State v. Jose Ruiz

509 S.W.3d 451, 2015 Tex. App. LEXIS 8961, 2015 WL 5626252
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided August 27, 2015·No. NUMBER 13-13-00507-CR·Published·Cited by 13 cases

Opinions

OPINION

Opinion by

Justice Benavides

In this appeal, the State challenges the trial court’s granting of appellee, Jose Ruiz’s, motion to suppress blood alcohol test results that police seized following his arrest for driving while intoxicated. We affirm.

I. Background

On September 9, 2012, Gonzales Police Sergeant Bethany McBride arrived on the scene of an accident shortly after midnight in Gonzales County to discover a collision between a Lincoln Navigator and a Pontiac. Witnesses at the scene told Sergeant McBride that the driver of the Navigator, later identified as Ruiz, had fled the scene and had run behind a car wash.

Sergeant McBride looked into the Navigator and found insurance paperwork in Ruiz’s name, as well as “several Bud Light ... cans, that [had] exploded in the [front] seat.” Other officers later located Ruiz in a field behind the car wash that witnesses [453]*453had described earlier. Sergeant McBride described Ruiz as “unresponsive” that night and further observed that he “couldn’t open his eyes.” Additionally, his body emitted a “strong odor of [alcohol].” According to Sergeant McBride, Ruiz did not appear to be injured, but was “just unresponsive due to the amount of alcohol in his system.”

Emergency medical personnel eventually arrived, and also attempted to elicit responses from Ruiz by performing several sternum rubs, but such tests were unsuccessful. As a result, Ruiz was taken by ambulance to Gonzales Memorial Hospital. At the hospital, Ruiz remained unresponsive. Sergeant McBride testified that she had enough probable cause to place Ruiz under arrest for driving while intoxicated and completed paperwork at the hospital for lab technicians to administer a blood draw. Sergeant McBride also discovered that Ruiz had four prior convictions for driving while intoxicated. Once Ruiz’s blood was drawn, Sergeant McBride took custody of Ruiz’s blood evidence and returned to the Gonzales Police Station.

On cross examination, Sergeant McBride testified that it would have been unreasonable to obtain a search warrant of Ruiz’s blood for a number of reasons, namely: (1) it was difficult to find a magistrate or judge to sign a search warrant that late at night, and she was required to drive to the judge’s house to retrieve the warrant; and (2) only two officers were on duty that night, and Sergeant McBride did not want to take one of the officers off duty to work on the warrant. According to Sergeant McBride, she estimated that it would have taken her “about two or three hours” to obtain a search warrant that night. Sergeant McBride also admitted that at the time, no procedures were in place to obtain search warrants for blood draws. The record also shows that Ruiz was admitted to the hospital overnight due to his sustained unconsciousness and did not appear to be a flight risk.

At the suppression hearing, the State stipulated that it had conducted a warrant-less blood draw, but argued that the blood draw was nevertheless valid because: (1) section 724.014 of the transportation code provides implied consent of an accused who is unconscious, and (2) exigent circumstances existed. The trial court granted Ruiz’s motion to suppress, and issued the following relevant findings of fact and conclusions of law:

Findings of Fact
1. [Ruiz] was involved in an accident late at night to early morning on September 9, 2013. Gonzales Police Department Sgt. Bethany McBride responded.
[[Image here]]
4. Following [Ruiz’s] arrest by McBride the attending physicians indicated they wanted to keep [Ruiz] overnight.
5. There was no concern that [Ruiz] would flee from the hospital.
6. A warrant could have been obtained within 2 to 3 hours.
[[Image here]]
8. McBride performed a criminal history check on [Ruiz] and found four previous convictions for DWI. Relying on Texas Penal Code 724.012 and 724.014 McBride ordered the blood draw from [Ruiz],
9. [Ruiz] remained in custodial arrest during the time the blood was drawn.
10. The court finds Officer McBride’s testimony to be credible in all respects.
[454]*454Conclusions of Law
1. The court takes judicial notice of all statutes promulgated under [the] Texas Transportation Code and in effect during all times relevant to this case.
2. The court finds that it is bound by Missouri v. McNeely, — U.S.-, 133 S.Ct. 1552, 1558, 185 L.Ed.2d 696 (2013).
3. [Ruiz] did not revoke his consent to a blood draw under section 724.011 of the Texas Transportation Code.
4. No exigent circumstances existed in this case.
5. Believing itself to be bound by McNeely, the court granted the motion to suppress.
6. If exigent circumstances existed the court believes McNeely would not apply and the motion to suppress would be denied.

This appeal followed.

II. Motion to Suppress

By its sole issue, the State contends that the trial court erred by granting Ruiz’s motion to suppress because he impliedly consented to the blood draw, and even if he did not consent, there were sufficient exigent circumstances to justify the war-rantless blood draw.

A. Applicable Law and Standard of Review

To suppress evidence on an alleged Fourth Amendment violation, the defendant bears the initial burden of producing evidence that rebuts the presumption of proper police conduct. Ford v. State, 158 S.W.3d 488, 492 (Tex.Crim.App.2005). This initial burden is satisfied by establishing that a search occurred without a warrant. Id. Once a defendant makes this showing, the burden of proof shifts to the State where it is required to establish that the search was conducted pursuant to a warrant or under a reasonable exception, Id. (citing Bishop v. State, 85 S.W.3d 819, 822 (Tex.Crim.App.2002)).

In reviewing a trial court’s ruling on a motion to suppress, we must view the evidence in the light most favorable to the trial court’s ruling. Johnson v. State, 414 S.W.3d 184, 192 (Tex.Crim.App.2013); State v. Garcia-Cantu, 253 S.W.3d 236, 241 (Tex.Crim.App.2008). When the trial court does not make explicit findings of fact, we infer the necessary factual findings that support the trial court’s ruling if the record evidence (viewed in light most favorable to the ruling) supports these implied facts. Johnson, 414 S.W.3d at 192.

Motions to suppress are reviewed pursuant to a bifurcated standard under which the trial judge’s determinations of historical facts and mixed questions of law and fact that rely on credibility are granted almost total deference when supported by the record.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

State v. Jose Ruiz, 509 S.W.3d 451, 2015 Tex. App. LEXIS 8961, 2015 WL 5626252 (Tex. Ct. App. 2015).

509 S.W.3d 451 (State v. Jose Ruiz) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

State v. Dawn M. Prado
2020 WI App 42 (Court of Appeals of Wisconsin, 2020)
State v. Jose Ruiz
545 S.W.3d 687 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2018)
State v. David W. Howes
2017 WI 18 (Wisconsin Supreme Court, 2017)
Ruiz, Jose
Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2017
McGuire v. State
493 S.W.3d 177 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2016)
Alfredo Ayala v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2016
Brian Lee Green v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2016
State v. Jerome Edmond
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2015
Arredondo, Jaime
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2015
State v. Frances Anita Robinson
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2015
Ruiz, Jose
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2015
State v. Jaime Arredondo
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2015