Siddiq v. State

502 S.W.3d 387, 2016 Tex. App. LEXIS 9817, 2016 WL 4539613
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 31, 2016
DocketNO. 02-15-00095-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 502 S.W.3d 387 (Siddiq 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
Siddiq v. State, 502 S.W.3d 387, 2016 Tex. App. LEXIS 9817, 2016 WL 4539613 (Tex. Ct. App. 2016).

Opinions

OPINION

SUE WALKER, JUSTICE

I.Introduction

We address two primary issues in this appeal by Appellant Adeel Siddiq from his felony driving while intoxicated conviction.1 First, whether an audio recording—of the phone call Siddiq placed from the Frisco jail to his father—was made illegally in violation of federal and state wiretap statutes' and the Texas Penal Code. And second, whether the blood draw performed on Siddiq was not performed in a reasonable manner as required by the Fourth Amendment because it departed in certain respects from accepted medical standards. Because we hold that the law-enforcement exception applies to the recorded phone call and because we hold that the particular circumstances of Siddiq’s blood draw did not render the seizure of his blood constitutionally infirm, we will affirm the trial court’s judgment.

II. Factual and Procedural Background

A City of Frisco police officer stopped Siddiq a little after 2:00 a.m. after-seeing the car that Siddiq was driving swerve several times, veer and almost hit some parked cars, and hit a curb after turning too sharply at an intersection. Because Siddiq exhibited signs of possible intoxication, the officer asked him to exit the car and to perform field sobriety tests. Siddiq refused to perform any tests, stating that he wanted his lawyer present. The officer arrested Siddiq.

While a detention officer booked Siddiq into the Frisco jail, Siddiq utilized a phone located at the book-in desk to call his father. That call was automatically recorded and stored in a database. During the call, Siddiq’s father asked if Siddiq was drunk, and Siddiq said, ‘Yeah.”2

Siddiq refused to consent to a blood draw, so the arresting officer obtained a se'arch warrant- to take a sample of Sid-diq’s blood. A certified medical assistant performed the blood draw in a separate room at the jail. The results showed that Siddiq had a blood-alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.238.

Before trial, Siddiq filed a motion to suppress the recorded phone call and verbally moved to suppress the BAC results at a pretrial hearing.3 The trial court denied Siddiq’s motion to suppress the BAC results at the pretrial hearing and denied his motion to suppress the recorded phone call at trial. The trial court overruled Sid-diq’s trial objections to both the recording and the BAC results and admitted both into evidence.

[392]*392A jury convicted Siddiq of felony driving while intoxicated and assessed his punishment at ten years’ confinement, probated for ten years, and a $10,000 fine. The trial court sentenced him accordingly. Siddiq raises six points, challenging the admissibility of the recorded phone call and the BAC results and asserting that he was entitled to article 38.23(a) jury instructions concerning the legality of the phone call recording and the blood draw.

III. Admissibility op Recoeded Call and BAC Results

In his first, second, third, and fifth points, Siddiq challenges the admissibility of the recorded phone call and the BAC results.4

A. Standard of Review

A motion to suppress is nothing more than a specialized objection to the admissibility of evidence. Black v. State, 362 S.W.3d 626, 633 (Tex.Crim.App.2012); Moreno v. State, 124 S.W.3d 339, 343 (Tex.App.—Corpus Christi 2003, no pet.). Like any ruling on the admission of evidence, a trial court’s ruling on a motion to suppress is reviewed for an abuse of discretion. Amador v. State, 275 S.W.3d 872, 878 (Tex.Crim.App.2009). Therefore, we must uphold the trial court’s ruling if it is reasonably supported by the record and is correct under any theory of law applicable to the case. Id. at 878-79; see also Hereford v. State, 339 S.W.3d 111, 117-18 (Tex.Crim.App.2011); State v. Stevens, 235 S.W.3d 736, 740 (Tex.Crim.App.2007); Armendariz v. State, 123 S.W.3d 401, 404 (Tex.Crim.App.2003), cert. denied, 541 U.S. 974, 124 S.Ct. 1883, 158 L.Ed.2d 469 (2004).

In reviewing a trial court’s ruling on a motion to suppress, we view all of the evidence in the light most favorable to the trial court’s ruling. State v. Garcia-Cantu, 253 S.W.3d 236, 241 (Tex.Crim.App.2008). When, as in this case, the trial court does not make explicit findings of fact, we must infer the necessary findings that support the trial court’s ruling if the record supports the implied findings. Id. We afford almost total deference to the trial court’s determination of historical facts, especially when those facts are based on an evaluation of credibility and demeanor. Id. But we review de novo legal conclusions based on the facts. Id.

When the issues raised in suppression hearings are consensually relitigated before the jury, we consider the evidence from both in our review. Rachal v. State, 917 S.W.2d 799, 809 (Tex.Crim.App.), cert. denied, 519 U.S. 1043, 117 S.Ct. 614, 136 L.Ed.2d 539 (1996).

B. Recorded Phone Call from Jail

1. The Pertinent Statutes

Siddiq contends that the recording of his phone call to his father was made illegally in violation of the federal wiretap statute, see 18 U.S.C.A. §§ 2511, 2518 (West 2015), § 2516 (West Supp. 2016); the state wiretap statute, see Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Ann. art. 18.20 (West Supp. 2016); and the penal code, see Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 16.02 (West Supp. 2016)—all of which made the recorded phone call inadmissible, see Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Ann. art. 38.23 (West 2005).

[393]*393The Federal Wiretap Act generally prohibits the unauthorized interception of “any wire, oral, or electronic communication.” 18 U.S.C.A. § 2511(-l)(a). Texas’s wiretap statute generally permits the use of the contents of any intercepted communication unless the interception is made in violation of federal law, code of criminal procedure article 18.20, or penal code section 16.02. See Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Ann. art. 18.20, § 2(a)(1), (2). Texas Penal Code section 16.02 is titled “Unlawful Interception, Use, or Disclosure of Wire,. Oral, or Electronic Communications” and prohibits the intentional interception of a “wire, oral, or electronic communication.” Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 16.02(b)(1).

Despite the general statutory limitations on wiretaps, both the federal and the state wiretap statutes contain procedures whereby local law enforcement may obtain a judicial order authorizing the lawful interception of an electronic communication. See 18 U.S.C.A. §§ 2516(2), 2518; Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Ann. art. 18.20. Even in the absence of such a judicial order, however, law enforcement’s interception of an electronic communication is not unlawful if it falls within the law-enforcement exception to the federal wiretap statute. See, e.g., United States v. Van Poyck, 77 F.3d 285, 291 (9th Cir.) (recognizing law-enforcement exception), cert. denied, 519 U.S. 912, 117 S.Ct. 276, 136 L.Ed.2d 199 (1996); United States v. Sababu,

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
502 S.W.3d 387, 2016 Tex. App. LEXIS 9817, 2016 WL 4539613, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/siddiq-v-state-texapp-2016.