Roberts v. State

• Decision Date: 10 May 2001
• Docket Number: No. 2-00-285-CR,2-00-285-CR
• Citation: 49 S.W.3d 89
• Parties: (Tex.App.-Fort Worth 2001) KELVIN GARY ROBERTS, APPELLANT v THE STATE OF TEXAS, STATE
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

Page 89

49 S.W.3d 89 (Tex.App.-Fort Worth 2001)

KELVIN GARY ROBERTS, APPELLANT v THE STATE OF TEXAS, STATE

No. 2-00-285-CR

Court of Appeals of Texas, Fort Worth

May 10, 2001.

Rehearing Overruled June 28, 2001.

FROM COUNTY CRIMINAL COURT NO. 5 OF TARRANT COUNTY

PANEL A: CAYCE, C.J.; DAY and DAUPHINOT, JJ.

OPINION

CAYCE, CHIEF JUSTICE

The municipal court for the City of Euless found Kelvin Gary Roberts guilty of the offense of speeding and assessed a fine of $109.25. Roberts appealed to the county criminal court of appeals, which affirmed the trial court's judgment. We will affirm.

On August 2, 1998, a public safety officer at the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (the "airport officer") issued a traffic citation to Roberts for driving fifty-five miles per hour in a zone designated thirty-five miles per hour. The offense occurred in the 3700 block of International Parkway South Service Road, which is located on the airport's premises and within the corporate limits for the City of Euless.¹ The airport officer filed the case with the municipal court for the City of Euless. At trial, Roberts objected to the municipal court's jurisdiction and moved to set aside the complaint. The municipal judge denied Roberts's motion.

In his brief before the county criminal court of appeals, which is the operative brief before this court,² Roberts complains that the trial court erred because the municipal court for the City of Euless does not have jurisdiction to (1) adjudicate offenses that occur on airport property; (2) empower airport officers to enforce Euless ordinances; or (3) regulate the roadways on the property of the airport. Roberts contends that because the municipal court lacked jurisdiction, it abused its discretion and violated the constitutions of the United States and Texas by adjudicating the instant offense. Finally, Roberts argues that the City of Euless ordinance regulating speed on airport property is void because airport roads are not "public" roadways.

The municipal court for the City of Euless derives its jurisdiction from section 29.003 of the government code, which provides in relevant part:

(a) A municipal court, including a municipal court of record, shall have exclusive original jurisdiction within the territorial limits of the municipality in all criminal cases that:

(1) arise under the ordinances of the municipality; and

(2) are punishable by a fine not to exceed:

(A) $2,000 in all cases arising under municipal ordinances that govern fire safety, zoning, or public health and sanitation, including dumping of refuse; or

(B) $500 in all other cases arising under a municipal ordinance.

Act of May 24, 1995, 74th Leg., R.S., ch. 449, § 2, 1995 Tex. Gen. Laws 3150, 3151, amended by Act of May 19, 1999, 76th Leg., R.S., ch. 611, § 1, 1999 Tex. Gen. Laws 3151, 3152, and Act of May 24, 1999, 76th Leg., R.S., ch. 660, § 1, 1999 Tex. Gen. Laws 3231, 3231 (current version at Tex. Gov't Code Ann. § 29.003(a) (Vernon Supp. 2001)).

In addition to the government code's jurisdictional provision, the Code of Rules and Regulations for the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (the "Airport Code") provides in relevant part:

[I]f the City Council [of each City adopting this Code] shall elect to enact such rules, regulations and orders in the manner and form prescribed for other penal ordinances of such City, the municipal court or courts of such City shall each have concurrent jurisdiction with any other proper forum over offenses arising thereunder and within the corporate limits of such City; and the duly authorized and commissioned peace officers or other enforcement officers of the Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport shall thereafter be authorized to file cases arising thereunder in such municipal courts, in addition to any other convenient and proper forum.

1988 Rev. Code of Rules & Regulations of Dallas-Fort Worth Int'l Airport Bd., ch. 10, § 4 (1994) (emphases supplied). Thus, the Airport Code provides for the concurrent jurisdiction of the Airport Board and municipalities whose territorial limits are within the airport's boundaries, such as the City of Euless. The Airport Board's grant of concurrent jurisdiction is limited to those offenses that occur on airport property and within the municipality's corporate limits. Id. The City of Euless adopted the Airport Code to "address[] conduct within those portions of the Airport within the corporate city limits of the City of Euless." Euless, Tex., Ordinance 987 (Sept. 27, 1988).

Because the Airport Board has passed a resolution regulating the speed of automobiles passing through the airport complex, and because the City of Euless accepted those regulations when it adopted the Airport Code, ...