Poulos v. State

799 S.W.2d 769, 1990 Tex. App. LEXIS 2700, 1990 WL 172788
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 8, 1990
Docket01-89-00869-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 799 S.W.2d 769 (Poulos 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
Poulos v. State, 799 S.W.2d 769, 1990 Tex. App. LEXIS 2700, 1990 WL 172788 (Tex. Ct. App. 1990).

Opinion

OPINION

DYESS, Justice.

Appellant was convicted by a jury of driving while intoxicated. See Tex.Rev.Civ. Stat.Ann. art. 670K-1 (Vernon Supp.1990). The court assessed punishment at 180 days confinement, probated for two years, and a $400.00 fine.

We affirm, and in so doing, make the following observations.

Shortly after midnight on April 5, 1989, Houston police officer Garza was driving inbound on Westheimer in a marked patrol unit and noticed appellant’s car proceeding outbound at a high rate of speed without headlights. Garza turned his patrol car around and noticed appellant run a red light at an intersection. Garza turned on his warning lights and siren and followed appellant through another red light at another intersection.- Appellant then pulled her car to the side of the road.

After appellant stopped her car, Garza left his car and approached appellant’s car window. He observed a beer can cradled between appellant’s legs, noticed the smell of alcohol on her breath, and observed her bloodshot eyes. Instructing appellant to remain in her car and informing her that he would return, Garza returned to the patrol car and activated a small, video camera mounted on the dashboard. He then returned to appellant’s car, asked her to leave the vehicle and to perform several sobriety tests, which she did not do successfully. The video portion of the tape was later admitted into evidence over appellant’s repeated objections.

In two points of error appellant alleges the trial court erred in: (1) admitting the video portion of the videotape of the field sobriety test, and (2) denying a requested charge that would have asked the jury to disregard evidence that it believed was obtained in violation of federal or state law. See Tex.Code Crim.P.Ann. art. 38.23 (Vernon Supp.1990).

Appellant’s first point contends that “the trial court erred in denying [her] motion to suppress the videotape [of her] taken at the scene of the arrest.” Appellant argues that she was “arrested” by officer Garza and then subjected to “custodial interrogation” when she was required to perform sobriety tests on camera. Insisting that the evidence contained in the videotape was self-incriminating, she concludes that she should have received Miranda warnings before the tape was made. See Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 479, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 1630, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). Because she was not warned, she argues *771 that the videotape was inadmissible under state and federal constitutional protections against self-incrimination. See U.S. Const. amend. V; Tex. Const, art. I, sec. 10.

We disagree. First, the video portion of the videotape was not appellant’s “testimony” within the purview of the constitutional prohibitions against self-incrimination.

Although appellant may have been under arrest, 1 the images of her captured on videotape are “not testimonial in nature and therefore [do] not offend the Fifth Amendment privilege against self-incrimination.” Miffleton v. State, 777 S.W.2d 76, 80 (Tex.Crim.App.1989). Similarly, the video portion of the videotape is not “testimony” for purposes of Texas constitutional protections against self-incrimination. Id. at 80-81; Tex. Const. art. I, sec. 10. In holding that a station house videotape of a DWI suspect’s post-arrest actions was not self-incriminating “testimony” prompted by unlawful interrogation, the Miffleton court concluded that “visual depictions of a suspect’s physical condition, like samples of blood, breath, or handwriting, are not testimonial in nature and do not fall within the federal or state privileges against self-incrimination.” Id. at 80-81 (citing Schmerber v. California, 384 U.S. 757, 764, 86 S.Ct. 1826, 1832, 16 L.Ed.2d 908 (1966) (forcible extraction of blood sample from intoxicated DWI suspect was not testimony and did not violate fifth amendment); Gilbert v. California, 388 U.S. 263, 266-67, 87 S.Ct. 1951, 1953-54, 18 L.Ed.2d 1178 (1967) (forced handwriting samples from defendant was not testimony and did not violate fifth amendment); Rodriguez v. State, 631 S.W.2d 515, 517 (Tex.Crim.App. [Panel Op.] 1982) (breath samples are not testimonial communication protected by the fifth amendment). Here, as in Miffleton, the video portion of the tape is not testimony— it is a “visual depiction of appellant’s physical condition” at the time of the arrest. 777 S.W.2d at 81. In short, appellant’s physical characteristics and actions are evidence, not her testimony. See Doe v. United States, 487 U.S. 201, 210, 108 S.Ct. 2341, 2347, 101 L.Ed.2d 184 (1988) (“in order to be testimonial [for fifth amendment analysis], an accused’s communication must itself, explicitly or implicitly, relate a factual assertion or disclose information”). Here, the arresting officer could testify to appellant’s physical condition at the time of the arrest without violating constitutional protections — the videotape presents the same evidence.

Our conclusion that the video portion of the tape is not “testimony” accords with the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Pennsylvania v. Muniz, — U.S. —, 110 S.Ct. 2638, 2650-51, 110 L.Ed.2d 528 (1990) in which the Court held that various verbal and visual appearances of a drunk-driving suspect were not responses to “custodial interrogation” for purposes of the fifth amendment of the federal constitution.

In addition, because the videotape is not “testimony,” we reject appellant’s contention that Miranda applies.

In order to protect the federal constitutional privilege against testimonial self-incrimination, the United States Supreme Court mandated that certain warnings be given to suspects before “custodial interrogation.” See Miranda v. Arizona, 384 U.S. 436, 469, 86 S.Ct. 1602, 1625, 16 L.Ed.2d 694 (1966). Miranda applies when police “interrogation” may invite self-incriminating “testimony.” See, e.g., Muniz, 110 S.Ct. at 2647-48. As noted above, however, the video portion of the videotape did not elicit self-incriminating “testimony” within the meaning of the federal constitution, thus precluding the need for the Miranda warnings. Similarly, as held in Mif-fleton, the video portion of the videotape did not compel self-incriminating “testimony” within the meaning of the self-incrimination provisions of the state constitution and thus a protective device (such as a Miranda warning) would be unnecessary. 777 S.W.2d at 80; see also Thomas v. State, 723 S.W.2d 696

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Bluebook (online)
799 S.W.2d 769, 1990 Tex. App. LEXIS 2700, 1990 WL 172788, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/poulos-v-state-texapp-1990.