Trejo v. State

• Decision Date: 22 February 1989
• Docket Number: No. 3-88-093-CR,3-88-093-CR
• Parties: Johnny Ray TREJO, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

Page 381

766 S.W.2d 381

Johnny Ray TREJO, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee.

No. 3-88-093-CR.

Court of Appeals of Texas Austin.

Feb. 22, 1989.

James H. Kreimeyer, Kreimeyer & Cain, Belton, for appellant.

Patrick J. Ridley, County Atty., Mark D. Kimball, Asst. County Atty., Belton, for the State.

Before POWERS, GAMMAGE and ABOUSSIE, JJ.

POWERS, Justice.

Over a plea of not guilty, the trial court, sitting without a jury, found Johnny Ray Trejo guilty of a Class B misdemeanor in possessing a useable quantity of marijuana,

of not more than two ounces. The court assessed punishment at six months in jail, and a $1,000 fine. Tex.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. art. 4476-15, § 4.051(a), (b)(1) (Supp.1988). Trejo contends in a single point of error that the evidence was insufficient to permit the finding of guilty. We will affirm the judgment.

THE EVIDENCE

Police officers Jarveis and Rose gave uncontradicted testimony. Jarveis testified he saw a four-door automobile stopped in a city park, at 12:20 a.m., in apparent violation of the curfew notices displayed on signs erected in the park, one of which stood in front of the automobile. The weather was cold and rainy. The windows of the automobile were down, and it appeared to be occupied. Jarveis radioed for a "back-up unit" as he drove his own car to the parked automobile.

Jarveis queried a female seated in the driver's seat of the parked automobile. She stated she did not know of the curfew, and that she had left her driver's license at home. She produced a pawn ticket for identification, then got out of the automobile.

Jarveis leaned over by the open back window of the automobile. He smelled "a strong odor" of freshly burnt marijuana emanating from the car. He also saw two male passengers. Trejo occupied the right-front seat, the other passenger the rear seat. They obeyed Jarveis's order to get out of the car. Officer Rose arrived as Jarveis stood with the occupants of the car.

Jarveis invited Rose to "smell inside the vehicle," which he did. Rose testified he smelled the odor of marijuana, which had been burned within the hour, in his opinion. Rose searched the car. He found a small "derringer" pistol under the rear seat. On the passenger side of the front seat, where Trejo had been sitting, Rose saw "some Zig-Zag papers, or rolling papers," as well as "some seeds." Rose then watched the three individuals while Jarveis conducted a second search.

On the passenger side of the front seat, under a floormat, Jarveis found two partially burned marijuana cigarettes. Rose failed to find them because he looked only under "the lower portion" of the floormat. On the passenger side of the front seat, where Trejo had been sitting, Jarveis found "some seeds," and "a package of rolling papers," or "Zig-Zags." None of the three individuals claimed the marijuana cigarettes when Jarveis asked who owned them. Jarveis arrested all three.

Before trial, and based on an analysis of the two cigarettes by the Department of Public Safety, Trejo and the State stipulated the two cigarettes constituted a useable quantity of marijuana, weighing not more than two ounces. The "seeds" were not mentioned in the report or the stipulation, and nothing in the evidence explicitly identified the seeds as being marijuana seeds. Nothing in the evidence suggested that the "rolling papers" were the same as those which encased the two marijuana cigarettes.

DISCUSSION AND HOLDINGS

The trial court's finding of guilty rests entirely on circumstantial evidence. We therefore inquire whether any rational trier of fact could have found the essential elements of the offense beyond a reasonable doubt; and whether the evidence as a whole permitted the fact finder reasonably to conclude that every reasonable hypothesis, other than Trejo's guilt, had been excluded. Martin v. State, 753 S.W.2d 384, 387 (Tex.Cr.App.1988); Moore v. State, 532 S.W.2d 333, 337 (Tex.Cr.App.1976).

The essential elements of the offense are (1) Trejo had actual care, custody, control, or management of the two cigarettes, and (2) he knew they were contraband. The "possession" need not be exclusive. It may be joint among the occupants of the car, and that is the State's theory in Trejo's case. Trejo's presence in the car, with the two cigarettes, is a factor that logically tends to show his participation in the offense; standing alone, however, it is insufficient to support a finding of guilty. Additional evidence is required, which "affirmatively links" Trejo to the two cigarettes before the finding of guilty may be sustained under the rules mentioned in the preceding paragraph. Martin, 753 S.W.2d at 387; Gutierrez v. State, 628 S.W.2d 57, 67 (Tex.Cr.App.1980) (Opinion on Appellant's Motion forRehearing).

The application of the relevant rules to particular circumstances has given rise to more than a few opinions by the Court of Criminal Appeals. See generally Caudill, Probability Theory and Constructive Possession of Narcotics: On Finding that Winning Combination, 17 Hous.L.Rev. 541 (1980). Because the theory is one of constructive, and not literal, possession, and a deprivation of liberty is at stake, the matter is a delicate one. Critical distinctions are, nevertheless, not always apparent. Cf., e.g., McGaskey v. State, 451 S.W.2d 486 (Tex.Cr.App.1970) (evidence held sufficient when it showed only that appellant was arrested while sitting alone in a parked car, "under the steering wheel," and marijuana was found in a tobacco can in the glove compartment, the record being silent as to who owned the car and who had operated it last), and Presswood v. State, 548 S.W.2d 398 (Tex.Cr.App.1977) (evidence held insufficient when it showed only that appellant drove a car, in which his brother was a passenger, and marijuana was found in the glove compartment, the record being silent as to who owned the car and whether others might have used it).

We find the Court of Criminal Appeals has identified several factors, recurring in similar cases, that have logical force in establishing the two essential elements, and excluding exculpatory hypotheses, when narcotics are found in an automobile. That the accused knew of the presence of the contraband and its forbidden nature may be inferred from such particular factors as these: (1) the contraband was so situated in the car that it could be seen by the accused, Salas v. State, 451 S.W.2d 504 (Tex.Cr.App.1970); Sanchez v. State, 589 S.W.2d 422 (Tex.Cr.App.1979); DeShong v. State, 625 S.W.2d 327 (Tex.Cr.App.1981); (2) there existed an odor of raw or recently burned marijuana, Duff v. State, 546 S.W.2d 283 (Tex.Cr.App.1977); Moulden v. State, 576 S.W.2d 817 (Tex.Cr.App.1978); Christopher v. State, 639 S.W.2d 932 (Tex.Cr.App.1982); Lewis v. State, 664 S.W.2d 345 (Tex.Cr.App.1984); Marsh v. State, 684 S.W.2d 676 (Tex.Cr.App.1984); (3) articles related to the contraband, such as apparent marijuana seeds, a "sprig" of marijuana, or paraphernalia to use the contraband, were situated in the car so as to be within the view of the accused, Sanders v. State, 482 S.W.2d 648 (Tex.Cr.App.1972), Sanchez, Lewis; (4) the occupants of the automobile gave conflicting statements about relevant matters, Duff; (5) there was conduct by the accused indicating "a consciousness of guilt," Gutierrez, supra, 628 S.W.2d at 60.

The element of actual care, control, or management may be inferred from such particular factors as these: (1) the accused owned the automobile in which the narcotics were found, DeShong; (2) he operated the automobile, DeShong, Christopher, Gutierrez, Marsh; (3) the contraband was so situated in the automobile that it was readily accessible to the accused, Salas, Moulden, Sanchez, DeShong, Lewis; (4) the accused was in close proximity to articles related to the contraband, such as apparent marijuana seeds, a "sprig" of marijuana, or "rolling papers" or other paraphernalia connected to the use of the contraband, Sanders v. State, 482 S.W.2d 648 (Tex.Cr.App.1972), Duff, Moulden, Sanchez, Lewis; and (5) the accused had some special connection to the contraband, as in Moulden where the marijuana was found in the accused's overnight bag, and in Christopher where he had a key to the locked camper, on a pickup truck, where the contraband was found.

Still other factors have logical force in establishing both of the essential elements, and in eliminating exculpatory hypotheses: (1) the physical condition of the accused indicated his recent consumption of the narcotic found in the car, McGaskey; (2) traces of the contraband were found on the person of the accused, Salas; (3) the accused made affirmative statements connecting him to the contraband, Sanders, Moulden; and (4) the automobile appeared to be involved, a "short time" before it was stopped, in activities that appeared to be drug trafficking, Marsh.

Because the two essential but disparate elements must be established, and any exculpatory hypothesis excluded, it is seldom that any one of the listed factors will have logical force sufficient to sustain a conviction based on constructive possession of the narcotic, even when coupled with the accused's presence in the automobile where it was found. The "affirmative link" customarily emerges, instead, from an orchestration of several of the listed factors, and the logical force they have in combination.

In Trejo's case, the evidence showed the following factors: (1) the automobile emitted an aroma of recently or freshly burnt marijuana, of a strength that indicated the marijuana had been burned, in the car, within the hour; (2) the two cigarettes were "partially burned"; (3) seeds and rolling papers lay on the front seat where Trejo had been sitting in the front passenger seat; (4) the marijuana, while concealed under the floormat, was easily accessible to Trejo, and more accessible to him than the...