Thai Ngoc Nguyen v. State

292 S.W.3d 671, 2009 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 882, 2009 WL 1873488
CourtCourt of Criminal Appeals of Texas
DecidedJuly 1, 2009
DocketPD-0888-08
StatusPublished
Cited by73 cases

This text of 292 S.W.3d 671 (Thai Ngoc Nguyen v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Thai Ngoc Nguyen v. State, 292 S.W.3d 671, 2009 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 882, 2009 WL 1873488 (Tex. 2009).

Opinions

OPINION

KEASLER, J.,

delivered the opinion of

the Court

in which MEYERS, PRICE, WOMACK, and HERVEY, JJ., joined.

Officer Vance Johnson failed to warn Thai Ngoc Nguyen of all of his rights under Section 3, Article 38.22, Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, when he arrested Nguyen for traffic violations and interrogated him. The court of appeals held that the trial judge erred in admitting Nguyen’s oral statement, which constituted the crime of hindering apprehension, because Officer Johnson failed to comply with Section 3.1 We reject the State’s claim that, despite the statutory - violation, Nguyen’s [673]*673statement was admissible. We affirm the court of appeals’s judgment.

Facts

In August 2006, while on patrol in Dallas at 4:00 a.m., Officer Johnson stopped Nguyen for committing several traffic violations. After receiving different accounts from Nguyen and his passenger, Michael Sanchez, about where they had been and were heading, Officer Johnson asked for consent to search the car. Sanchez, who owned' the car, gave Officer Johnson permission to conduct a search. Officer Johnson arrested Sanchez after discovering methamphetamine in his bag. Sanchez stated that the methamphetamine was not his and that it belonged to Nguyen. At Officer Johnson’s direction, another officer took Nguyen into custody. Officer Johnson advised Sanchez of his Miranda2 rights and placed Sanchez in the back of his patrol car. Officer Johnson then told Nguyen that he was under arrest “right now,” presumably for the traffic violations. While Officer Johnson advised Nguyen of his rights under Miranda and Article 38.22(a), Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, Nguyen invoked his right to counsel.

Officer Johnson: Just like I told your friend, you have the right to remain silent, anything you say or do can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to have an attorney present too.
Nguyen: Right now? Can I have one?
Officer Johnson: An attorney?
Nguyen: Yes sir.
Officer Johnson: You can have one. That’s only if I am going to ask you questions about what is going on.
Officer Johnson: So you want your attorney?
Nguyen: I want a[sic] attorney.
Officer Johnson: You want an attorney, is that correct?
Nguyen: Yes.
Officer Johnson: Okay, so I’m not going to ask you....
Nguyen: I want an attorney.
Officer Johnson: That’s only if I’m going to ask you questions with regard to the offense, okay?

The other officer then put Nguyen in the back of Officer Johnson’s car with Sanchez.

A microphone and recording device in the patrol car recorded Nguyen and Sanchez’s conversations. As soon as Nguyen was seated, Sanchez begged Nguyen to take responsibility for the drugs. After a few minutes, Nguyen yielded to Sanchez’s request and called out for Officer Johnson to return to the car. But, because the officers were involved in searching the car, they did not immediately respond. Both Nguyen and Sanchez intermittently called out for Officer Johnson. Finally, Officer Johnson walked toward the car.

When Officer Johnson opened the door, Sanchez told him that the methamphetamine belonged to Nguyen. Officer Johnson informed Sanchez that he was not going to ask Nguyen about it. Sanchez exclaimed that he is not “going down for [Nguyen’s] shit.” Nguyen responded, saying that he did not want to go to jail and wanted to go home. Officer Johnson told him that he would not be going home; he would be going to jail. After cautioning Nguyen that he was not asking him anything, Officer Johnson told Nguyen that Sanchez was facing charges for him. Nguyen replied, stating that he is facing the same charge as Sanchez. Officer Johnson corrected him, telling him that he is facing [674]*674charges for the traffic violations. Nguyen claimed that the methamphetamine did not belong to either of them, and Sanchez started to yell at Nguyen, pressuring him to take responsibility for the drugs. Officer Johnson closed the door and resumed his search of the car.

Sanchez continued to entreat Nguyen to take responsibility for the drugs. Nguyen gave in and told Sanchez to get Officer Johnson back to the car. When Officer Johnson returned and asked the two why they were yelling, Sanchez told him that the drugs belong to Nguyen. Nguyen confirmed this, saying that the drugs did not belong to Sanchez. After some debate between the three, Officer Johnson advised Nguyen to tell him if the drugs belong to him. Nguyen then said, “Honestly, I don’t want to, but it’s mine. Okay?” Officer Johnson then let Sanchez out of the car but told him that he was “not released.” He also told him that he was no longer being charged with possession of the methamphetamine.

Alone in the car, Nguyen broke down and began to cry. Eventually, Officer Johnson resumed his search of the car. Minutes later, Officer Johnson discovered a tablet of ecstasy near or in an item belonging to Sanchez. Officer Johnson put Sanchez back in the patrol car with Nguyen. Sanchez asked Nguyen to take responsibility for the ecstasy, and when Officer Johnson returned to the car, Sanchez told him that the ecstasy did not belong to him. Nguyen agreed, but Officer Johnson told Sanchez that Nguyen did not take responsibility for the ecstasy. Officer Johnson then transported Nguyen and Sanchez to the police station.

Trial Court Proceedings

Nguyen was charged with hindering Sanchez’s apprehension because he falsely confessed to possessing the methamphetamine. Before trial, Nguyen filed a motion to suppress his recorded statements to Officer Johnson because he was subjected to custodial interrogation. In the motion, Nguyen alleged, among other things, that the statements were taken in violation of his right to counsel, guaranteed by the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, Article 38.22. The trial judge carried the motion through Nguyen’s bench trial. During the trial, Nguyen expanded on the complaints lodged in his motion. He claimed, among other things, that he was not informed of his right to terminate the interview as required by Article 38.22, Section 3(a).

After reviewing the recording from Officer Johnson’s patrol car, Officer Johnson’s testimony, and the parties’ arguments, the trial judge denied Nguyen’s motion. In doing so, she stated:

I believe considering all of the facts and circumstances that I have heard, that [Nguyen] was well aware that by talking to the officer it [sic] could bring charges upon himself and that he knowingly and voluntarily re-initiated contact after having been given the bulk of his Miranda warnings.

The judge then found Nguyen guilty and sentenced him to forty-five days in the county jail. Nguyen was released that day, having been in custody for forty-five days while awaiting trial.

Nguyen filed a motion for a new trial, which was overruled by operation of law.

Court of Appeals

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
292 S.W.3d 671, 2009 Tex. Crim. App. LEXIS 882, 2009 WL 1873488, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/thai-ngoc-nguyen-v-state-texcrimapp-2009.