Simpson v. State

29 S.W.3d 324, 2000 Tex. App. LEXIS 6652, 2000 WL 1472704
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 5, 2000
Docket14-99-00248-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by151 cases

This text of 29 S.W.3d 324 (Simpson 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
Simpson v. State, 29 S.W.3d 324, 2000 Tex. App. LEXIS 6652, 2000 WL 1472704 (Tex. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinions

MAJORITY OPINION

EDELMAN, Justice.

Arthur Lee Simpson appeals a conviction for possession with intent to deliver over 400 grams of cocaine on the grounds that the trial court erred in denying his [327]*327motion to suppress because: (1) he was detained without reasonable suspicion once the arresting officer had completed his investigation of the initial traffic stop; (2) appellant’s consent to search his vehicle was not freely and voluntarily given; and (3) the officer’s search inside appellant’s spare tire in his trunk exceeded the scope of any consent requested by the officer. We affirm.

Background

While traveling along Interstate 10 one evening, appellant was stopped by Texas Highway patrolman Pablo Chavez because the light illuminating appellant’s rear license plate was burned out. Before concluding this traffic stop, Chavez asked appellant if he could search his vehicle, and appellant nodded his head affirmatively. Inside the spare tire in the trunk of appellant’s car, Chavez discovered a duct-taped box containing cocaine. Appellant was indicted for possession with intent to deliver over 400 grams of cocaine. Appellant filed, and the trial court denied, a motion to suppress the evidence found in appellant’s car. Appellant entered a guilty plea and was sentenced to seventeen years imprisonment.

Standard of Review

In reviewing a trial court’s decision on a motion to suppress, we give almost total deference to the trial court’s determination of historical facts and mixed questions of law and fact which turn on an evaluation of credibility and demeanor, but we review its application of law, such as on questions of reasonable suspicion and probable cause, de novo. See Ornelas v. United States, 517 U.S. 690, 697-99, 116 S.Ct. 1657, 134 L.Ed.2d 911 (1996); Carmouche v. State, 10 S.W.3d 323, 327 (Tex.Crim.App.2000). Where, as here, a trial court makes no explicit findings of historical fact, we presume it made findings necessary to support its ruling as long as those implied finds are supported by the record. See Carmouche, 10 S.W.3d at 327-28.

Existence of Reasonable Suspicion

Appellant’s first point of error argues that after Chavez finished investigating the burned out license plate light, detaining appellant further was a violation of his Fourth Amendment rights because Chavez had no reasonable suspicion that appellant was involved in any criminal activity.

A routine traffic stop is a detention and thus, must be reasonable under the United States and Texas Constitutions. See Davis v. State, 947 S.W.2d 240, 245 (Tex.Crim.App.1997). To be reasonable, a traffic stop must be temporary and last no longer than is necessary to effectuate the purpose of the stop. See Florida v. Royer, 460 U.S. 491, 500, 103 S.Ct. 1319, 75 L.Ed.2d 229 (1983); Davis, 947 S.W.2d at 243, 245. During a traffic stop, an officer may demand identification, a valid driver’s license, and proof of insurance from the driver, and may also check for outstanding warrants. See Davis, 947 S.W.2d at 245 n. 6. However, once the reason for the stop has been satisfied, the stop may not be used as a fishing expedition for unrelated criminal activity. See Ohio v. Robinette, 519 U.S. 33, 41, 117 S.Ct. 417, 136 L.Ed.2d 347 (1996) (Ginsburg, J., concurring); Davis, 947 S.W.2d at 243. Rather, any continued detention must be based on ar-ticulable facts which, taken together with rational inferences from those facts, would warrant a man of reasonable caution in the belief that a continued detention was justified, ie., that the detainee was or would soon be engaged in criminal activity. See Davis, 947 S.W.2d at 244-45. In other words, once the purpose of the original detention has been effectuated, any continued detention must be supported by some additional reasonable suspicion, that is, something out of the ordinary that is occurring and some indication that the unusual circumstance is related to crime. See Davis, 947 S.W.2d at 244-45 (holding that after officers determined that driver [328]*328was not intoxicated, continued detention of driver and search of his car without his consent was unreasonable where not supported by reasonable suspicion of other criminal activity).

To establish reasonable suspicion, an officer must be able to articulate something more than an inchoate and un-particularized suspicion or hunch. See U.S. v. Sokolow, 490 U.S. 1, 7, 109 S.Ct. 1581, 104 L.Ed.2d 1 (1989). However, the fact that an officer does not have in mind the reasons that justify the action does not invalidate the action as long as the circumstances justify it. See Robinette, 117 S.Ct. at 420-21. The determination of reasonable suspicion must be based on commonsense judgments and inferences about human behavior. See Illinois v. Wardlow, 528 U.S. 119, 120 S.Ct. 673, 676, 145 L.Ed.2d 570 (2000).

In Robinette, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a continued detention and request to search a detainee’s car following a traffic stop was reasonable, where consent was given, even though no circumstances were noted that would have constituted reasonable suspicion of any criminal activity. See Robinette, 117 S.Ct. at 420-21. By contrast, in Davis, the Court of Criminal Appeals found the officers’ conduct unreasonable where, after the detainee refused to consent to a search of his car, the officers nevertheless detained the vehicle and thus its occupants who had no other means to depart. See Davis, 947 S.W.2d at 241. We interpret Davis and Robinette to mean that an officer may request consent to search a vehicle after a traffic stop but may not detain the occupants or vehicle further if such consent is refused unless reasonable suspicion of some criminal activity exists.

In this case, both Chavez and appellant testified at the suppression hearing, and a video tape of the stop was played. According to Chavez’s testimony, which coincided with the events reflected in the video, he pulled appellant over because appellant’s taillamp was burned out.1 Chavez testified that as he put the patrol car in park, appellant immediately got out of his car, placed his keys in his pocket, and walked toward the patrol car. This raised Chavez’s suspicions because his experience had been that people stopped at night are usually “hesitant” to get out of their cars. He thought this behavior indicated that appellant was trying to hide something. Chavez then asked appellant for his driver’s license. Appellant pulled the license out of his pocket, gave it to Chavez and then, without request, also gave Chavez his insurance card. Although it is not clearly visible in the video, Chavez testified that appellant was shaking and seemed very nervous, even dropping his insurance card.

Chavez then radioed in appellant’s driver’s license number to check for outstanding warrants.

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Bluebook (online)
29 S.W.3d 324, 2000 Tex. App. LEXIS 6652, 2000 WL 1472704, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/simpson-v-state-texapp-2000.