Quanell X Abdul Farrakhan v. State

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 30, 2006
Docket01-04-01205-CR
StatusPublished

This text of Quanell X Abdul Farrakhan v. State (Quanell X Abdul Farrakhan 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
Quanell X Abdul Farrakhan v. State, (Tex. Ct. App. 2006).

Opinion

Opinion issued November 30, 2006





In The

Court of Appeals

For The

First District of Texas



NO. 01-04-01205-CR



QUANELL X ABDUL FARRAKHAN, Appellant



V.



THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee



On Appeal from the 338th District Court

Harris County, Texas

Trial Court Cause No. 990783



O P I N I O N



A jury convicted appellant, Quanell X Abdul Farrakhan, of the misdemeanor offense of "fleeing or attempting to elude a police officer." See Tex. Transp. Code Ann. § 545.421 (Vernon 1999). The trial court assessed punishment at 180 days in jail, suspended for 180 days of community supervision, and a $300 fine. We determine (1) whether the evidence is legally sufficient to support the conviction; (2) whether appellant's due process rights were violated by the State's alleged use of perjured testimony before the grand jury; and (3) whether the trial court erred in charging the jury on the lesser-included offense of which appellant was convicted. We reverse the judgment and remand the cause with instructions for the trial court to dismiss the indictment.

I. Background

On June 9, 2002, Derrick Forney shot a Houston Police Department ("HPD") officer. HPD searched for Forney, but to no avail. Detective Abbondandolo, of HPD's homicide division, was the lead detective on the case.

The night of June 10, 2004, appellant, a community activist who had assisted HPD with suspects' peaceful surrender at least 15 times in the past, contacted Jeff McShan, a local television reporter, and HPD to advise that Forney had asked appellant to assist in Forney's surrender. To accomplish Forney's surrender, appellant asked for and was granted permission to deliver Forney to HPD's Travis Street headquarters in downtown Houston that evening. The arranged procedure was consistent with how appellant and the HPD chief's office had handled surrenders facilitated by appellant in the past. This procedure had been put in place by the prior chief of police and had continued afterwards, although it had never been written down.

Forney later became "spooked" and would not allow appellant to deliver him to HPD that evening, but appellant advised HPD that he would try again the next morning. The next morning, McShan contacted Detective Abbondandolo to advise that HPD should send officers to the intersection of Bissonnet Street and Beltway 8 in Houston. Detective Abbondandolo drove to the intersection in an unmarked vehicle, with eight officers in four unmarked police vehicles joining him. When the detectives arrived, they saw appellant's black Hummer. McShan then called Detective Abbondandolo to advise that appellant and Forney were in the Hummer and that appellant would drive Forney to the Travis headquarters. McShan believed that the June 10 "deal" between appellant and HPD for appellant to deliver Forney to the Travis headquarters was still in place that morning, and he urged Detective Abbondandolo to honor it. Detective Abbondandolo decided that he and the officers who had accompanied him would "just follow behind" to ensure that appellant drove Forney to the Travis headquarters.

Appellant first drove along routes that were consistent with a downtown destination. However, the officers "became concerned" when appellant began taking routes that appeared to lead away from the downtown area. Then, when appellant headed away from downtown and into a residential neighborhood in which acquaintances of Forney's were known to reside, the detective became "very" concerned and felt that the officers "no longer had control of what was going on." Accordingly, Detective Abbondandolo "got on the radio and asked for patrol units to start coming toward our location" and also asked the officers who had accompanied him "to start coming in our direction to assist in this arrest." The detective did so because he feared that Forney had either changed his mind or that he was forcing appellant to drive against appellant's will.

Right then, appellant made an abrupt u-turn over a concrete median and headed in the opposite direction, going west toward the route to the Travis headquarters. Detective Abbondandolo turned around and began following appellant. By coincidence, and not in response to Detective Abbondandolo's call for the assistance of marked patrol units, HPD Officer Keith Roi (1) was driving eastward and came into view of Detective Abbondandolo's westward-bound car. (2) Officer Roi saw Detective Abbondandolo's partner signal him to stop appellant's vehicle. Officer Roi complied by turning around and following appellant, turning on his lights, and activating his siren "several times."

Appellant did not stop, although there were several places in which he could have. Instead, appellant continued driving in the general direction of downtown, which Detective Abbondandolo interpreted to mean that appellant was again heading to the Travis headquarters, and eventually entered the freeway. Appellant did not exceed the speed limit or drive erratically, and he had the flashers on for at least some of the time. (3) Appellant also did nothing "to avoid [Officer Roi's] following him." However, appellant accelerated when Officer Roi turned behind him onto the freeway access road, and appellant committed two traffic violations while Officer Roi was following him. (4)

While Officer Roi was following appellant, appellant tried to call HPD's police chief. The chief was out of the office, so appellant's call was routed to HPD Executive Assistant Chief Charles McClelland, the acting chief. Appellant, who was very excited, told McClelland that he was trying to bring in Forney, but that "trigger happy killer cops" were "all over him" and were "going to create an incident." Appellant also told McClelland that "this was not part of the deal." Although he was aware that appellant was to bring Forney to the Travis headquarters that morning, McClelland did not know what was happening on the ground except for what appellant told him--which did not include any mention that appellant had u-turned over a median, had twice violated traffic laws while Officer Roi was following him, and had recently driven away from downtown into an area in which Forney's friends were believed to live. (5) McClelland also denied knowing of a plan or protocol concerning how the suspect was to be brought in, what route he would take, and in what vehicle he would be transported.

McClelland feared that "something [was] going terribly wrong" and was concerned that Forney might instigate a stand-off, create a hostage situation, or cause someone to be harmed.

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