State v. Arturo Gonzalez

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 8, 2014
Docket08-12-00311-CR
StatusPublished

This text of State v. Arturo Gonzalez (State v. Arturo Gonzalez) 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
State v. Arturo Gonzalez, (Tex. Ct. App. 2014).

Opinion

COURT OF APPEALS EIGHTH DISTRICT OF TEXAS EL PASO, TEXAS

§ No. 08-12-00311-CR THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellant, § Appeal from the

v. § County Court at Law No. 7

ARTURO GONZALEZ, § of El Paso County, Texas Appellee. § (TC# 20120C07213)

OPINION

The State of Texas appeals the trial court’s order granting Arturo Gonzalez’s motion to

suppress the breath test results. The trial court’s findings of fact and conclusions of law reflect

that the sole basis for exclusion of the test results is that the State failed to prove that the

evidence is reliable under TEX.R.EVID. 702. We reverse.

FACTUAL SUMMARY

Arturo Gonzalez was charged by information with the misdemeanor offense of driving

while intoxicated. Gonzalez filed two motions to suppress evidence. In his first motion to

suppress, Gonzalez moved to suppress the breath test results, a police videotape, and any

statements he made the night of his arrest on the grounds that his statements were involuntary

and coerced, he was deprived of his right to counsel, his statements were tainted by the illegal

detention and arrest, and his statements were taken without the safeguards required by Article 38.22 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. In his second motion to suppress, Gonzalez

asked the court to suppress all evidence seized as a result of his illegal arrest because: (1) his

arrest and search were conducted without a valid warrant, reasonable suspicion or probable

cause; (2) all statements made were inadmissible as fruits of the illegal arrest; (3) he did not

consent to the breath test; (4) the breath test was not administered within a reasonable period of

time; and (5) the State failed to properly preserve the breath specimen. Thus, Gonzalez sought to

suppress the evidence under the exclusionary rule due to alleged illegal conduct. His motions to

suppress did not address the admissibility of the breath test results under TEX.R.EVID. 702.

At the beginning of the hearing on the motions to suppress, Gonzalez testified that he was

arrested on July 7, 2012 for driving while intoxicated. He was unaware of an outstanding

warrant for his arrest and he was not presented with a warrant for his arrest. Gonzalez did not

present any evidence related to the admissibility of the breath test results under Rule 702.

The State presented the testimony of the arresting law enforcement officer, El Paso

Deputy Sheriff Juan Ibarra. On July 7, 2012 at approximately 2:50 a.m., Deputy Ibarra initiated

a traffic stop after observing Gonzalez’s license plate was not properly illuminated. Deputy

Ibarra approached Gonzalez’s vehicle and advised him of the reason for the stop. Ibarra

immediately noticed “a strong odor of an unknown alcohol beverage” and he observed that

Gonzalez’s eyes were red and bloodshot and his speech was slurred. Ibarra asked Gonzalez to

submit to the standard field sobriety tests (SFSTs) and Gonzalez agreed. At the conclusion of

these tests, Ibarra concluded that Gonzalez was intoxicated and placed him under arrest.

Prior to being placed under arrest, Gonzalez told Officer Ibarra that he had consumed

approximately three beers. Ibarra requested a breath specimen both before and after Gonzalez

was placed under arrest. Gonzalez not only agreed to give a breath sample but was “adamant”

-2- about doing so in order to prove Ibarra wrong. On cross-examination, Ibarra testified that

Deputy Robert Rojas administered the breath test.

The State offered the testimony of Deputy Sheriff Robert Rojas to address Gonazlez’s

assertion raised in his second motion to suppress that the breath test was performed more than

two hours after the initial stop, and therefore, the breath specimen was not taken within a

reasonable time. Deputy Rojas testified that he is certified to operate the Intoxilyzer 5000

instrument. During his certification training, Deputy Rojas was instructed on how to set-up and

use the machine. He is not familiar with the science behind the machine. Deputy Rojas

explained that the Intoxilyzer 5000 is programed to detect errors and in those instances it will

return an invalid test. He has been trained how to proceed if he gets an invalid test and in all but

one instance he is permitted to test again. Rojas provided several examples of the circumstances

which yield invalid tests: (1) if the reference sample is out of tolerance; (2) if the subject

introduces a breath specimen at the wrong time; (3) if the subject’s BAC readings are too high or

too low; (4) if a hose is unplugged; and (5) if the solution is too diluted. In each of these

situations, a re-test is permitted. There is only one instance when an operator is not permitted to

re-test. The Intoxilyzer 5000 will not allow an additional test when an interfering substance or

agent is detected on the subject’s breath. The first test was administered at 3:57 a.m.,

approximately one hour and seven minutes after Gonzalez’s vehicle was stopped. According to

Deputy Rojas, the first time he attempted to test Gonzalez’s breath specimen, the Intoxilyzer

5000 returned an invalid test and showed that the “reference was out of tolerance.” This was the

first time Deputy Rojas had ever encountered this problem. Deputy Rojas visually inspected the

machine to make sure it was correctly plugged into the wall and he re-ran the test. The second

test returned an invalid test and also showed that the same message: “Reference out of

-3- tolerance.” Deputy Rojas physically checked the hoses on the machine to make sure they were

properly connected to the back of the machine and the sample. The third test was administered

at 4:06 a.m., one hour and sixteen minutes after the initial stop of Gonzalez’s vehicle. The

Intoxilyzer returned a valid test and showed a reading of 0.120 and 0.119.

On cross-examination, Deputy Rojas was questioned as follows:

Q. [BY DEFENSE COUNSEL]: Are you qualified to test the reliability of the

intoxilyzer machine? Yes or no?

* * *

A. [DEPUTY ROJAS]: I am qualified to run and operate the machine, sir.

Q. You’re not answering my question, Officer. Are you qualified to test the

reliability of the intoxilyzer machine?

A. That is not my training. My training is simply to operate the machine.

Q. All right. All right. In this case you tested the intoxilyzer machine to see if it

was working properly, did you not, sir?

A. No. I tested the subject, sir.
Q. Who was your intoxilyzer supervisor?
A. Martha Esparza.
Q. Is she here today?
A. I do not know, sir -- Martha Mendoza. I’m sorry about that.

Deputy Rojas was then excused. The court then asked whether the State had any additional

witnesses and the State re-called Deputy Ibarra. Deputy Ibarra’s testimony on recall was limited

to questions regarding the DWI videotape. The videotape was admitted into evidence as State’s

Exhibit A.

-4- During closing argument, counsel for Gonzalez focused on the two error messages from

the Intoxilyzer. He argued that Deputy Rojas was not qualified “to test the reliability of the

machine” and the State had failed to offer the testimony of the intoxilyzer supervisor to show

that she “had checked the reliability of the machine, had conducted tests on the reliability of the

machine.”

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