Washington v. State

822 S.W.2d 110, 1991 Tex. App. LEXIS 2868
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided November 20, 1991·No. No. 10-88-054-CR·Published·Cited by 52 cases

Opinion

VANCE, Justice.

Appellant was convicted of the capital murder of Juanita White and assessed life in prison. See Tex.Penal Code Ann. § 19.03 (Vernon 1989). On appeal, he complains that the court erred when it (1) ordered him to submit a blood sample when probable cause was not established, (2) admitted a shirt into evidence when no connection was shown between the shirt and the offense, (3) forced his investigator to produce his work product, (4) allowed the State to improperly use a taped interview to bolster the testimony of one of its witnesses, and (5) refused to grant a mistrial after several instances of improper jury argument. He also asserts that the State failed to disclose exculpatory evidence under an order of the court. We will affirm.

THE OFFENSE

Juanita White was found dead in her home, beaten and raped, on the morning of March 2, 1986. The front door of her house had been kicked in. She had returned home from work about 10:00 p.m. on March 1. The jury was charged under the law of parties, the State having alleged in the indictment that Appellant, either acting alone or as a party with Joe Sidney Williams, intentionally killed Mrs. White in the course of committing burglary or sexu[113] ally assaulting her.1 The State produced evidence that Mrs. White died of blunt-force injuries and asphyxia by smothering or strangulation, that she had been sexually assaulted, that Appellant and Williams were together and in possession of her car on the morning of March 2, that Appellant sold items of property belonging to Mrs. White on the night of the murder, that Appellant told witnesses he had committed the burglary, that bite marks were on the body, and that Appellant was overheard saying that the bite marks were left as a “trace mark.” A jury convicted Appellant of capital murder but assessed a life sentence when it failed to affirmatively answer all of the questions required by article 37.071. See Tex.Code CRim.PROC.Ann. art. 37.071 (Vernon Supp.1991).

THE BLOOD SAMPLE

In point one, Appellant asserts that the court erred in ordering him to submit a blood sample because the order was not based on an affidavit which established probable cause to take the sample. He contends that the sample was taken in violation of the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and article 1, section 9, of the Texas Constitution. See U.S. Const, amend. IV; Tex. Const, art. I, § 9. Prior to trial Appellant contested the State’s unsworn motion to require him to submit a blood sample. After the hearing, the court simply “granted” the motion and did not issue a search warrant. The blood sample was submitted to a laboratory for tests and the results were admitted into evidence.

Taking a sample of a defendant’s blood is a search and seizure. Gentry v. State, 640 S.W.2d 899, 902-03 (Tex.Crim.App.1982); Ferguson v. State, 573 S.W.2d 516, 520 (Tex.Crim.App.1978), cert. denied, 442 U.S. 934, 99 S.Ct. 2870, 61 L.Ed.2d 304 (1979); Smith v. State, 557 S.W.2d 299, 301 (Tex.Crim.App.1977). To obtain a search warrant for blood, the state is required to comply with the provisions of article 1.06 and chapter 18 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Smith, 557 S.W.2d at 301; see also Longoria v. State, 636 S.W.2d 521, 522 (Tex.App.—Texarkana 1982, pet. ref’d); Tex.Code Crim.PROC.Ann. arts. 1.06, 18.02 (Vernon 1977 and Vernon Supp.1991). A motion alone will not pass constitutional muster. Smith, 557 S.W.2d at 301.

Appellant’s complaint is that the court’s pre-trial ruling on the State’s motion led to admitting testimony of the test results. The State contends that, because Appellant gave his written consent to the taking of blood, hair and saliva, any question of the validity of the court’s pretrial order is immaterial. The witness who identified the consent form testified without objection that Appellant signed a form authorizing officers to take the samples. Thus, the State met its burden of showing that Appellant freely and voluntarily consented to the taking of a sample of his blood, and any error which resulted from the court’s improper pretrial order was harmless. See Harris v. State, 790 S.W.2d 568, 584-88 (Tex.Crim.App.1989); Ferguson, 573 S.W.2d at 521; Tex.R.App.P. 81(b)(2).

Additionally, the State was allowed to question the forensic serologist about tests run on the blood sample over this objection:

[Appellant’s Attorney]: I object to any testimony of that nature because it’s the product of actions invading Mr. Washington’s Sixth Amendment rights under the United States Constitution.
The Court: All right, sir. I overrule that objection.

(Emphasis added). Noting that the Sixth-Amendment objection made when the test results were offered does not comport with the point on appeal, i.e., that the evidence was obtained in violation of the Fourth Amendment, we hold that Appellant’s right to complain about the court’s admitting the test results has been waived and nothing is presented for our review. See Sharp v. [114] State, 707 S.W.2d 611, 619 (Tex.Crim.App.1986), cert. denied, 488 U.S. 872, 109 S.Ct. 190, 102 L.Ed.2d 159 (1988); White v. State, 543 S.W.2d 366, 369 (Tex.Crim.App.1976); Bouchillon v. State 540 S.W.2d 319, 322 (Tex.Crim.App.1976). We overrule point one.

THE SHIRT

In point two, Appellant asserts that the court erred when it admitted into evidence a shirt which the State did not connect to the offense. The shirt was seized during a search of Appellant’s room, which was consented to by his sister. It contained human blood stains which were never identified. Witnesses for the State testified that they had seen Appellant wearing the shirt on other occasions. Appellant argues that, because the witnesses were unable to say that he was wearing it on the night of the murder, no connection exists between the shirt and the offense and, therefore, the shirt was not relevant evidence.

The State contends that the point is not properly preserved for appellate review. We agree. At trial, Appellant objected to the admissibility of the shirt on the grounds that it was obtained by an illegal search and seizure. His point on appeal is that the shirt was irrelevant because it was not connected to the offense. Because Appellant’s point on appeal does not comport with his complaint at trial, we hold that Appellant’s right to complain about the court’s admitting the shirt has been waived and nothing is presented for our review. See id.

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Washington v. State, 822 S.W.2d 110, 1991 Tex. App. LEXIS 2868 (Tex. Ct. App. 1991).

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