Gaston v. State, 54977
| Decision Date | 13 December 1978 |
| Docket Number | No. 54977,No. 2,54977,2 |
| Citation | 574 S.W.2d 120 |
| Parties | Curtis Evans GASTON, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee |
| Court | Texas Court of Criminal Appeals |
Chuck Miller and Lawrence B. Mitchell, Dallas, for appellant.
Henry M. Wade, Dist. Atty., Steve Wilensky and Bob Smith, Asst. Dist. Attys., Dallas, for the State.
Before ONION, P. J., and DALLY and VOLLERS, JJ.
Appellant was convicted of possession of controlled substances paraphernalia and punishment was assessed by the court at 365 days in the Dallas County jail. Nine grounds of error are raised by appellant on appeal, but it is only necessary for us to consider one ground since it is dispositive of this case. A brief explanation of the facts surrounding appellant's arrest is necessary for a discussion of this issue.
Officer Richard Bridges of the Dallas Police Department testified that on May 3, 1976, he was investigating a burglary. When he interviewed two people who claimed to have witnessed the offense, one of these witnesses pointed across the street at appellant and another man leaving an apartment and said "There they are," identifying them as the parties who had committed the burglaries. The officer then crossed the street, called out to appellant, and the two men turned and walked away hurriedly. The officer pulled his gun and arrested the appellant for burglary. A second officer was called to the scene, and a subsequent search of appellant revealed a syringe with a trace of heroin.
Appellant's counsel objected to the above testimony concerning the burglary because it constituted an inadmissible extraneous offense. The State responds on appeal that the "evidence surrounding a defendant's arrest is admissible as res gestae."
The term "res gestae" is an often overused phrase that is sometimes loosely used to cover the admission of pertinent evidence surrounding a particular transaction, whether it is an arrest, the commission of an offense or some other pertinent transaction. It is often used to cover the admission of evidence pertaining to those material events and happenings immediately surrounding an event which are interwoven and pertinent to that event. The surrounding transactions which are termed as res gestae are those events which are material to the understanding of the arrest itself and explanatory of what occurred at that time.
However, it does not appear that this Court has ever authorized the admission of hearsay statements that the...
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Flores v. State, 04-93-00554-CR
...to object during trial to complained of evidence, he waives any error in its admission despite pre-trial ruling); Gaston v. State, 574 S.W.2d 120, 121 (Tex.Crim.App.1978) (defendant objected to relitigation of issue). In this case, there was no objection to the trial testimony of Joe Patter......
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Cacy v. State, 08-93-00085-CR
...the issue, the door is opened for the State to introduce evidence to show probable cause, including hearsay evidence. Gaston v. State, 574 S.W.2d 120 (Tex.Crim.App.1978). Although Appellant never challenged probable cause at a suppression hearing, we find that she opened the door during cro......
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Bush v. State
...surround an event. They are "material to the understanding of the arrest itself and explanatory of what occurred at that time." Gaston v. State, 574 S.W.2d 120. The testimony concerning appellant's use of Preludin is not related in time or place to the commission of the murder. Compare Feat......
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Pratt v. State
...before a jury if the issue of probable cause is not raised. Perez v. State, 678 S.W.2d 85 (Tex.Crim.App.1984); Gaston v. State, 574 S.W.2d 120 (Tex.Crim.App.1978). However, as the State argues, if appellant's counsel brings the issue of probable cause before the jury, the door is opened for......