Whitney Nicole Carter v. State

463 S.W.3d 218, 2015 WL 1905914
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 27, 2015
Docket07-13-00207-CR, 07-13-00208-CR
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 463 S.W.3d 218 (Whitney Nicole Carter 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
Whitney Nicole Carter v. State, 463 S.W.3d 218, 2015 WL 1905914 (Tex. Ct. App. 2015).

Opinion

OPINION

James T. Campbell, Justice

Appellants Tony Darell Johnson and Whitney Nicole Carter were indicted for money laundering. 1 The cases were consolidated for trial and appellants were convicted by a jury. The trial court assessed punishment for each at two years’ confinement in a state jail facility. Johnson and Carter each present three issues, including a challenge of the trial court’s order denying suppression of evidence found through a Department of Public Safety trooper’s warrantless search of two cell phones. Finding the trial court abused its discretion by failing to suppress the challenged cell phone evidence, and the constitutional error was not harmless, we will reverse the judgments and remand the cases for further proceedings.

Background

At about 9:30 p.m. on October 24, 2011, Johnson was driving westbound in his mother’s automobile on Interstate 40 in Carson County, Texas. Carter and Johnson were recently married and she was the only passenger. A DPS trooper observed Johnson commit traffic violations, 2 and conducted a traffic stop.

At the vehicle, the trooper detected an “overwhelming” odor of air freshener. 3 *221 He saw multiple food and drink containers inside the vehicle along with containers of energy drink. During conversations with appellants, he noted the quietness of Carter’s voice and her lack of eye contact, her apparent nervousness, Johnson’s complaints of extreme fatigue from extended driving, the inaccuracy of the criminal history Johnson provided, and discrepancies in appellants’ stories. Based on these facts, the trooper concluded reasonable suspicion existed to prolong the detention. After Johnson refused consent to search the vehicle, the trooper requested a canine unit.

Some thirty minutes later, the canine unit arrived and a drug dog conducted a free-air sniff around the vehicle. After the dog alerted to the vehicle the trooper searched the vehicle, and found six bundles of United States currency totaling $13,925. Five were located inside a bag within a soft-sided cooler on the rear seat of the vehicle and a sixth was found in Carter’s purse. In a bag found in the passenger compartment, the trooper discovered a small amount of marijuana “shake” or residue. The trooper also found a vacuum sealer machine and bags in the trunk. He placed Johnson and Carter in handcuffs.

The trooper then transported appellants and their vehicle to the DPS precinct barn in Panhandle, Texas, where the search of the vehicle continued. The trooper summoned a DPS agent to handle the currency and investigate the money laundering offense. During the search, the trooper found two cell phones in the vehicle’s passenger compartment. He then conducted a warrantless search of the data contained in the phones. Lacking equipment to download this information, he photographed about one hundred text messages and photographs he found on the phones.

Appellants were each indicted on the charge of money laundering. Each filed a pre-trial motion seeking suppression of the evidence seized. Following an evidentiary hearing, the trial court denied the motions by written orders.

At trial, over objections, the State offered photographs made by the trooper of text messages and photographs as well as a video recording discovered among the data contained in the cell phones.

Also over objection, the State offered the testimony of an officer with a North Carolina sheriffs department. He testified that in December 2011, some five weeks after their Carson County arrest, appellants were stopped for traffic violations and then arrested for possession of marijuana with intent to distribute. According to the officer, he found a small piece of a vacuum sealed bag containing marijuana in Carter’s purse. While searching appellants’ vehicle, he discovered a “lunch tote bag” containing “a large vacuum sealed bag containing marijuana.” When the large bag was opened, the officer noticed it held six smaller vacuum sealed bags of marijuana. A North Carolina state trial court suppressed this evidence. At the time of appellants’ trial in Carson County, the North Carolina order granting suppression of evidence remained on appeal.

During testimony at the guilt-innocence phase of trial, Carter explained the cash the trooper discovered was the proceeds from her settlement of a personal injury lawsuit and wedding gifts from family.

*222 Johnson and Carter were found guilty of the charged offense and sentenced as noted. This appeal followed.

Analysis

Johnson’s Sufficiency Challenge

By his third issue, Johnson argues the evidence was insufficient to sustain his conviction for the offense of money laundering.

In a sufficiency review, we examine the evidence to determine whether any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt. Brooks v. State, 323 S.W.3d 893, 895 (Tex.Crim.App.2010) (citing Jackson v. Virginia, 443 U.S. 307, 99 S.Ct. 2781, 61 L.Ed.2d 560 (1979)); Vodochodsky v. State, 158 S.W.3d 502, 509 (Tex.Crim.App.2005). We review all the evidence in the light most favorable to the verdict and assume the trier of fact resolved conflicts in the testimony, weighed the evidence, and drew reasonable inferences in a manner that supports the verdict. Rollerson v. State, 227 S.W.3d 718, 724 (Tex.Crim.App.2007). Our consideration of all the evidence includes any evidence that was improperly admitted. Clayton v. State, 235 S.W.3d 772, 778 (Tex.Crim.App.2007). Sufficiency of the evidence is measured by the elements of the offense as defined by the hypothetically correct jury charge. Malik v. State, 953 S.W.2d 234, 240 (Tex.Crim.App.1997). The hypothetically correct jury charge “sets out the law, is authorized by the indictment, does not unnecessarily increase the State’s burden of proof or unnecessarily restrict the State’s theories of liability, and adequately describes the particular offense for which the defendant was tried.” Id.

Penal Code section 34.02(a)(1) provides that a person commits an offense if the person knowingly acquires or maintains an interest in, receives, conceals, possesses, transfers, or transports the proceeds of criminal activity. Tex. Penal Code Ann. § 34.02(a)(1) (West 2011). “Criminal activity” means any offense, including any preparatory offense, classified as a felony under the laws of Texas or the United States or punishable by confinement for more than one year under the laws of another state. Tex. Penal Code Ann.

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Bluebook (online)
463 S.W.3d 218, 2015 WL 1905914, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/whitney-nicole-carter-v-state-texapp-2015.