State v. Kelly

166 S.W.3d 905, 2005 Tex. App. LEXIS 5061, 2005 WL 1530504
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 30, 2005
Docket13-04-114-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 166 S.W.3d 905 (State v. Kelly) 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.

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State v. Kelly, 166 S.W.3d 905, 2005 Tex. App. LEXIS 5061, 2005 WL 1530504 (Tex. Ct. App. 2005).

Opinion

*908 OPINION

Opinion by

Justice CASTILLO.

The trial court granted appellee Evon Kelly’s pretrial motion to suppress blood-alcohol test results from blood extracted for purposes of medical treatment. The State of Texas appeals from that ruling. 1 We reverse and remand.

I. FACTS 2

On or about March 5, 2001, Kelly was operating a motor vehicle on a public roadway. Her minor son was a passenger in the back seat of the vehicle. Kelly turned left after stopping at an intersection and collided with an oncoming vehicle. The child was ejected. Both Kelly and her son were transported for emergency medical treatment. The two occupants from the other vehicle were similarly transported for emergency treatment. At the emergency room, a phlebotomist drew blood for purposes of Kelly’s medical treatment. Police officers contacted Kelly at the hospital and smelled a strong odor of alcohol. When police officers requested a blood specimen, she refused. Pursuant to a grand jury subpoena, the blood test results were secured. The results showed a blood-alcohol concentration above the legal limit of .08. 3 The State subsequently charged Kelly with the offense of driving while intoxicated.

Our review of the record shows that the State filed a rule 902(10) notice of its intent to offer business records by affidavit. See Tex.R. Evid. 910(10). A certified copy of Kelly’s hospital records are attached to the motion. Kelly responded by filing a motion to suppress evidence of the blood test results, asserting as grounds that the blood was drawn without her effective and informed consent. The trial court convened an evidentiary hearing on Kelly’s motion to suppress. Kelly and the hospital employee who extracted the blood, Don Gosson, testified. Kelly denied she consented to the extraction of her blood, admitted she consented, and then denied consent. Gosson testified that Kelly consented and, had she not consented, he would not have drawn blood. The trial court requested additional briefing. The parties complied. The trial court granted the motion to suppress, thus, ruling the evidence inadmissible at trial. This appeal ensued.

II. STANDARD OF REVIEW

A motion to suppress is a specialized objection to the admissibility of evidence.. Morrison v. State, 71 S.W.3d 821, 826 (Tex.App.-Corpus Christi 2002, no pet.) (citing Galitz v. State, 617 S.W.2d 949, 952 n. 10 (Tex.Crim.App.1981) (op. on reh’g) (en banc)). Kelly espouses the well-settled bifurcated standard of review in Guzman v. State, 955 S.W.2d 85, 89 (Tex.Crim.App.1997) (en banc). Guzman instructs that the relevant standard of review depends on the type of question presented. Id.; Pena v. State, 61 S.W.3d 745, 752 (Tex.App.-Corpus Christi 2001, no pet.). We afford almost total deference to the trial judge’s determination of questions of historical facts supported by the record, especially those facts based on an evaluation of credibility and demeanor. Pena, 61 S.W.3d at 752. We apply the same stan *909 dard when reviewing the trial judge’s rulings on “application of law to fact questions,” also known as “mixed questions of law and fact,” where the resolution of those ultimate questions turns on an evaluation of credibility and demeanor. Id. When considering “mixed questions of law and fact” which do not turn on an evaluation of credibility and demeanor, de novo review is appropriate because the trial judge is not in an appreciably better position than the appellate court to decide the issue. Id. Most reviews of motion to suppress cases will be under a bifurcated standard, in which the historical determination made by the trial court will be accorded total deference while the application of the law to the facts will be analyzed under a de novo standard of review. State v. Ross, 32 S.W.3d 853, 856 (Tex.Crim.App. 2000) (en banc).

In the absence of explicit fact findings, we assume that the trial court’s ruling is based on implicit fact findings supported in the record. See Carmoucke v. State, 10 S.W.3d 323, 332 (Tex.Crim.App. 2000) (recognizing implicit fact findings); Ross, 32 S.W.3d at 855; Perales v. State, 117 S.W.3d 434, 437 (Tex.App.-Corpus Christi 2003, pet. refd). We then review de novo whether the facts, express or implied, are sufficient to provide legal justification for admitting the complained-of evidence. See Morrison, 71 S.W.3d at 827 (citing Garcia v. State, 43 S.W.3d 527, 530 (Tex.Crim.App.2001)).

We uphold a trial court’s ruling on a suppression motion if it is reasonably supported by the record and is correct on any theory of law applicable to the case. Villarreal v. State, 935 S.W.2d 134, 138 (Tex.Crim.App.1996) (en banc); Perales, 117 S.W.3d at 438. This is true even if the decision is correct for reasons different from those espoused by the trial court. Romero v. State, 800 S.W.2d 539, 543 (Tex.Crim.App.1990) (en banc).

III. DISCUSSION

By one issue, the State asserts that the trial court abused its discretion in suppressing blood-alcohol test results. The State obtained the results pursuant to a grand jury subpoena of Kelly’s medical records after a traffic accident. The State maintains there is no reasonable expectation of privacy as to the results. Kelly counters that the trial court properly suppressed the evidence because the results were obtained without a valid search warrant, a court order, or Kelly’s effective consent.

We address first Kelly’s contentions that the results are properly excluded in the absence of a valid search warrant and a court order. Generally speaking, taking a blood sample is a search and seizure within the scope of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and article I, section 9 of the Texas Constitution. Schmerber v. California, 384 U.S. 757, 767, 86 S.Ct. 1826, 16 L.Ed.2d 908 (1966); Miff v. State, 627 S.W.2d 166, 169 (Tex.Crim.App.1982). Kelly based her complaint on the three following grounds: (1) the initial blood draw was performed in violation of the law because she did not consent; 4 (2) she was assaulted; and (3) the results were illegally disclosed to law enforcement officers. 5

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166 S.W.3d 905, 2005 Tex. App. LEXIS 5061, 2005 WL 1530504, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-v-kelly-texapp-2005.