Wiede v. State
| Decision Date | 14 April 2005 |
| Docket Number | No. 03-03-00267-CR.,03-03-00267-CR. |
| Citation | 163 S.W.3d 239 |
| Parties | David Edwin WIEDE, Appellant v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee. |
| Court | Texas Supreme Court |
John Fahle, Carter and Fahle, San Antonio, for Appellant.
James F. Booher, Asst. Crim. Dist. Atty., San Marcos, for State.
Before Chief Justice LAW, Justices PATTERSON and PURYEAR.
In 1997, a jury found David Edwin Wiede guilty of possession of methamphetamine. Tex. Health & Safety Code Ann. § 481.115(d) (West 2003). The court sentenced Wiede to ten years' imprisonment; imposition of the sentence was suspended and he was placed on community supervision for ten years. In 2002, the State moved to revoke his community supervision, alleging that he had violated the terms of his community supervision by again possessing methamphetamine. Wiede pleaded not true to the allegations and moved to suppress the evidence as the product of an unlawful search of his car. The district court denied Wiede's motion, admitted the evidence, found the State's allegations to be true, and sentenced him to ten years in prison. On appeal, Wiede challenges the revocation of his community supervision contending that the district court erred by admitting the methamphetamine into evidence because (1) the State failed to prove the chain of custody of the drugs admitted and (2) the drugs were the fruit of an unlawful search of his car. The State responds that there was sufficient proof of chain of custody and that the search was lawful because (1) there was no reasonable expectation of privacy in Wiede's wrecked vehicle in light of the statutory authority of the police to investigate a traffic accident, and (2) there was probable cause to believe the car contained contraband.
Wiede raised the same contentions in his appeal of the revocation of his community supervision in a separate adjudication in Caldwell County. See Wiede v. State, 157 S.W.3d 87, 2005 Tex.App. LEXIS 452 (Tex.App.-Austin 2005, pet. filed) (Wiede I). In Wiede I, the State based its motion to revoke on the same allegation of possession of methamphetamine presented in this appeal. See id. 157 S.W.3d at 94-95. For essentially the same reasons stated in our opinion in Wiede I, we reverse the judgment of the district court and remand for further proceedings.
The record in the present case differs slightly from the record in Wiede I, but the basic account of Wiede's car accident and the subsequent search of his car is sufficiently set forth in our prior opinion. We will limit our discussion to those aspects of the record which differ from the evidence presented in Wiede I and whether those differences have an effect on our determination of the lawfulness of the search. We will also address the State's contention that Wiede's lessened expectation of privacy in his car, along with the statutory authority for the police to investigate the accident, combine to permit the search.
Although the standard of review in a revocation proceeding is whether the trial court abused its discretion in finding that the State proved a violation of the conditions by a preponderance of the evidence, the evidence on which a trial court bases its determination must be properly admitted in accordance with established search and seizure law. Wiede I, 157 S.W.3d at 94-95, 2005 Tex.App. LEXIS 452, at *10-11; see Gordon v. State, 4 S.W.3d 32, 35 (Tex.App.-El Paso 1999, no pet.) (overlapping standards of review when considering suppression of evidence in decision to revoke probation); State v. Barnett, 790 S.W.2d 662 (Tex.App.-Austin 1990, no pet.) (applying standard of review for suppression in revocation of probation determination). We review the district court's decision to admit the methamphetamine discovered in the contested search giving almost total deference to the district court's determination of historical facts, and we review the district court's application of search and seizure law de novo. Balentine v. State, 71 S.W.3d 763, 768 (Tex.Crim.App.2002). When, as here, the district court does not make explicit findings of historical facts, we review the evidence in a light most favorable to the district court's ruling and assume that the district court made implicit findings of fact supported in the record. Id. We must affirm the district court's ruling on a motion to suppress if it can be upheld on any valid theory of law applicable to the case— even if the district court did not base its decision on the applicable theory. State v. Steelman, 93 S.W.3d 102, 107 (Tex.Crim. App.2002); Romero v. State, 800 S.W.2d 539, 543-544 (Tex.Crim.App.1990).
Our review of the record points to three significant differences between the evidence presented in this case and that found insufficient to support a valid search in Wiede I, The first difference is in the witness Roy Tambunga's account of Wiede's traffic accident and Wiede's actions inside his car while awaiting medical care. In Wiede I, Tambunga gave only a brief description of the accident and was not asked about its cause. By contrast, in this case Tambunga clarified that the truck made a left turn in front of Wiede. When asked directly by the trial judge whether the truck failed to yield the right of way, Tambunga responded:
Truthfully, I think that you should know that when you're driving a big truck like that, you can't move very fast. I think he pulled out and didn't give enough room for the traffic, but I also think that the white car was traveling a little bit faster than the speed limit.
When compared to the record in Wiede I, Tambunga's testimony more clearly reflects that Wiede's collision with the truck was at least as attributable to the actions of the truck driver as to either recklessness or intoxication on the part of Wiede.
Tambunga's testimony also differs in his description of Wiede's furtive gesture. In Wiede I, Tambunga testified that he never saw what Wiede placed between the seat and the console of the car because Wiede's hand was closed all the way around the item. In this case, Tambunga testified that he did see what Wiede was hiding:
It appeared to be—it was covered by his hand for the most part and it was—it appeared to be made out of plastic, clear plastic similar to a sandwich bag.
At trial, Tambunga was uncertain if he told the officers at the scene that what he saw was plastic. However, in reaching his decision to admit the evidence the trial judge observed that Tambunga must have told the officer who conducted the search because he informed the officer that the first plastic bag removed from the car was too small to be the item he saw Wiede conceal.
The third relevant distinction between this record and Wiede I is in Officer McGuairt's account of his actions after the methamphetamine was discovered in Wiede's vehicle. When asked if he notified EMS that he had found the methamphetamine, McGuairt replied:
Okay. I do recall. I do recall. After the substance was located—I do recall this. I did walk up to the back door of the EMS. It was still there. I remember even knocking on the door and having a paramedic come to the back door and I advised him. I didn't show them where it had been located.
McGuairt did not testify in Wiede I that he informed EMS of the discovery of the methamphetamine. When asked on cross examination in that case whether he had requested that EMS test Wiede for controlled substances, McGuairt stated that this would have been the duty of another officer.
Although the majority of our discussion of the search of Wiede's car in Wiede I remains unaffected, the differences in the record between the two hearings require additional discussion of whether the search of Wiede's car was supported by probable cause or was justified as part of the officers' community caretaking function. We will also discuss the statutory authority of the police to investigate a traffic accident and its relevance to the lawfulness of the search.
The State contends that Wiede had no reasonable expectation of privacy in his car after colliding with the truck and, therefore, the search did not violate his Fourth Amendment rights. Citing a provision of the transportation code that gives police the authority to investigate traffic accidents, the State argues that the owner of a vehicle involved in a collision has reason to believe the car will be removed from the roadway and a search of its contents conducted. Thus, there is no reasonable expectation of privacy in the vehicle and the search was proper.
We find that the cases cited in the State's brief discussing the diminished expectation of privacy in a vehicle do not support the proposition that there is no reasonable expectation of privacy once a vehicle is disabled in a traffic accident.1 Clearly, much of the contents of a vehicle are in plain view and open to inspection in the course of the investigation of a traffic accident. However, the Supreme Court has consistently held that the Fourth Amendment applies to motor vehicles and that the police must have probable cause to search. See Carroll, 267 U.S. at 149, 45 S.Ct. 280 (); Houghton, 526 U.S. at 300, 119 S.Ct. 1297; see also New York v. Class, 475 U.S. 106, 112, 106 S.Ct. 960, 89 L.Ed.2d 81 (1986) (). The Supreme Court recognized the diminished privacy interest and inherent mobility of motor vehicles only by eliminating the requirement that police obtain a warrant prior to searching a vehicle. See Wyoming v. Houghton, 526 U.S. 295, 300, 119 S.Ct. 1297, 143 L.Ed.2d 408 (1999); Carroll v. United States, 267 U.S. 132, 147, 45 S.Ct. 280, 69 L.Ed. 543 (1925).
The transportation code also does not grant the police additional authority to...
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Wiede v. State
...of the court of appeals and reinstate the judgment of the trial court. JOHNSON and HOLCOMB, JJ., concurred. 1. Wiede v. State, 163 S.W.3d 239, 241 (Tex. App.-Austin 2005). 2. Id. 3. Id. 4. Id. 5. Id. at 247-53 (Patterson, J., dissenting). 6. Id. at 246. 7. Id. at 247. 8. Id. at 243. 9. TEX.......