State v. Ballman

157 S.W.3d 65, 2004 WL 2914999
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 20, 2005
Docket2-03-345-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by257 cases

This text of 157 S.W.3d 65 (State v. Ballman) 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. Ballman, 157 S.W.3d 65, 2004 WL 2914999 (Tex. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

OPINION

TERRIE LIVINGSTON, Justice.

This is a State’s appeal from the trial court’s grant of appellee’s motion to suppress in this driving while intoxicated case. We affirm.

Background Facts

The officer making the arrest for the DWI, Officer H.L. Gibbs, was the only witness at the suppression hearing. Officer Gibbs testified that he stopped appel-lee Wayne T. Ballman when appellee made a right hand turn from a private parking lot onto Hulen Street without using his turn signal. The State says this traffic code violation constituted probable cause to stop appellee and to issue a traffic citation. See Tex. Transp. Code Ann. § 545.104 (Vernon 1999) (requiring operator to activate a turn signal to “indicate an intention to turn”).

At the suppression hearing the arresting officer admitted that the stop was a pretext stop primarily based upon a citizen *68 call received by dispatch over an hour earlier claiming that appellee’s car was being erratically driven. The citizen made three calls to police while following the vehicle. She identified herself in two of the calls as “Karen” and gave dispatch her cell phone number. She also gave dispatch the vehicle type, color, and license plate number and told dispatch that the vehicle was turning into a Central Market parking lot. She had followed the vehicle from Camp Bowie Boulevard until it turned into the lot.

When Officer Gibbs located the car, it was parked. It was empty when he stopped and looked inside. He spoke with a private security officer at one of the stores and asked the officer to call him if he saw the car leaving. About a half hour later the security officer called Officer Gibbs, who arrived at the parking lot, watched the car leaving the lot, and observed the vehicle make a right-hand turn, after stopping, without a signal. The trial court found that the failure to signal was the only driving fact that Officer Gibbs observed and the only act that could have caused the officer to believe the driver was intoxicated. Because the trial court also found there was no traffic code violation, it granted appellee’s motion to suppress.

Points on Appeal

In eight points, the State challenges the trial court’s order granting the suppression of the DWI evidence. Although the State presented eight points on appeal, each point is based upon whether the arresting officer had reasonable suspicion or probable cause to stop appellee solely on the basis of appellee’s alleged traffic code violation.

Standards of Review

The Fourth Amendment protects against unreasonable searches and seizures. U.S. Const, amend. IV. For an arrest to be justified under the Fourth Amendment, it must be accompanied by probable cause to believe that a person has engaged in or is engaging in criminal activity. Henry v. United States, 361 U.S. 98, 102, 80 S.Ct. 168, 171, 4 L.Ed.2d 134 (1959). A detention, however, may be justified on less than probable cause if a person is reasonably suspected of criminal activity based on specific, articulable facts. Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 22, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 1880, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968); Carmouche v. State, 10 S.W.3d 323, 328 (Tex.Crim.App.2000).

We review a trial court’s ruling on a motion to suppress evidence under a bifurcated standard of review. Carmouche, 10 S.W.3d at 327; Guzman v. State, 955 S.W.2d 85, 89 (Tex.Crim.App.1997). In reviewing the trial court’s decision, we do not engage in our own factual review. Romero v. State, 800 S.W.2d 539, 543 (Tex.Crim.App.1990); Best v. State, 118 S.W.3d 857, 861 (Tex.App.-Fort Worth 2003, no pet.). The trial judge is the sole trier of fact and judge of the credibility of the witnesses and the weight to be given their testimony. State v. Ross, 32 S.W.3d 853, 855 (Tex.Crim.App.2000); State v. Ballard, 987 S.W.2d 889, 891 (Tex.Crim.App.1999). Therefore, we give almost total deference to the trial court’s rulings on (1) questions of historical fact and (2) application-of-law-to-faet questions that turn on an evaluation of credibility and demeanor. Johnson v. State, 68 S.W.3d 644, 652-53 (Tex.Crim.App.2002); Harrison v. State, 144 S.W.3d 82, 85 (Tex.App.-Fort Worth 2004, pet. filed); Best, 118 S.W.3d at 861-62. However, when the trial court’s rulings do not turn on the credibility and demeanor of the witnesses, we review de novo a trial court’s rulings on mixed questions of law and fact. Johnson, 68 S.W.3d at 652-53.

*69 When the only evidence presented in a motion to suppress hearing is the testimony of the arresting officer (which, if believed, clearly adds up to a reasonable suspicion or probable cause) and the trial court grants the motion without filing findings of fact or any other explanation, there is not a “concrete” set of facts that can be implied from such a ruling. Ross, 32 S.W.3d at 856. In those cases, there is a mixed question of law and fact that turns on an evaluation of the credibility and demeanor of the sole witness who the trial court obviously chose not to believe. Guzman, 955 S.W.2d at 89. We give almost total deference to the trial court’s ruling on such questions. Id.; see also Ross, 32 S.W.3d at 856.

When the sole witness at the motion to suppress hearing is the arresting officer and the trial court filed findings of fact and conclusions of law, however, the only question before us is whether the trial court properly applied the law to the facts it found. See Carmouche, 10 S.W.3d at 327-28; Guzman, 955 S.W.2d at 86-87, 89; Harrison, 144 S.W.3d at 85; James v. State, 102 S.W.3d 162, 169-79 (Tex.App.Fort Worth 2003, pet. ref'd). This is especially true in a case like this where the State has not contested the trial court’s findings of fact and the trial court’s findings show that the court believed the arresting officer but concluded his testimony was insufficient as a matter of law. See Ross, 32 S.W.3d at 856-58; Guzman, 955 S.W.2d at 89; State v. Maldonado, No. 01-03-774-CR, 2004 WL 2306703, at * 2 (Tex.App.-Houston [1st Dist.] Oct. 14, 2004, no pet. h.).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
157 S.W.3d 65, 2004 WL 2914999, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-ballman-texapp-2005.