Victor Andrew Apodaca v. State

Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided February 25, 2019·No. 07-17-00231-CR·Published

Opinion

In The

Court of Appeals

Seventh District of Texas at Amarillo

No. 07-17-00228-CR

No. 07-17-00229-CR

No. 07-17-00230-CR

No. 07-17-00231-CR

VICTOR ANDREW APODACA, APPELLANT V.

THE STATE OF TEXAS, APPELLEE

On Appeal from the 100th District Court Carson County, Texas

Trial Court No. 6021; Honorable Stuart Messer, Presiding

February 25, 2019

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Before QUINN, C.J., and PIRTLE and PARKER, JJ.

Appellant, Victor Andrew Apodaca, was convicted by a jury of two counts of aggravated assault against a public servant,1 one count of evading arrest in a motor

1 See TEXAS PENAL CODE ANN. § 22.02(a)(2) (West 2011). An offense under this section is a first degree felony. Id. at § 22.02(b)(2)(B).

vehicle,2 and one count of committing a terroristic threat.3 At the same time, the jury rejected Appellant’s affirmative defense of insanity. Prior to trial, the range of punishment for each offense was enhanced by two prior felony convictions;4 however, at trial, the State presented only one prior felony conviction.5

Appellant entered a plea of “true” as to the enhancement allegation and the jury assessed his sentence at sixty years confinement and a fine of $500 for each count of aggravated assault; twenty years confinement and a fine of $500 for the one count of evading arrest in a motor vehicle; and twenty years confinement and a fine of $500 for the one count of terroristic threat. The trial court entered separate judgments for the four offenses alleged in the indictment.6 In each of those judgments, the trial court ordered that the sentences would run concurrently.

2 See TEXAS PENAL CODE ANN. § 38.04(a) (West 2016). An offense under this section is a third degree felony. Id. at § 38.04(b)(2)(A).

3 See TEXAS PENAL CODE ANN. § 22.07(a)(5) (West Supp. 2018). An offense under this section is a third degree felony. Id. at § 22.07(e).

4 See TEXAS PENAL CODE ANN. § 12.42(d) (West Supp. 2018). An offense enhanced under this section is punishable by imprisonment in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for life, or for any term of not more than 99 years or less than 25 years. Section 12.42(a) makes no provision for the assessment of a fine.

5See TEXAS PENAL CODE ANN. § 12.42(a), (c)(1) (West Supp. 2018). A third-degree felony offense enhanced under subsection (a) is punishable as a second degree felony (imprisonment for any term of not more than 20 years or less than 2 years and a fine not to exceed $10,000). A first degree felony offense enhanced under subsection (c)(1) is punishable by imprisonment in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice for life, or for any term of not more than 99 years or less than 15 years and a fine not to exceed $10,000.

6 During a pretrial hearing on June 26, 2017, the State waived the count alleging the offense of escape. See TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 38.06 (West 2016).

On appeal, Appellant raises two issues: (1) whether Appellant’s Fourth Amendment rights under the United States Constitution7 were violated when he was detained under the pretext of a consensual encounter, rendering the events that followed inadmissible and (2) whether the evidence at trial was legally and factually sufficient to support the jury’s rejection of his insanity defense. We modify the judgments pertaining to the offenses of evading arrest and terroristic threat to correct a clerical error and affirm the trial court’s judgments as modified.

BACKGROUND Appellant was charged by indictment with two counts of aggravated assault against a public servant, one count of evading arrest in a motor vehicle, one count of escape (subsequently dismissed), and one count of committing a terroristic threat, arising out of facts and circumstances that occurred at a Love’s truck stop in Carson County, Texas, on September 13, 2015. The indictment alleged that Appellant committed the offenses of aggravated assault by physically dragging with his vehicle DPS Troopers Anthony Mata and Brian Ihnen while they were in the process of discharging their official duties by attempting to arrest or detain Appellant. The indictment further alleged that during the commission of those offenses, Appellant exhibited a deadly weapon, to-wit: a motor vehicle. The indictment also alleged that Appellant intentionally fled from DPS Sergeant Daniel Rangel while knowing he was a peace officer that was attempting to lawfully arrest or detain him. Finally, the indictment alleged that Appellant threatened to commit an

7 U.S. CONST. amend. IV.

offense involving multiple people, namely, to use a bomb with intent to place the public or a substantial group of the public in fear of serious bodily injury.

In April 2016, Appellant filed a motion to suppress asserting he was illegally detained from the outset of his encounter with Sergeant Rangel. By that motion, Appellant sought to suppress all evidence of what transpired after the encounter. In June 2017, Appellant filed his notice of intent to raise an insanity defense and the State filed its notice of intent to seek enhanced punishment based upon a prior felony conviction for breaking and entering and a second prior felony conviction for battery upon a peace officer. In June 2017, a three-day jury trial was held.

The State’s evidence at trial established that, on September 13, 2015, Sergeant Rangel was participating in the search of a vehicle alongside Interstate 40 when he observed a driver operating a Cadillac in a very robotic fashion. When the traffic stop was completed, Sergeant Rangel and his partner caught up with the Cadillac on Interstate 40 and noticed that it suddenly slowed below the speed limit. Although Sergeant Rangel did not observe any traffic violations, he did decide to follow the vehicle into a Love’s truck stop hoping to abate his suspicions by speaking with the driver.

Without turning on his overhead lights or hindering the Cadillac’s ability to leave the gas pumps in any way, Sergeant Rangel pulled into the truck stop. He was wearing his trooper uniform and badge. He walked over to the Cadillac and knocked on the driver- side window. Appellant rolled down the window and Sergeant Rangel asked him if he was willing to speak with him. Appellant agreed. Sergeant Rangel then asked Appellant if he was willing to speak to him outside the vehicle and Appellant complied.

When Appellant emerged from the Cadillac, the belt to his pants was broken.

When Sergeant Rangel noted that his belt was broken, Appellant explained that he broke it while seated in the Cadillac. Sergeant Rangel observed that Appellant was experiencing a high level of anxiety as evidenced by extreme nervousness and an inability to stand still or be quiet. When Sergeant Rangel asked his name, he gave his name as Andrew Rodriguez. He could not produce any identification and said he was traveling from Amarillo to Arkansas. Before questioning the passenger, Sergeant Rangel gave Appellant a pad and pencil and asked him to write his name and identifying information. This time he wrote down a different name—Victor Apodaca.

On further inquiry, Sergeant Rangel found out the Cadillac was plated out of New Mexico and was registered to two females. He also discovered that the passenger did not have any identification on him and did not know the destination. At this point, he returned to his patrol vehicle and requested assistance. He then ran Appellant’s identifying information through his computer and received nothing. About this time, Sergeant Ihnen, assigned to the K-9 unit, arrived to assist him.

Sergeant Rangel returned to Appellant and asked if he could search his person.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Victor Andrew Apodaca v. State, (Tex. Ct. App. 2019).

Victor Andrew Apodaca v. State (Victor Andrew Apodaca v. State) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

State v. Crook
248 S.W.3d 172 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2008)
Raw Hide Oil & Gas, Inc. v. Maxus Exploration Co.
766 S.W.2d 264 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1988)
Darland v. State
582 S.W.2d 452 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1979)
Asberry v. State
813 S.W.2d 526 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1991)
Wilson v. State
71 S.W.3d 346 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2002)
Meraz v. State
785 S.W.2d 146 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1990)
Bigby v. State
892 S.W.2d 864 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1994)
Fuller v. State
253 S.W.3d 220 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2008)
Reyna v. State
116 S.W.3d 362 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2003)
Ramirez v. State
336 S.W.3d 846 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2011)
Brooks v. State
323 S.W.3d 893 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2010)
Martinez v. State
867 S.W.2d 30 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1993)
Bigley v. State
865 S.W.2d 26 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1993)
Torres v. State
976 S.W.2d 345 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1998)
Matlock, Marcus Dewayne
392 S.W.3d 662 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2013)
Yazdchi v. State
428 S.W.3d 831 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2014)
Con Mahn Pham v. State
463 S.W.3d 660 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2015)
Oliva v. State
548 S.W.3d 518 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 2018)
Volges v. Resolution Trust Corp.
515 U.S. 1162 (Supreme Court, 1995)