Quebodeaux v. State

890 S.W.2d 532, 1994 Tex. App. LEXIS 3166, 1994 WL 711703
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 21, 1994
DocketNo. 09-94-001 CR
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 890 S.W.2d 532 (Quebodeaux 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
Quebodeaux v. State, 890 S.W.2d 532, 1994 Tex. App. LEXIS 3166, 1994 WL 711703 (Tex. Ct. App. 1994).

Opinion

OPINION

WALKER, Chief Justice.

Appellant waived trial by a jury and pleaded not guilty to the trial court upon an indictment for the felony offense of Possession of a Controlled Substance. The trial court found appellant guilty and assessed punishment at thirty-six (36) years’ confinement in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, Institutional Division. Appellant urges three points of error before us, viz:

Point of Error 1: The trial court erred by allowing inadmissible hearsay testimony into evidence during a suppression hearing, over objection, wMch was allegedly uttered by an undisclosed nontestifying witness.
Point of Error 2: The trial court erred by not suppressing the fruits of the search in that there were not sufficient reliable facts from a reliable source to issue the teletype wMch was the basis of the stop.
Point of Error 3: The trial court erred in applying Tex.Code Crim.Proc. § (sic) 14.03 to justify its demal of the motion to suppress.

We will discuss the points of error in reverse order. Point of error three ar[534]*534gues that because the trial court based its ruling on the code provision in question, to the apparent surprise of appellant, appellant was prejudiced in that appellant was unable to argue the inapplicability of said code provision. As to this specific argument, which we see as the crux of point of error three, appellant provides absolutely no ease or statutory law in support thereof. As such, point of error three suffers from inadequate briefing in violation of Tex.R.App.P. 74(f). In addition, it is well settled case law that the mere fact that a correct ruling is given by the trial court for the wrong reason will not result in a reversal, and said correct ruling will not be disturbed on appeal, if it is correct on any theory of law applicable to the case. Jones v. State, 833 S.W.2d 118, 125 (Tex.Crim.App.1992), cert. denied, — U.S. -, 113 S.Ct. 1285, 122 L.Ed.2d 678 (1993); Romero v. State, 800 S.W.2d 539, 543 (Tex.Crim.App.1990); Calloway v. State, 743 S.W.2d 645, 651-652 (Tex.Crim.App.1988).

As the trial court’s ruling on appellant’s motion to suppress was a correct one, as will be discussed infra, we find that no error occurred. Point of error three is overruled.

Prior to discussing the merits of point of error two, a rendition of the facts surrounding the discovery of the contraband as well as a description of the various pretrial proceedings is in order. Prior to trial, appellant filed an instrument entitled, “Motion For Discovery Of Informant’s Identity And Request For Production Of Information On Informant’s Location And Prior Record.” Appellant also filed three motions to suppress evidence with each complaining of the “stop, detention and arrest” of appellant and the search of the vehicle appellant was operating on November 13, 1991.

The record before us reflects that on January 25, 1993, the trial court conducted the first of two pretrial hearings on appellant’s suppression motions. A single witness, Port Arthur Police Officer Gary DeFrancis testified. Officer DeFrancis was the arresting officer and testified that at approximately 10:45 p.m. on November 12, 1991, and again at approximately 12:05 a.m. on November 13/ 1991, the Bridge City Police Department issued a “be on the lookout” message to area law enforcement agencies concerning a gold Mazda RX7 automobile, with a particular license plate number, being driven by a man named Quebodeaux. The first message contained information that the subject was in possession of “150 hits of L.S.D. as well as an illegal knife.” The second message indicated that the subject was in possession of two knives instead of only one, as well as the L.S.D.

Officer DeFrancis then testified that at approximately 12:33 a.m., he observed a vehicle matching the description contained in the Bridge City Police teletype. The vehicle entered the parking lot of a Port Arthur night club, the Barbary Coast. DeFrancis then stated that he approached the vehicle, identified appellant as the driver of the vehicle, and identified a male passenger as Rocky Hudson. The following testimony was then elicited from Officer DeFrancis by the State:

Q. (State) Did you ask Mr. Quebedeaux (sic) if, in fact, he was the owner of the vehicle in question?
A. (DeFrancis) Yes, I did.
Q. What was his response to you?
A. He told me that he had recently purchased it.
Q. Once you spoke with Mr. Quebedeaux (sic), determined his identity and determined that he was, in fact, the owner of the vehicle — or claimed to be the owner of the vehicle, did you ask him to execute a consent to search the vehicle?
A. I first asked him if he would allow me to search his vehicle. He verbally agreed to it.
Q. Did you later execute a written consent to search and have him sign it?
A. Yes, it is our policy that when they do consent, we also request that they sign a consent paper.
Q. Do you use a standardized form for that purpose?
A. Yes, we do.
Q. Do you keep forms for that with you while you’re on patrol?
A. Yes, we do.
Q. Did Mr. Quebedeaux (sic) in the presence of yourself and the other officers sign one of those forms prior to your actually searching his vehicle?
A. Yes, he did.

[535]*535We note the fact that appellant makes no complaint as to the voluntariness of the consent to search. At any rate, the written consent to search form executed by appellant was admitted into evidence without objection. DeFrancis testified that a search of the vehicle turned up both the L.S.D. and the illegal knife as described in the Bridge City Police teletype. Further germane testimony of Officer DeFrancis on redirect examination occurred as follows:

Q. (State) Of course, when you approached, you were not relying upon the confidential informant because you did not know of their existence, did you?
A. (DeFrancis) No, sir, I did not, no.
Q. You were relying upon the information passed on by one police agency to another agency; is that correct?
A. That’s correct.
Q. In your experience, have you acted on information from other police agencies before?
A. Yes, I have.
Q. In your knowledge and experience, have other agencies acted upon information from you?
A. Yes.
Q. When you identified Mr. Quebedeaux (sic) and determined he was the owner of the vehicle, if he at that point had asked you if there was any reason to hold him and he could leave, what would you have done?
A. I would have had no choice but to let him leave.

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Bluebook (online)
890 S.W.2d 532, 1994 Tex. App. LEXIS 3166, 1994 WL 711703, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/quebodeaux-v-state-texapp-1994.