Osban v. State
| Decision Date | 25 March 1983 |
| Docket Number | No. 05-83-00051-CR,05-83-00051-CR |
| Citation | 648 S.W.2d 790 |
| Parties | Rusty Leon OSBAN, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee. |
| Court | Texas Court of Appeals |
Frank Jackson, Angie Henson, Dallas, for appellant.
Henry Wade, Dist. Atty., Karen C. Beverly, Asst. Dist. Atty., for appellee.
Before STEPHENS, SPARLING and VANCE, JJ.
Appeal is from a conviction for theft, a third degree felony. The jury assessed punishment at confinement in the Texas Department of Corrections for two years and imposition of a $3,000 fine. Appellant presents seven grounds of error. We will address only the ground which is dispositive of the appeal, and then consider the sufficiency of the evidence. Appellant contends that the trial court erred in overruling the motion to suppress evidence seized from the trunk of appellant's automobile. We agree and reverse.
Prior to trial a hearing was held on appellant's motion to suppress. The evidence presented during the hearing showed that M.W. Dean, a Dallas police officer on September 6, 1980, had occasion to observe the appellant driving an automobile 1 on the streets of the city of Dallas. Prior to this date Officer Dean had been informed by three named Dallas police officers that appellant's operator's license had been suspended through April, 1981. Officer Dean stopped appellant, who produced a valid Oklahoma license. Officer Dean checked through his dispatcher, and upon confirming that Osban's Texas license had been suspended, placed Osban under arrest. Officer Dean then called for a wrecker to impound the vehicle, and at that time conducted an inventory search of the vehicle. Dean found three "Black Mollies" in the ashtray and approximately $3,000 in the front compartment of the car. He found nothing in the rear passenger area of the car. He testified that he had "no reason to believe (the) trunk contained contraband." In making the inventory search Officer Dean took the key from the ignition, opened the locked trunk, and there found among the contents eight handguns, four of which were introduced into evidence. Complainant identified five of the guns as guns stolen from his apartment; four of them were the basis for the indictment. The trial court denied appellant's motion to suppress.
We hold that the inventory search of the locked trunk was an unlawful search. Gill v. State, 625 S.W.2d 307, 317-320 (Tex.Cr.App.1981) (en banc) (). Cf. United States v. Ross, 456 U.S. 798, 102 S.Ct. 2157, 72 L.Ed. 572 (1982) (); Nickerson v. State, 645 S.W.2d 888 (Tex.App.--Dallas 1983) (). The...
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Osban v. State
...theft and assessed two years and a fine of $3,000. The Dallas Court of Appeals reversed in a published opinion. Osban v. State, 648 S.W.2d 790 (Tex.Cr.App.--Dallas 1983). The Court of Appeals held that the trial court erred in failing to suppress four handguns seized from the trunk of appel......
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Kelley v. State
...with the Inevitable Discovery Doctrine, for instance.6 Nor would the Dallas Court of Appeals be able to. See Osban v. State, 648 S.W.2d 790, 790-791 (Civ.App.--Dallas 1983) pet. ref'd, wherein the court wrote: "In making the inventory search Officer Dean took the key from the ignition, open......
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Dart v. State
...the search of Osban's vehicle as an inventory search, the Court of Criminal Appeals opinion did not. See id. and Osban v. State, 648 S.W.2d 790 (Tex.App.--Dallas 1983, reversed). In his dissent to the Court of Criminal Appeals opinion in Osban, Judge Clinton noted the court's failure to con......