Rivera v. State

59 S.W.3d 268, 2001 Tex. App. LEXIS 5905, 2001 WL 985187
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 29, 2001
Docket06-00-00207-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 59 S.W.3d 268 (Rivera 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
Rivera v. State, 59 S.W.3d 268, 2001 Tex. App. LEXIS 5905, 2001 WL 985187 (Tex. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

OPINION

CORNELIUS, Chief Justice.

John Michael Rivera was convicted of possession of more than four but less than 200 grams of heroin. Rivera was convicted by a jury, which found two enhancement paragraphs true. The court sentenced Rivera to fifty years’ confinement.

On appeal, Rivera raises five points of error: In points one and two, he attacks the legal and factual sufficiency of the evidence to support the jury finding that he possessed heroin found in an apartment. In points three and four, he attacks the legal and factual sufficiency of the evidence to support his conviction for possessing heroin found in his vehicle. In point five, he contends the trial court erred in overruling his motion to suppress evidence found in an apartment pursuant to his written consent to search the apartment.

We first address Rivera’s contention that the trial court erred in overruling his motion to suppress the evidence found in the search of apartment number 5 at 1905 Sumpter in Houston. Rivera alleged in his motion to suppress that his written consent to search that apartment was not voluntary. The trial court overruled the motion to suppress, finding that Rivera’s consent to search the apartment in question was freely and voluntarily given.

We review the trial court’s ruling on a motion to suppress by an abuse of discretion standard. Oles v. State, 993 S.W.2d 103, 106 (Tex.Crim.App.1999). In a suppression hearing, the trial court is the sole trier of fact and judge of the credibility of the witnesses and the weight to be given their testimony. We view the evidence in the light most favorable to the trial court’s ruling, State v. Ballard, 987 S.W.2d 889, 891 (Tex.Crim.App.1999), and afford almost total deference to the trial court’s determination of historical facts that the record supports, especially when the fact findings are based on an evaluation of the witnesses’ credibility and demeanor. State v. Ross, 32 S.W.3d 853, 855 (Tex.Crim.App.2000); Guzman v. State, 955 S.W.2d 85, 89 (Tex.Crim.App.1997).

Evidence produced at the suppression hearing showed that on December 3, 1999, Houston Police Department Officer Steven Kwiatkowski and other officers were in the process of executing a search warrant on Rivera’s vehicle, a white 1987 Oldsmobile. The police officers had gathered on the parking lot in the 1900 block of Sumpter in Houston. They were awaiting Rivera’s return to the apartment. At about 11:45 p.m., Rivera drove up in his vehicle and was immediately confronted by Kwiatkowski and the other officers. They told him their purpose for being there and immediately began a search of the vehicle. Kwiatkowski found a matchbox on the driver’s side of the vehicle containing part of a glass cocaine pipe, and also found a small baggie containing heroin residue located under the driver’s seat.

After recovering these items, Kwiatkow-ski asked for Rivera’s consent to search apartment number 5 at 1905 Sumpter. He testified he read the consent form to Rivera, told Rivera to read it, and told him that if he wanted to sign it, to do so. Kwiatkowski testified that it took about fifteen minutes from the time the officers first confronted Rivera until he signed the consent form. He testified he saw Rivera sign the form, which was witnessed by two other officers, Fuller and Lerma. He tes *272 tified that Rivera was not threatened or coerced into signing the consent form.

Kwiatkowski obtained the warrant only the day before. He got the address from an informant. He watched Rivera leave the 1905 Sumpter apartment one time on that date, when Rivera went to a nearby restaurant. He did not see Rivera at that location at any other time. His testimony was that Rivera did not look like he was doing anything, and he gave the impression he was living there. The officers never tried to definitely discover who was the lessee of apartment number 5.

After he signed the consent form, Rivera gave officers the key to the apartment. The key was in Rivera’s vehicle’s ignition, and was attached to his key chain. Apartment number 5 was a two-bedroom unit. The officers first searched the living room and kitchen. They observed very little furniture or other indications of occupancy in the rooms. In one of the bedrooms, the officers searched under the bed and found an eyeglass case containing 7.7 grams of black tar heroin, along with two syringes and a can bottom used to cook heroin. Kwiatkowski testified that Rivera told him he had some “cut,” — i.e., lactose used to grind up with the heroin to make the heroin go further, which the officers did recover under the bed. Also found under the bed were a Westinghouse coffee grinder with a clear plastic baggie inside the top containing eighteen grams of heroin, and a plate and spoons containing heroin residue. Kwiatkowski said that Rivera never tried to take back his consent or prevent the officers from searching under the bed. Kwiatkowski saw some men’s clothing in the other bedroom, but neither that clothing nor the key to the apartment was tagged and kept as evidence.

Puller and Lerma were present and assisted in executing the vehicular search warrant, and witnessed Rivera’s signing of the consent to search the apartment. Both testified they saw Rivera sign the consent form, and both testified that Rivera signed the form voluntarily, with no force or coercion.

Rivera testified that a period of some three and one-half hours elapsed between the time of his first encounter with the officers and their first request that he sign the consent to search. He testified that he did not voluntarily sign the form. Although the officers testified to the contrary, Rivera says that they strip-searched him. Rivera claimed that he told Kwiat-kowski that he could not sign the consent form because he did not live there. Rivera stated that Fuller threatened to get a search warrant if the consent was not signed, and he testified that Fuller struck and kicked him, causing him injuries.

In reviewing the record, we find no abuse of discretion by the trial court in finding the officers’ testimonies credible and that of Rivera not credible. As previously noted, we are required to give almost total deference to the trial court’s determination of credibility if it is supported by the record, as it is in this case. The record supports the trial court’s determination that the consent was voluntary. Both the United States and Texas Constitutions protect only against unreasonable searches and seizures. Searches conducted pursuant to voluntary consents are not unreasonable. Reasor v. State, 12 S.W.3d 813, 817-18 (Tex.Crim.App.2000).

Even assuming the trial court correctly determined the historical facts, we are still required to determine the legal question of whether Rivera could give effective consent to search the apartment in question. The State admits that the police did not check to determine the lessee of that apartment, but did see Rivera coming and going from the apartment. Rivera *273

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Bluebook (online)
59 S.W.3d 268, 2001 Tex. App. LEXIS 5905, 2001 WL 985187, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rivera-v-state-texapp-2001.