Law v. State, 55301
| Decision Date | 22 November 1978 |
| Docket Number | No. 2,No. 55301,55301,2 |
| Citation | 574 S.W.2d 82 |
| Parties | Melvin LAW, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee |
| Court | Texas Court of Criminal Appeals |
Jimmy Phillips, Jr., Angleton, for appellant.
Ogden Bass, Dist. Atty. and A. B. Crowther, Jr., Asst. Dist. Atty., Angleton, for the State.
Before ODOM, PHILLIPS and DALLY, JJ.
This is an appeal from a conviction for the offense of carrying a handgun. Punishment was assessed at 30 days' imprisonment.
At 12:10 a. m. on March 6, 1976, Rheda Simmons, the principal witness in the case, walked into the Lake Jackson Police Department obviously shaken and, after talking to the officer in charge, signed the following written statement:
Immediately after receiving this statement from Ms. Simmons, the Lake Jackson police put out a radio broadcast that one Melvin Law was carrying a gun located under the front seat of the car, had threatened someone with it and that he was driving a brown Pontiac Firebird.
Five to seven minutes after hearing the broadcast, and approximately within an hour of the alleged incident, Officer Pancoast of the Clute Police Department arrested appellant in Clute, approximately six miles from where the alleged incident occurred. Officer Pancoast testified that he and another officer approached the vehicle and asked appellant to step out of the car. A search beneath the appellant's driver's seat revealed a loaded .32 caliber pistol. A further search of the car's console revealed a box of .32 caliber shells.
At the trial Rheda Simmons testified that the appellant was sitting in his car. She went over, saw another girl with him, and started arguing with him. He then told her he wanted her to leave. She then ran off and told the police that the appellant had a gun, but she testified under oath that she never saw the gun. Her signed statement quoted above was then introduced for impeachment purposes only.
In his first ground of error appellant alleges that the information and complaint were insufficient to give the appellant fair notice of the charges against him because they failed to identify the precise location of the alleged offense. This Court has held that it is only necessary to allege the name of the county as the place where the offense was committed, (1) if the offense may be committed anywhere within the county, (2) the place where committed is not an element of the offense, and (3) the court in which the offense is tried has county-wide jurisdiction. Hodge v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 527 S.W.2d 289. Those criteria have been met in the instant case. Appellant's first ground of error is overruled.
Appellant in his second and third grounds of error challenges the sufficiency of the evidence. The State relied upon the gun found at the time of the arrest for sufficiency purposes. Appellant claims that since there was no showing that appellant owned the car the evidence was insufficient to support a conviction. We disagree. Although the record does not show registration of title, it reflects that the appellant was observed in the exclusive possession of the car numerous times before the time of the arrest. The appellant was driving the car at the time of the arrest. The arresting officer found a gun under the appellant's driver's seat, conveniently accessible to the appellant. We conclude that these facts taken together were sufficient to show possession of a handgun by the appellant. Hazel v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 534 S.W.2d 698; Curry v. State, Tex.Cr.App., 465 S.W.2d 154. Grounds of error two and three are overruled.
Ground of error four alleges that the trial court erred in admitting the gun and bullets in evidence since they were the fruits of a warrantless arrest made without probable cause.
The information given by Simmons to Officer Gore alleged that the felony of aggravated assault had occurred and that the appellant fled...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Goldberg v. State
...cause and that report a felony and a description of the perpetrator satisfy the requirements for a warrantless arrest. Law v. State, 574 S.W.2d 82, 84 (Tex.Crim.App. 1978). Therefore, we must examine the information that Officer Sampson had gathered by 8:00 p.m. — the time he decided to tra......
-
Zertuche v. State, 13-88-239-CR
...contraband, a valid search may be conducted of the vehicle, regardless of the distance of the accused from the vehicle. Law v. State, 574 S.W.2d 82 (Tex.Crim.App.1978). Further, when the driver of a vehicle who has been stopped for a traffic offense appears to be under the influence of an i......
-
Delgado v. State, 961-84
...the officer's belief that such evidence is there concealed. Christopher v. State, 639 S.W.2d 932 (Tex.Cr.App.1982) ; Law v. State, 574 S.W.2d 82 (Tex.Cr.App.1978). Thus a search of a car trunk may be justified by specific articulable facts that give probable cause to believe the contraband ......
-
Farmah v. State, s. 01-89-00364-C
...a teletype that was based on the witnesses' description of the offender and the automobile he was driving. See also Law v. State, 574 S.W.2d 82, 84 (Tex.Crim.App.1978) (the court held that there was probable cause to arrest, where information was relayed to another officer that a felony had......