Wells v. State

716 S.W.2d 715, 1986 Tex. App. LEXIS 8358
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedAugust 29, 1986
Docket13-85-579-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 716 S.W.2d 715 (Wells 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
Wells v. State, 716 S.W.2d 715, 1986 Tex. App. LEXIS 8358 (Tex. Ct. App. 1986).

Opinion

OPINION

NYE, Chief Justice.

Appellant Johnny Wells was convicted of possessing less than twenty-eight grams of lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD), a controlled substance. After a jury trial, the court set punishment at four years in the Texas Department of Corrections.

Appellant first contends that the trial court erred in overruling his motion to suppress the controlled substance.

Police officers responded to a call from the Sail Club in Port Aransas concerning an individual who was causing a disturbance and refusing to leave. Officer Tanner testified at the hearing on appellant’s motion to suppress as follows. He and several other officers answered the call and talked to an employee of the tavern, who identified the appellant as the person who had created the disturbance and refused to leave. Officer Tanner and another officer asked the appellant several times to come outside with them. Appellant appeared to either ignore them or just be inattentive. He appeared to be intoxicated. Officer Tanner then said, “We need to have you come outside and speak with you. Make it easy on yourself and come cooperatively.” Officer Tanner stated that he would not have allowed the appellant to leave or do anything other than come outside and talk to them.

Continuing his testimony, Officer Tanner stated that appellant got up and walked toward the door, escorted by several police officers. Officer Tanner observed appellant’s left fist clinched, as if holding something heavy and as if he was preparing to *717 throw a punch. Appellant also glanced over his shoulder several times, as if placing the officers’ locations in his mind. Officer Tanner took appellant by his left arm as they continued walking. Appellant immediately put his other hand into his right front pants pocket. Officer Tanner believed appellant might have had a weapon in the pocket, so he shouted a warning to the other officers and grabbed the appellant by his other arm, pulling the hand out of the pocket and up in the air. He saw that appellant held a small plastic bag containing a sheet of white, heavy paper with little blue dots or stars on it. Appellant dropped the bag, and Officer Tanner wrestled appellant, who was struggling violently, to the ground. Another officer picked up the bag, which turned out to contain LSD.

At a suppression hearing, the trial court is the sole judge of the witness’ credibility. He may choose to believe or disbelieve the testimony of any witness. Walker v. State, 588 S.W.2d 920, 924 (Tex.Crim.App.1979); Lopez v. State, 660 S.W.2d 592, 594-95 (Tex.App. — Corpus Christi 1983, pet. ref’d). The trial judge’s ruling on a motion to suppress will not be disturbed if it has support in the evidence. Green v. State, 615 S.W.2d 700, 707 (Tex.Crim.App.1980); Alaniz v. State, 647 S.W.2d 310, 314 (Tex.App. — Corpus Christi 1982, pet. ref’d).

Appellant contends that he was subjected to an illegal, warrantless arrest at the time he was approached and asked to step outside. We disagree that appellant was under arrest. We do find, however, that appellant had been “seized” within the meaning of the fourth amendment of the United States Constitution since, according to the testimony of Officer Tanner, he was not free to leave. See Florida v. Royer, 460 U.S. 491, 498, 103 S.Ct. 1319, 1324, 75 L.Ed.2d 229 (1983); United States v. Mendenhall, 446 U.S. 544, 554, 100 S.Ct. 1870, 1877, 64 L.Ed.2d 497 (1980); Gregg v. State, 667 S.W.2d 125, 127 (Tex.Crim.App.1984). However, the safeguards of neither the fourth amendment nor TEX. CONST. art. I, § 9 (Vernon 1984) were offended in this case. A police officer is justified in temporarily detaining a person for investigative purposes, even in circumstances which do not amount to probable cause. Adams v. Williams, 407 U.S. 143, 145-46, 92 S.Ct. 1921, 1922-23, 32 L.Ed.2d 612 (1972); Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968); Ramirez v. State, 672 S.W.2d 480, 481-82 (Tex.Crim.App.1984). At the time Officer Tanner approached appellant, he was responding to a complaint that appellant had committed a breach of the peace, and that appellant was trespassing at the tavern, because of his refusal to leave when requested. At the time Officer Tanner approached appellant, the manager had already pointed out appellant as the person who had created the disturbance and then refused to leave. Officer Tanner was thus justified in asking appellant to leave the tavern to talk with him. See Adams v. Williams, 407 U.S. at 147, 92 S.Ct. at 1923; Ramirez, 672 S.W.2d at 481.

Officer Tanner was also justified in grabbing appellant’s arm. Once he had legally detained appellant, he was justified in protecting himself and others in the crowded tavern from what he reasonably suspected might have been a weapon. See Terry, 392 U.S. at 25-26, 88 S.Ct. at 1882; Wood v. State, 515 S.W.2d 300, 306 (Tex.Crim.App.1974); Williams v. State, 629 S.W.2d 146, 147-48 (Tex.App. — Dallas 1982, no pet.).

Appellant next contends that the trial court erred in admitting the controlled substance into evidence, arguing that the State failed to properly prove chain of custody. Officer Donbrowski of the Port Ar-ansas Police Department testified that he picked up the package of LSD, in the form of white paper divided into squares with blue stars in the squares, which appellant dropped on March 15, 1985. He then turned the package over to Officer Burle-son, who gave it to Officer Miller, the evidence technician. Officer Miller placed the package in the property room. Officer Perkins tested the contents of the package on the same evening at the Port Aransas *718 Police Department. Officer Donbrowski took the package to the Department of Public Safety laboratory for analysis on April 4, 1985.

James Waller, supervisor of the Department of Public Safety laboratory in Corpus Christi, testified that he received an envelope from Officer Donbrowski containing the package with the blue stars inside, and the package bore the offense number 8503118, which was the number used for filing at the Port Aransas Police Department. He tested the substance on the blue stars and found them to contain LSD. After placing his laboratory’s file number and his initials on the package, he mailed it back to the Port Aransas Police Department.

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

Related

Cooper v. State
889 S.W.2d 8 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1994)
Edwards v. State
788 S.W.2d 218 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1990)
Jules Gassner v. City of Garland, Texas, M.L. Bates
864 F.2d 394 (Fifth Circuit, 1989)
Roe v. State
738 S.W.2d 378 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1987)
Martinez v. State
736 S.W.2d 233 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1987)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
716 S.W.2d 715, 1986 Tex. App. LEXIS 8358, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wells-v-state-texapp-1986.