Blevins v. State

• Decision Date: 11 April 2002
• Docket Number: No. 2-01-115-CR.,2-01-115-CR.
• Citation: 74 S.W.3d 125
• Parties: Roxanna Marie BLEVINS, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

74 S.W.3d 125

Roxanna Marie BLEVINS, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas.

No. 2-01-115-CR.

Court of Appeals of Texas, Fort Worth.

April 11, 2002.

Rehearing Overruled May 23, 2002.

John F. Curry, Wichita Falls, for Appellant.

Barry L. Macha, Crim. Dist. Atty., John W. Brasher, Gregory J. King, Asst. Crim. Dist. Attys., Wichita Falls, for Appellee.

PANEL B: DAY, DAUPHINOT, and WALKER, JJ.

OPINION

SUE WALKER, Justice.

I. INTRODUCTION

A jury convicted Appellant Roxanna Marie Blevins ("Blevins") of possession of between one and four grams of methamphetamine and assessed her punishment at thirty years' confinement in the Institutional Division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and a $500 fine. In two issues on appeal, Blevins asserts that the trial court erred in denying her motion to suppress and that the fine assessed by the jury was not authorized by law. We will reform the trial court's judgment to delete the fine and affirm the judgment as reformed.

II. BACKGROUND FACTS

On December 22, 1999, Wichita Falls Police Officer Charles Eipper was with the tactical unit of the department and was engaged in a surveillance operation. Officer Eipper testified that he had been informed by an informant that two suspects, named Darren Woodall and Gidget Dotson, had stolen credit cards, that one of the credit cards had been stolen from the library, and that the two were using those credit cards to stay in the Roadway Inn and to purchase merchandise. The informant told Officer Eipper that the suspects had used the stolen credit cards to purchase a scanner from the Radio Shack at Sike's Senter Mall and also to purchase an expensive gold necklace from Sloan's Loans. Officer Eipper went to the Roadway Inn and confirmed that Woodall and Dotson had stayed there and paid with a credit card bearing the name of Deanne York. Because at that time Officer Eipper possessed no confirming evidence that the "Deanne York" credit card had been stolen, he took no further action.

The next day, on December 23, 1999, Officer Eipper discovered Deanne York had reported that her credit card was stolen from her at the library. On December 24, 1999, Officer Eipper found out from the same informant that Woodall and Dotson had moved, and were now staying at the River Oaks Motel in Room 209. At that point, Officer Eipper, along with Officers Miracle, Haldane, Gossett and Stout, set up surveillance at the River Oaks Motel. Officer Eipper was in a marked patrol car, while the other officers were in unmarked cars.

During the December 24, 1999 surveillance, at about 10:00 a.m., the officers observed Woodall exit the hotel room carrying a box and get into a blue Chevy Caprice driven by a man the officers knew to be Barry Hatton. The officers followed them. Woodall and Hatton first drove to the Paramount Store, a place known by police to be "a place where people do go and fence property and take stolen property to sell." The Paramount Store was closed, so Woodall and Hatton went to Lovett's. Woodall carried the box into Lovett's, and then exited a minute later still carrying the box. Officer Eipper entered Lovett's, while his partners maintained surveillance, and discovered that Woodall was attempting to sell a scanner for $150.

The officers followed Woodall and Hatton from Lovett's to the Frosty Mug. Again, Officer Eipper went into the Frosty Mug after Woodall left, while his partners continued to follow Woodall and Hatton. Employees at the Frosty Mug indicated to Officer Eipper that Woodall was attempting to sell a scanner for $150. Woodall and Hatton proceeded to the Hubcap Club. Again, after Woodall left, Officer Eipper entered the establishment. Patrons sitting at the bar in the Hubcap Club told Officer Eipper that Woodall had been trying to sell a scanner for $150. Woodall and Hatton then traveled to the Lonesome Dove, the Missle Club, Surles Pawn Shop, and finally back to the River Oaks Motel. Woodall still possessed the box when he left Surles Pawn Shop.

At approximately 11:00 a.m., Woodall, Hatton, and Dotson left the motel in the blue Chevy Caprice. Officers followed them to the Just Country Bar and later to an address in a trailer park, 102 Lindsey. Woodall, Hatton, and Dotson all went inside 102 Lindsey. At approximately 12:30 p.m., Woodall and Dotson exited 102 Lindsey and were picked up by two unidentified white females in a gold Mercury Sable. At this point, after a half-day of surveillance, the officers decided they should stop the Mercury and "try to locate the scanner and the stolen credit cards." Officer Eipper testified that he possessed reasonable suspicion that Woodall and Dotson, who were in the Mercury, had committed a crime and were in possession of stolen property.

After the stop, Dotson admitted to possessing the stolen credit cards and informed Officer Eipper that the scanner had been sold to Blevins, the driver of the Mercury. A warrant check revealed that a warrant was outstanding for one of the white females, Ms. Morgan. According to Morgan's testimony, while she and Blevins were still in the Mercury, Blevins handed her a small plastic baggie. Apparently, Blevins was aware that a warrant was also outstanding for her arrest and did not want to be linked to the baggie. Once Morgan realized she was being arrested, she slipped the baggie back to Blevins.

Officer Gossett testified that as he was trying to place handcuffs on Morgan, he saw an "exchange" between Morgan and Blevins. Officer Gossett said Morgan leaned forward and handed something to Blevins. He saw something rolled up in plastic in Blevins's hand and saw her put her hand into her front jeans pocket. Officer Gossett then saw Blevins open the back door of the Mercury, put her hand in her front jeans pocket, and then push something "all the way down in between the seat." Officer Gossett went to the car and pushed down on the back seat cushion to expose whatever was wedged between the cushion and the seat back, and he discovered a "little plastic baggie." The substance in the baggie was later tested and determined to be methamphetamine.

III. SCOPE OF REVIEW

In determining whether a trial court's decision on a motion to suppress is supported by the record, we generally consider only evidence adduced at the suppression hearing because the ruling was based on it rather than evidence introduced later. Rachal v. State, 917 S.W.2d 799, 809 (Tex.Crim.App.), cert. denied, 519 U.S. 1043, 117 S.Ct. 614, 136 L.Ed.2d 539 (1996). However, this general rule is inapplicable where the suppression issue has been consensually relitigated by the parties during trial on the merits. Id. Where the State raises the issue at trial either without objection or with subsequent participation in the inquiry by the defense, the defendant has made an election to re-open the evidence, and consideration of relevant trial testimony is also appropriate in our review. Id.

Here, the record reflects that the parties relitigated the suppression issue at trial. Accordingly, we review the testimony presented at the suppression hearing and at trial in addressing Blevins's first issue.

IV. STANDARD OF REVIEW

The appropriate standard of review for a suppression ruling is a bifurcated review. Bachick v. State, 30 S.W.3d 549, 551 (Tex.App.-Fort Worth 2000, pet. ref'd). First, we afford almost total deference to the trial court's determination of the historical facts that the record supports, especially when the trial court's fact findings are based on an evaluation of credibility and demeanor. State v. Ross, 32 S.W.3d 853, 856 (Tex.Crim.App.2000) (citing Guzman v. State, 955 S.W.2d 85, 88-89 (Tex. Crim.App.1997)); Bachick, 30 S.W.3d at 551. We also afford such deference to a trial court's ruling on the "application of law to fact questions" if the resolution of those ultimate questions turns on an evaluation of credibility and demeanor. Guzman, 955 S.W.2d at 88-89. Next, we review de novo the trial court's application of the law of search and seizure to the facts. Ross, 32 S.W.3d at 856.

V. REASONABLE SUSPICION JUSTIFYING THE INTIAL STOP

In her first issue, Blevins asserts that the trial court improperly denied her motion to suppress because the officers' initial stop of the gold Mercury Sable violated the Fourth Amendment. Blevins argues that the officers did not possess a reasonable articulable suspicion that criminal activity was afoot justifying the initial Terry stop of the automobile. Blevins also complains that the stop was based on a tip by an anonymous informant of undisclosed reliability and claims that this type of information does not establish the requisite level of suspicion necessary to justify an investigative stop. Blevins relies upon Florida v. J.L., 529 U.S. 266, 269, 120 S.Ct. 1375, 1378, 146 L.Ed.2d 254 (2000).

Law enforcement officers may stop and briefly detain persons suspected of criminal activity on less information than is constitutionally required for probable cause to arrest. Terry v. Ohio, 392 U.S. 1, 22, 88 S.Ct. 1868, 1880, 20 L.Ed.2d 889 (1968). The same standards apply whether the person detained is a pedestrian or is the occupant of an automobile. See Carmouche v. State, 10 S.W.3d 323, 328 (Tex.Crim.App.2000) (citing Adams v. Williams, 407 U.S. 143, 145-46, 92 S.Ct. 1921, 1922-23, 32 L.Ed.2d 612 (1972)) (holding that the "warrantless stop of the Camry was constitutionally justified based upon the informant's tip."); Rhodes v. State, 913 S.W.2d 242, 246 (Tex.App.-Fort Worth 1995) (recognizing "[a]n occupant of an automobile is just as suspect to an investigative detention as is a pedestrian"), aff'd, 945 S.W.2d 115 (Tex.Crim.App.), cert. denied, 522 U.S. 894, 118 S.Ct. 236, 139 L.Ed.2d 167 (1997). To initiate an investigative stop, the investigating officer must possess a reasonable suspicion based on specific articulable facts that, in light of the officer's experience and general knowledge, would lead the officer to the reasonable conclusion that criminal...