Buse v. State
| Decision Date | 27 November 1968 |
| Docket Number | No. 41592,41592 |
| Citation | 435 S.W.2d 530 |
| Parties | Spencer Grover BUSE, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee. |
| Court | Texas Court of Criminal Appeals |
Bernard & Bernard, Thomas D. White, Houston (On Appeal Only), for appellant.
Carol S. Vance, Dist. Atty., Houston, James C. Brough and Gene Miles, Asst. Dist. Attys., Houston, and Leon B. Douglas, State's Atty., Austin, for the State.
The conviction is for the unlawful possession of barbiturates; the punishment, eighteen months in jail.
Appellant's sole ground of error is the contention that the contraband was obtained as the result of an unlawful arrest and illegal search and seizure.
By objections made at the trial, appellant questioned the legality of his arrest and seizure of the contraband.
The state's evidence shows that on the night of June 4, 1967, the appellant came into a service station in Houston, around 10:30 p.m., and engaged the night manager, Jerry Bromburg, in conversation. While they were talking, appellant took two yellow pills from a cigarette package, told Bromburg they were 'yellow jackets,' and offered to sell them to him for 50cents each. Bromburg declined, and appellant left, driving west on Bissonnet Street in a Nash Rambler automobile.
Two city of Houston police officers, Seires and Adcock, were dispatched to the scene and arrived within fifteen or twenty minutes after appellant departed. After talking to the station attendant and being given the appellant's name and a description of the car he was driving, the officers left the station and traveled west on Bissonnet. After having driven approximately one and a half miles and crossing over into the city limits of Bellaire, the officers observed a car parked on Bissonnet which fitted the description given them. They stopped the patrol car and then got out and proceeded to look into the Rambler, with the use of a flashlight. Around 11 p.m., while checking the car, they observed the appellant walking toward them. After appellant was asked and had given his name, the officers observed that he had two yellow capsules in his right hand, between his thumb and forefinger. They asked him what he had in his hand and appellant stated that he had nothing but his car keys. Officer Adcock took the keys from his hand, and at such time appellant 'made a pitching motion behind him * * * Towards the street * * *.' Officer Adcock then grabbed appellant and placed handcuffs on him, and Officer Seires went out in the street some ten feet and found two yellow capsules lying approximately two feet apart.
It was stipulated that chemist and toxicologist Floyd McDonald, of the Houson police department, would testify that he examined the two capsules and found them to contain a derivative of barbiturates, a dangerous drug.
It is appellant's contention that the two city of Houston police officers were without lawful authority to arrest him in the city of Bellaire, which was outside their jurisdiction, and that the two capsules were therefore recovered as a result of an unlawful arrest and illegal search.
It is the state's position that the arrest was lawful and also that the evidence was not obtained as the result of a search and seizure.
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Angel v. State
...limited city police officers to city-wide jurisdiction. 687 S.W.2d at 473. In particular, the Court of Appeals cited Buse v. State, 435 S.W.2d 530 (Tex.Cr.App.1968), Minor v. State, 153 Tex.Cr.R. 242, 219 S.W.2d 467 (1949), Irwin v. State, 147 Tex.Cr.R. 6, 177 S.W.2d 970 (1944), and Weeks v......
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City of Cincinnati v. Alexander, 77-1044
...(1976), 139 N.J.Super. 561, 354 A.2d 677; In re Thierry S. (1977), 19 Cal.3d 727, 139 Cal.Rptr. 708, 566 P.2d 610; and Buse v. Texas (Tex.Cr.App.1968), 435 S.W.2d 530, where, because of the illegal arrest, evidence was suppressed. Cf. State ex rel. Wilson, v. Nash (1974), 41 Ohio App.2d 201......
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Love v. State
...Rule Under the common law, a city police officer's power to arrest, with or without a warrant, ends at the city limits. Buse v. State, 435 S.W.2d 530 (Tex.Crim.App.1968); Irwin v. State, 147 Tex.Cr.R. 6, 177 S.W.2d 970 (1944); Henson v. State, 120 Tex.Cr.R. 176, 49 S.W.2d 463 (1932); Jones ......
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Alvarez v. State
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