Thomas v. State

336 S.W.3d 703, 2010 WL 4925846
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided January 28, 2011·No. 01-08-00902-CR·Published·Cited by 24 cases

Opinion

OPINION

LAURA C. HIGLEY, Justice.

Appellant, Charlie Mack Thomas, Jr., was charged by indictment with the felony offense of driving while intoxicated. 1 Appellant pleaded not guilty to the charge and pleaded true to five enhancement paragraphs. 2 The jury found appellant guilty of the felony offense of driving while intoxicated and assessed punishment at 40 years’ confinement. In fifteen points of error, appellant challenges (1) the trial court’s denial of his motion to suppress; (2) the inclusion and exclusion of certain evidence during the guilt-innocence phase of the trial; (3) the sufficiency of the testimony of one of the witnesses involved in laying the predicate for the breath test results; (4) the exclusion of an argument about the application of the law in appellant’s closing argument during the guilt-innocence phase of the trial; (5) the inclusion of certain provisions in the jury charge; and (6) the trial court’s denial his motion for mistrial for jury misconduct. We affirm.

Background

On the evening of March 15, 2007, Officer Michael Diaz — a police officer employed at the time by the city of Sweeny, Texas — had transported a prisoner to the jail in West Columbia and was en route back to Sweeny. While he was still in West Columbia, a car suddenly turned left in front of him forcing him to apply his brakes quickly in order to avoid colliding with the car. The driver — appellant, Charlie Mack Thomas, Jr. — did not use a signal prior to the turn. Appellant came to a complete stop with his car partially in the gas station lot he was entering and partially still in the street. One of the back-seat passengers opened his door for a few seconds. The door closed and appellant continued into the gas station lot.

Officer Diaz followed appellant onto the gas station lot. Appellant parked next to a gas pump, and Officer Diaz parked his car behind appellant’s car. Officer Diaz approached appellant and began asking him questions. Officer Diaz smelled alcohol on appellant’s breath.

Subsequently, Officer Cole, a police officer employed by West Columbia, Texas, and Officer Stallman, a Texas State Trooper, arrived on the scene. Officer Stallman performed a field sobriety test on appellant. He determined that the test indicated that appellant was intoxicated. He asked appellant whether he was willing to consent to a breath test. Officer Stallman asked appellant this repeatedly but could *707 not get a clear answer. Once Officer Stall-man informed appellant that he was going to take his refusal to answer as a refusal to consent to a breath test, appellant stated he would consent to the test.

Officer Stallman took appellant to the nearest police station with breath testing equipment and performed the test on appellant. The results showed that appellant was above the legal limit for alcohol concentration. Based on his previous charges of driving while intoxicated, appellant was charged with felony driving while intoxicated with five enhancement paragraphs for other convictions. 3

Motion to Suppress

In his first five points of error and in his eighth point of error, appellant challenges the trial court’s denial of his motion to suppress evidence based on his claims that (1) the stop was impermissible because Officer Diaz was outside of his jurisdiction and there was not probable cause and (2) breath test results were coerced.

A. Standard of review

We review a trial court’s ruling on a motion to suppress evidence under a bifurcated standard of review. Amador v. State, 221 S.W.3d 666, 673 (Tex.Crim.App.2007). 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). 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. Wiede v. State, 214 S.W.3d 17, 24-25 (Tex.Crim.App.2007). Therefore, we give almost total deference to the trial court’s rulings on (1) questions of historical fact, even if the trial court’s determination of those facts was not based on an evaluation of credibility and demeanor, and (2) application-of-law-to-fact questions that turn on an evaluation of credibility and demeanor. Amador, 221 S.W.3d at 673. But when application-of-law-to-fact questions do not turn on the credibility and demeanor of the witnesses,, we review the trial court’s rulings on those questions de novo. Id.

Stated another way, when reviewing the 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. Wiede, 214 S.W.3d at 24. When, as here, the trial court enters findings of fact after denying a motion to suppress, we must determine whether the evidence— viewed in the light most favorable to the trial court’s decision — supports the findings. State v. Kelly, 204 S.W.3d 808, 818-19 (Tex.Crim.App.2006). We then review the trial court’s legal ruling de novo unless its explicit fact findings that are supported by the record are also dispositive of the legal ruling. Id. at 819. We must uphold the trial court’s ruling if it is supported by the record and correct under any theory of law applicable to the case, even if the trial court gave the wrong reason for its ruling. State v. Stevens, 235 S.W.3d 736, 740 (Tex.Crim.App.2007).

B. Terry stop

In his first five points of error, appellant argues that the motion to 'suppress should have been granted because there was no probable cause for the stop and because the officer who witnessed appellant’s driving was outside of his jurisdiction when he stopped appellant.

“An officer may conduct a brief investigative detention, or ‘Terry stop,’ when he has a reasonable suspicion to believe that an individual is involved in criminal activity.” Balentine v. State, 71 *708 S.W.3d 763, 768 (Tex.Crim.App.2002) (quoting Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 21, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 1880, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968)). For an officer to conduct a Terry stop, (1) the initial stop must be justified and (2) the scope of the investigation must be reasonably related to the circumstances that justified the interference in the first place. Terry, 392 U.S. at 20, 88 S.Ct. at 1879.

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Thomas v. State, 336 S.W.3d 703, 2010 WL 4925846 (Tex. Ct. App. 2011).

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