Tyler Lee Miller v. the State of Texas

Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided May 13, 2021·No. 02-19-00299-CR·Published

Opinion

In the

Court of Appeals Second Appellate District of Texas at Fort Worth

No. 02-19-00299-CR

TYLER LEE MILLER, Appellant V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS

On Appeal from the 271st District Court Wise County, Texas

Trial Court No. CR20041

Before Sudderth, C.J.; Womack and Wallach, JJ. Memorandum Opinion by Chief Justice Sudderth

MEMORANDUM OPINION

A jury found appellant Tyler Lee Miller guilty of evading arrest or detention with a vehicle, a deadly weapon. See Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 38.04(a), (b)(2)(A). After Miller pleaded true to four enhancement paragraphs, the trial court sentenced him to 13 years’ imprisonment.

In four issues, Miller asserts that

1. he suffered egregious harm because the jury charge did not include an instruction on improperly admitted evidence;

2. he suffered egregious harm when the fact issue of whether he used his blinker was not submitted to the jury;1

3. the evidence was insufficient to prove that he was lawfully stopped; and

4. the evidence was insufficient to prove that he acted intentionally to evade arrest or detention.

Because the jury charge contained no error, we overrule Miller’s first two issues. Because sufficient evidence supports both that Miller was lawfully stopped and that he

1 As an alternate second issue, Miller asserts that he suffered egregious harm because the jury charge did not include a lesser-included offense. But he failed to brief that issue. Nonbriefed issues are waived, so we will not address it. See Munoz v. State, No. 11-14-00029-CR, 2017 WL 1321527, at *4 (Tex. App.—Eastland Apr. 6, 2017, no pet.) (mem. op., not designated for publication) (citing Tex. R. App. P. 38.1); Howard v. State, 137 S.W.3d 282, 286 n.2 (Tex. App.—Fort Worth 2004, pet. ref’d). Instead, we will address only that part of his second issue that he briefed, i.e., whether he suffered egregious harm when the fact issue related to his use or nonuse of his blinker was not submitted to the jury.

had acted intentionally, we overrule Miller’s third and fourth issues. We affirm the trial court’s judgment.

I. Evidence

A. Trooper Gomez detains Miller.

Trooper Jose Gomez testified that while stopped at an intersection, he saw a pickup pull into an Exxon gas station and stop between two pumps just as a Decatur police vehicle passed by. As soon as the patrol car cleared, the pickup immediately exited the parking lot. Suspicious, Trooper Gomez pulled into the Exxon parking lot with the intention of following the pickup and running its license plates.

The suspicious pickup stopped at a light, turned right, and then drove back into the Exxon parking lot “that he just came out of.” Because Trooper Gomez believed that the pickup had not used its turn signal when turning right into the parking lot, Trooper Gomez initiated a traffic stop.

Trooper Gomez’s car’s dashcam videotaped the stop. Trooper Gomez asserted that the illuminating taillight seen on Miller’s pickup as Miller pulled into the parking lot was a brake light, not a turn signal. Trooper Gomez explained that as vehicles entered the parking lot, a bump forced them to brake.

B. Trooper Gomez’s dashcam video neither confirms nor refutes whether Miller used his turn signal.

Trooper Gomez’s dashcam video shows him on the service road for Highways 81 and 287 southbound sitting at the Highway 51 intersection stop light; the

Exxon gas station is across the street on the right corner. From Trooper Gomez’s left on Highway 51, a Decatur police vehicle crosses the intersection and moves to Trooper Gomez’s right. To Trooper Gomez’s right on Highway 51, Miller’s pickup can be seen pulling into the Exxon gas station just as the Decatur police vehicle and Miller’s pickup were about to cross paths.

On the video, Miller’s pickup pulls between two pumps, waits a few moments, and then somewhat abruptly loops back around toward the same Highway 51 exit that it had just entered. At the same moment, Trooper Gomez’s traffic light turns green, he crosses the intersection, and he pulls into the Exxon parking lot from the Highways 81 and 287 service-road entrance; from there, he drives across the parking lot to the Highway 51 exit.

By the time Trooper Gomez crosses the parking lot, Miller has already left it, and his pickup can be seen at the intersection that Trooper Gomez had just traversed. The light is still red, and Miller is in the process of turning right onto the Highways 81 and 287 service road. During this turn, Miller’s right turn signal is blinking.

Trooper Gomez follows Miller, but because Trooper Gomez’s dashcam points forward, the camera loses Miller until Trooper Gomez completes his right turn onto the Highways 81 and 287 service road. By the time the camera captures Miller again, Miller is pulling back into the parking lot using the same Highways 81 and 287 service- road entrance that Trooper Gomez had used moments earlier to enter the parking lot. Because the video captures Miller just as he is completing his turn, whether Miller is

using his right turn signal or just tapping his brakes as he enters the parking lot is not clear.

Trooper Gomez activates his overhead lights just as Miller enters the parking lot and while Trooper Gomez is still on the service road. We can determine when Trooper Gomez activates his overhead lights by the reflections off a road sign and by the dashcam’s audio’s activating. When Trooper Gomez turns on his car’s overhead lights, the dashcam records the video for the two minutes preceding the activation but records the audio only from the moment of activation. Miller was thus already pulling back into the Exxon parking lot before Trooper Gomez activated his overhead lights.

The video also shows that Miller’s center rear brake light did not work.

C. Trooper Gomez describes what happened next.

As Trooper Gomez drove up behind Miller’s pickup, the car’s passenger door opened. Trooper Gomez ordered the passenger to remain inside the pickup.

After approaching the vehicle, Trooper Gomez described the driver (Miller) as aggressive and argumentative. When Trooper Gomez told Miller that he had stopped him for failing to use his signal when he pulled into the gas station, Miller protested and insisted that he had signaled. Miller refused to provide his name and admitted that he was unable to provide a driver’s license, that he had no insurance, that the pickup was not his, and that he had pulled back into the parking lot because he wanted to stay out of the officer’s way.

At that point, Trooper Gomez decided to separate Miller and the passenger to see if each independently gave the same name for the driver. Miller responded by pleading with Trooper Gomez that he just wanted Trooper Gomez to leave him alone. Miller’s pleading struck Trooper Gomez as odd because not having insurance did not explain why Miller wanted to avoid him. Trooper Gomez believed that something other than a lack of insurance was motivating Miller’s behavior.

When Trooper Gomez persisted, Miller then volunteered that he had warrants.

Trooper Gomez informed Miller that the Department of Public Safety was not, at that time, making arrests for Class C misdemeanor warrants, so if Miller’s warrants were only for Class C misdemeanors, he would not arrest Miller.

Trooper Gomez directed Miller to get out of the pickup, but Miller remained inside. Attempting to calm Miller, Trooper Gomez continued to talk to him, and eventually Miller placed his vehicle in park and turned off the motor.

But by this time, Miller was angry at the passenger, who can be heard on the video saying something inaudible that prompted Miller to reply, “What do you mean? Don’t what?” Trooper Gomez told Miller to hand him the keys, but Miller refused and, instead, turned his pickup back on. Trooper Gomez tried to call for backup, but his hand-held radio would not work. Trooper Gomez thought that Miller might try to flee.

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