Jones, 795 S.W.2d at 175; see also Shpikula v. State, 68 S.W.3d 212, 219 n. 5 (Tex.App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 2002, pet. ref'd) (citing Youens *438 v. State, 988 S.W.2d 404, 407 (Tex.App.-Houston [1st Dist.] 1999, no pet.)). In particular, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has reasoned that field sobriety tests are not testimonial because their results do not create “an express or implied assertion of fact or belief.” Gassaway, 957 S.W.2d at 51.

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Bluebook (online)
177 S.W.3d 435, 2005 Tex. App. LEXIS 3498, 2005 WL 1111242, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/oguntope-v-state-texapp-2005.