Routledge v. State

834 S.W.2d 452
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 4, 1992
Docket2-91-204-CR, 2-91-230-CR and 2-91-231-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 834 S.W.2d 452 (Routledge 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
Routledge v. State, 834 S.W.2d 452 (Tex. Ct. App. 1992).

Opinion

OPINION

MEYERS, Justice.

Appellants, Bruce Wayne Routledge, Billy Ray Crawford, and Vivian Nell Hill, appeal from convictions of aggravated possession of a controlled substance, namely amphetamine of more than 400 grams, with intent to deliver. See Tex.Health & Safety Code Ann. § 481.116(d)(2) (Vernon Pamph.1992). Punishment for Routledge was assessed by the jury at fifteen years confinement and a fine of $7,500. Punishment for Crawford was assessed by the jury at fifteen years confinement and a $5,000 fine. Punishment for Hill was assessed by the jury at twenty years confinement and a $7,500 fine.

We affirm all three convictions.

On June 1, 1988, Officer David Flory, a Lieutenant with the City of Bedford Police Department then assigned to the Tarrant County Narcotics Task Force, met with Danny Overstreet to purchase a pound of *455 amphetamine. At approximately 7:05 p.m., Danny arrived in a pickup. He told Officer Flory that “he was waiting on the girl that was going to bring the drugs to meet him there in a few minutes.” Overstreet also told Officer Flory that he had brought appellant Billy Ray Crawford “a friend of mine on this deal and he’ll — he’s across the street.”

Sometime later, appellant Vivian Hill arrived in a black Blazer. Overstreet went over to her Blazer, and returned to tell the officers that the narcotics were at a KMart store, and that Hill wanted to be paid in advance. Overstreet and Hill then drove their separate cars to a KMart in Euless, disappeared shortly behind the store, and reemerged. Overstreet drove back to where Officer Flory was waiting and delivered approximately one-quarter pound or 110.02 grams of amphetamine to the officers, and was immediately arrested.

Meanwhile, Hill had left the KMart parking lot and surveillance officers followed her. The officers were waiting to receive word that the drug transaction with Over-street was completed. She drove to a residential area and pulled in behind a blue Pontiac parked on the street with its hood raised. Hill’s brother, appellant Bruce Wayne Routledge, was looking under the hood of the Pontiac. Officer Freeman arrived on the scene, approached the pair, and asked them for identification. Officer O’Connell, who had followed Hill from the KMart, received word that Overstreet had been arrested and that he should effect the arrest of Hill. When Officer O’Connell passed the open window of the Pontiac, he smelled the strong odor of amphetamine. The officer searched the car and found a black garbage bag in the floorboard of the back seat which contained 442.75 grams or one pound of amphetamine. Appellant Routledge was then arrested.

In all three appellants’ first points of error, they argue that the trial court erred in denying Routledge’s motion to suppress the amphetamine found in the Pontiac, because the search violated Rout-ledge’s constitutional rights. Routledge asserts the officers had no probable cause to stop and interrogate him, and no probable cause to conduct a warrantless search of his car.

An investigative detention, to be constitutionally valid, may be founded upon a reasonable, articulable suspicion that the person detained is connected with criminal activity. Amores v. State, 816 S.W.2d 407, 411 (Tex.Crim.App.1991), citing Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968). In the present case, both Officers Freeman and O’Connell testified that from their experience as narcotics officers, they had learned it was common in drug transactions for a drug dealer to hold the drugs in his car at a remote location with the hood of his car raised. Officer Freeman testified his suspicions were aroused when they arrived on the scene with Hill and Routledge and his hood was up. Moreover, Overstreet had told the officers that Hill had the rest of the amphetamine in her Blazer and she wanted to deliver it in one-quarter pound increments. The officers believed Hill had the remaining three-quarters of a pound, and when they found her she was talking to her brother, Routledge, who was parked with his hood raised. The officers had reasonable suspicion to question Routledge, long enough to investigate and determine whether he was in possession of a controlled substance.

Next, we must determine whether the officers had probable cause to search Routledge’s car without a warrant. The standard for probable cause in a warrant-less search is no less stringent than that required to be shown for issuance of a search warrant. Washington v. State, 660 S.W.2d 533, 535 (Tex.Crim.App.1983). The “totality of the circumstances” test applies in Texas for determining probable cause for warrantless search and seizure. Amores, 816 S.W.2d at 413; Eisenhauer v. State, 754 S.W.2d 159,164 (Tex.Crim.App.), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 848, 109 S.Ct. 127, 102 L.Ed.2d 101 (1988). Probable cause to search or arrest exists when reasonably trustworthy facts and circumstances within the knowledge of the officer on the scene would lead a man of reasonable prudence to believe that the instrumentality of a *456 crime or evidence pertaining to a crime will be found. Amores, 816 S.W.2d at 413. The circumstances must also be such that the procuring of a warrant is impracticable. Washington, 660 S.W.2d at 635. The burden is on the State to prove the existence of probable cause to justify a warrantless arrest or search. Amores, 816 S.W.2d at 413.

While the officers were on the scene arresting Hill for her participation in the earlier transaction, O’Connell walked past the open window of the Pontiac Routledge had been standing next to, and smelled the strong odor of amphetamine. The odor of an illegal substance can provide an element of probable cause for a search. Moulden v. State, 576 S.W.2d 817 (Tex.Crim.App. [Panel Op.] 1978); Pike v. State, 752 S.W.2d 737, 739 (Tex.App.—Waco 1988, pet. ref’d).

The duty of the reviewing court is to look to the totality of the circumstances to determine if there exists a substantial basis for concluding that probable cause existed at the time of the questioned action. Ei-senhauer, 754 S.W.2d at 164. The officers had reasonable suspicion to proceed with their investigation of Routledge. And further, the odor of amphetamine emitting from the car, along with the officers’ knowledge of Hill’s involvement in a drug transaction, and their belief that Hill had the remaining three quarters from the deal, provided probable cause.

Additionally, procuring a warrant would be impractical. A car stopped with alerted occupants carries a high risk that the car’s contents may never be found again. Hudson v. State, 588 S.W.2d 348, 354 (Tex. Crim.App. [Panel Op.] 1979). After O’Connell searched the car, he found a baggie with white powder in it, and Routledge was then arrested.

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