Vicioso v. State

54 S.W.3d 104, 2001 WL 893909
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 22, 2001
Docket10-99-236-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by23 cases

This text of 54 S.W.3d 104 (Vicioso v. State) 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.

Bluebook
Vicioso v. State, 54 S.W.3d 104, 2001 WL 893909 (Tex. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinions

OPINION

VANCE, Justice.

A jury convicted Wilfredy Rene Vicioso of burglary of a habitation and sentenced him to life in prison after finding that the allegations of two previous felony convictions were true as alleged in the enhancement paragraph of the indictment. In four points of error, Vicioso claims that:

1. The trial court erred in overruling Vicioso’s motion to suppress his written confession as a fruit of an illegal arrest, resulting in the violation of Vicioso’s rights under both federal and state constitutions.
2. The trial court erred in overruling Vicioso’s motion to suppress his written confession as a fruit of an illegal arrest, adversely affecting his substantial rights.
3. During the punishment phase, the trial court erred in overruling Vicio-so’s motion for mistrial and/or in failing to instruct the jury to disregard evidence of an unadjudicated extraneous crime.
4. The trial court erred in overruling Vicioso’s objection to the court’s charge on guilt/innocence for its failure to instruct the jury to disregard his confession as the fruit of an illegal arrest.

We will reverse the judgment.

FACTS

Vicioso filed a motion to suppress a written confession he gave an officer of the Hamilton County Sheriffs Department (“Department”), claiming it was the “fruit” of an arrest made without probable cause.

At the suppression hearing, the State called one witness: Jim Buster of the Department. Buster testified that the Department was investigating several house burglaries in the county, including the “Diaz burglary,” and that there were several suspects, including Vicioso and his girlfriend, Tammy Gomez. Both had prior convictions for burglary. Buster said that during the course of the investigation, the Department learned Gomez had pawned a stolen drill, and that investigators had interrogated Gomez and Vicioso about the drill. Apparently, neither was arrested. Later, the Department learned of a pawn ticket from Black’s Pawn Shop in Gran-bury which might have been related to items stolen in the “Diaz burglary.” The ticket, issued on the same day that the burglary occurred, was in Gomez’s name. So, Buster testified, investigators began to again look for Gomez and Vicioso for questioning. We find it significant that had Buster felt at that point that probable cause existed to arrest Vicioso based on the information the Department had, he would undoubtedly have obtained an arrest warrant. That he did not demonstrates his belief that probable cause to arrest Vicioso was lacking.

Around 2:00 or 2:15 p.m., while Buster was getting a Diet Coke in Hico, he and Officer Howard Westmoreland saw Gomez and Vicioso go by in a van driven by Gomez, and they began to follow. Buster radioed ahead so that Officer Casey Heath could stop the vehicle. Buster said that at the scene of the stop, he took Gomez out of the vehicle and asked for permission to search it, which she gave. The search revealed nothing. The fact that Buster asked for permission to search the van shows he did not believe he had probable cause to arrest Gomez.1 The of[107]*107ficers questioned Gomez but obtained no incriminating information. Nevertheless, the officers handcuffed Vicioso and Gomez, placed them in separate squad cars, and took them to the Sheriffs Department where they were held separately. Vicioso was strip-searched and body-cavity searched by Heath and placed in a cell.

Buster said he “focus[ed] on Mrs. Gomez” by “giving her her rights” and interrogating her. Gomez confessed to Buster that she and Vicioso had been involved in at least three burglaries in Hamilton County. She also disclosed the location of a gun hidden in her vehicle, which was retrieved. About two hours after arriving at the Sheriffs Department, she signed a written confession. Buster testified that Gomez and some officers then visited the locations of the burglaries she described.

Buster said that after he took a written statement from Gomez, he went to the cell in which Vicioso was being held and told him that Gomez had confessed to the burglaries and that the gun had been recovered. He told Vicioso it was “up to him if he wanted to give a statement or not. We had the gun, had her statement impheating him in the burglary .... I told him if he didn’t make a statement it didn’t make me any difference because we could file felon with a gun on him and [we] had the burglary.”2 After a brief absence, Buster was called back by Vicioso who asked to speak to Gomez, which was allowed briefly, and then Buster “read him his rights.” Buster said, “We didn’t talk about the burglary until after he was Mirandized.” Vicioso then gave a written statement confessing to burglaries; this was about three hours after arriving at the Department. At the hearing, Buster identified the written statement he took from Vicioso.3

On cross-examination, Buster said that no traffic citations were issued, although he said the vehicle had crossed the center line of the highway several times while the officers followed it. In response to a question about whether Vicioso and Gomez were at any time “free to go” after the initial stop, Buster testified:

A. We were — asked them to accompany us down there to — for questioning. Q. So did you just say follow me down there?
A. No. No. We put them in the car and we transported them.
[[Image here]]
Q. Are you aware whether or not the Defendant was strip-searched upon arriving at the Sheriffs Department?
A. I believe he was, yes, sir.
Q. Then he was taken and put in a jail cell, was he not?
A. At some — at some point, yes, sir, he was.
Q. Okay. He was put in a jail cell while you were working with Tammy Gomez? A. No, sir, not — not until after she had made a statement that he was involved in a burglary.
[[Image here]]
Q. Okay, so — so the basis for having— at that point he was arrested?
A. Yes. Based on her statement I felt I had probable cause to hold him in connection with the burglary.4
[[Image here]]
[108]*108Q. All right. Did yon have a warrant for his arrest?
A. Not at that time, no, sir. I based it on probable cause of her statement. I obtained a warrant as soon as I could the next morning on the 13th.

Buster verified that the vehicle belonged to Gomez, that he did not talk to Vicioso at the location of the initial detention, but concentrated on talking to Gomez, and that Vicioso was not taken before a magistrate before he gave the written statement.

On re-direct examination, the State asked Buster “what did you really know” about Vicioso when he and Gomez were stopped. Buster said he knew that there was the pawn ticket in Gomez’s name, that Gomez and Vicioso lived together and she drove him wherever he went, and that Vicioso had a “criminal history out of Florida.”

Vicioso called Westmoreland to testify.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
54 S.W.3d 104, 2001 WL 893909, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/vicioso-v-state-texapp-2001.