Rolando Romero v. State

Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided January 20, 2015·No. 13-14-00448-CR·Published

Opinion

ACCEPTED

13-14-00448-CR

FILED THIRTEENTH COURT OF APPEALS IN THE 13TH COURT OF APPEALS CORPUS CHRISTI, TEXAS CORPUS CHRISTI 1/18/2015 7:43:30 PM DORIAN RAMIREZ

1/20/15 CLERK

DORIAN E. RAMIREZ, CLERK NO. 13-14-00448-CR BY DTello

IN THE COURT OF APPEALS RECEIVED IN 13th COURT OF APPEALS

FOR THE THIRTEENTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS CORPUS CHRISTI/EDINBURG, TEXAS CORPUS CHRISTI, TX 1/20/2015 8:00:00 AM DORIAN E. RAMIREZ

Clerk

ROLANDO ROMERO,

APPELLANT

VS.

THE STATE OF TEXAS,

APPELLEE

APPEAL FROM THE 94th DISTRICT COURT NUECES COUNTY, TEXAS

TR. NO. 12-CR-3695-C

BRIEF FOR THE APPELLANT

Irma Mendoza Sanjines

S. B. N. 17635655

Wilson Plaza West, Ste. 504 P. O. Box 4005

Corpus Christi, TX 78469-4005 Tel.: (361) 883-6106

Fax: (361) 883-9650

irmasanjines@aol.com

Oral Argument Requested

CERTIFICATE OF INTERESTED PERSONS 1. Parties:

Rolando Romero -Appellant Sid No. 1944502 TDCJ-Garza East Unit 4304 Hwy. 202, Beeville, TX 78102

The State of Texas–Appellee Mark Skurka Nueces County District Attorney

2. Counsel for Appellant:

Trial: Amador C. Garcia 1521 S. Port, Corpus Christi, TX 78405

Appeal: Irma M. Sanjines 3. Counsel for Appellee:

Trial: Elizabeth J. Schmidt Asst. District Attorney

901 Leopard

Corpus Christi, TX 78401

4. Trial Judge: The Hon. Bobby Galvan

i

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

Certificate of Interested Parties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . i

Table of Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ii Index of Authorities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii-iv Statement Regarding Oral Argument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii Statement of the Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1-2 Statement of the Facts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3-5 Issues Presented . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5, 12 Summary of the Argument . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5-6, 12-13 Arguments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-12, 12-14 Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Certificate of Compliance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Certificate of Service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

ii

INDEX OF AUTHORITIES

Cases Page Cantu v. State, 557 S. W. 2d 107, 109 ( Tex. Crim. App. 1977). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Carmouche v. State, 10 S. W. 3d 323, 328 ( Tex. Crim. App. 2000) . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Ford v. State, 158 S. W. 3d 488, 493 (Tex. Crim. App. 2005) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Graham v. Conner, 490 U. S. 386, 109 S. Ct. 1865 (1989). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Gurrola v. State, 877 S. W. 2d 300, 302-303 (Tex. Crim. App. 1994) . . . . . . . . . . 9 Guzman v. State, 955 S. W. 2d 85, 87-88 ( Tex. Crium. App. 1997) . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Leighton v. State, 544 S. W. 2sd 394 ( Tex. Crim. App. 1976). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Martinez v. State, 348 S. W. 3d 919, 922-23 ( Tex. Crim. App. 2011). . . . . . . 8,10 Oliver v. United States, 466 U. S. 170, 180 (1984) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Pickens v. State, 165 S. W. 3d 675, 680 ( Tex. Crim. App. 2005) . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Roberts v. State, 545 S. W. 2d 157 ( Tex. Crim. App. 1977) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6 Rodriguez v. State, 106 S. W. 3d 224, 228 ( Tex. App.-Houston 2003). . . . . . . . . 9 Stone v. State, 703 S. W. 2d 652, 655 ( Tex. Crim. App. 1986) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Terry v. Ohio, 392 U. S. 1, 30 88 S. Ct. 1868 (1968) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 7,8 Thomas v. State, 723 S. W. 2d 696, 707 ( Tex. Crim. App. 1986) . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 United States v. Dunn, 480 U. S. 294 (1987). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Valtierra v. State, 310 S.W. 3d 442, 447 (Tex. Crim. App. 2010) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

iii

Wong Sun v. United States, 371 U. S. 471, 83 S. Ct. 407 (1963) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 Statutes and Rules U. S. Const. amend. IV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1, 7,12 Tex. Const. 1, sec. 9 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 TEX. Code CRIM. PROC. ANN. art. 38.23(Vernon 2006) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1,6,12-14 TEX. R. APP. PROC. 39.2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iv

STATEMENT REGARDING ORAL ARGUMENT Appellant requests oral argument because the facts and legal arguments as to the issue presented herein would be significantly emphasized and clarified by oral argument and the decisional process would be aided. TEX. R. APP. PROC. 39.2.

iv

STATEMENT OF THE CASE

Appellant (Romero) was charged in a third degree indictment filed on October 25, 2012 of Possession of a Controlled Substance (Cocaine), more than one gram but less than four grams. (CR p. 6)1 Romero had been previously indicted for the same incident under Cause no. 11-CR-2892-C which was presumably dismissed without prejudice, absent the record of a double jeopardy claim at pretrial, and subsequently re-filed under 12-CR-3695-C. (Supp. RR p. 8).2 Romero filed a pro se Motion to Suppress which contained no allegations whatsoever of an illegal search for drugs. (CR p. 23) Romero’s counsel also filed a Motion to Suppress which alleged an unlawful arrest by Officer Tacket without probable cause to detain in violation of Article 38.23, Code of Criminal Procedure. ( CR p. 71). The motion does not specifically invoke the Fourth Amendment to the U. S. Constitution but paragraph one (1) of the Motion asserts that Romero “was on his driveway”, thus asserting the “curtilage” doctrine of the 4th Amendment to the U. S. Constitution. (CR, p. 71). Moreover, it is contained in

1 “CR” refers to clerk’s record on appeal followed by page number using pagination by the clerk of this court.

2 “Supp. RR” refers to one volume of supplemental reporter’s record filed on 12/17/14.

Article 38.23(a) of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure.

A Motion to Suppress hearing was conducted on July 14, 2014 at which time the transcript of the motion to suppress hearing of May 18, 2012 under 11- CR-2892-C was entered as Exhibit 1. (Supp. RR, p. 5; Supp RR, Exhibit 1). The motion was denied on July 22, 2014, the day of the jury trial. ( 2RR p. 4, Supp. RR p. 1)3 Romero made no request to carry the suppression issue to the jury and neither did it object nor verbally agree to the testimony of Officer Tacket at trial. (5 RR p. 27) The Charge of the Court does not contain an Article 38.23 instruction. (CR, pp. 96-100). Appellant did not request an instruction in the Jury Charge even though it did challenge the seizure of evidence during trial. (5 RR, p.10).

The jury found Romero guilty and sentenced him to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for six years. (CR p. 101, 106). The court ordered the sentence to run consecutive to all other sentences under 06-CR-1498-C (2yrs SJF), 06-CR- 2992-C(5yrs TDC) and A-11-5113-2-CR (10yrs TDC). (CR pp. 108-109)( RR p. 40). The record is absent of any excessive or “cruel and unusual punishment” objection to his sentence.

3 “RR” refers to reporter’s record as prepared by the court’s reporter, using her volume number(preceding RR) and pagination (following RR).

STATEMENT OF FACTS

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Rolando Romero v. State, (Tex. Ct. App. 2015).

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Related

Wong Sun v. United States
371 U.S. 471 (Supreme Court, 1963)
Terry v. Ohio
392 U.S. 1 (Supreme Court, 1968)
Oliver v. United States
466 U.S. 170 (Supreme Court, 1984)
United States v. Dunn
480 U.S. 294 (Supreme Court, 1987)
Graham v. Connor
490 U.S. 386 (Supreme Court, 1989)
Ford v. State
158 S.W.3d 488 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2005)
Valtierra v. State
310 S.W.3d 442 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2010)
Carmouche v. State
10 S.W.3d 323 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2000)
Thomas v. State
723 S.W.2d 696 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1986)
Stone v. State
703 S.W.2d 652 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1986)
Leighton v. State
544 S.W.2d 394 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1976)
Rodriguez v. State
106 S.W.3d 224 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2003)
Pickens v. State
165 S.W.3d 675 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2005)
Cantu v. State
557 S.W.2d 107 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1977)
Gurrola v. State
877 S.W.2d 300 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1994)
Roberts v. State
545 S.W.2d 157 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1977)
Guzman v. State
955 S.W.2d 85 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1997)
Martinez v. State
348 S.W.3d 919 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2011)