Lead Opinion
SUBSTITUTE MAJORITY OPINION
We withdraw our opinion of August 8, 2006, and we issue this opinion in its place.
I. Factual and PROCEDURAL Background
On Saint Patrick’s Day 2005, Houston Police Officer Kenneth Dagnault received a police dispatch regarding a possible vehicle theft near 5177 Richmond, involving a white Cadillac pickup truck. A few minutes later, Officer Dagnault saw what he described as “a tan or goldish colored or silver, light colored Cadillac pickup truck” being driven about a half of a block from that location. He followed the vehicle and initiated a “felony stop.” The driver of the Cadillac truck, later identified as appellant, pulled the vehicle into a parking lot and stopped. Officer Dagnault, with back-up officers, approached the vehicle with guns drawn. The officers accompanying Officer Dagnault opened the doors.of the vehicle and asked that appellant and his companion exit the vehicle. Both men were patted down for weapons, while Officer Dag-nault checked appellant’s driver’s license and the registration of the vehicle. Further investigation revealed that the vehicle was registered to appellant’s wife and, in fact, was not stolen. However, during this investigation, Officer Dagnault detected a strong odor of alcohol on appellant and noticed that appellant’s eyes were red, glassy, and bloodshot. Thus, although the investigation eliminated appellant as a suspect in the unauthorized use of the motor vehicle he was driving, as a result of the stop, appellant fell under suspicion for driving while intoxicated (“DWI”).
Officer Dagnault called a DWI unit to come to the scene and test appellant for alcohol intoxication. Officer Stacy Pierce, assigned to the DWI task force, arrived shortly thereafter and 'attempted to conduct several field sobriety tests, most of which appellant refused to perform. Appellant also refused to consent to a breath test for alcohol and refused to sign a written acknowledgment that he had received his DWI warnings. Appellant admitted that he had consumed approximately two beers. Officer Pierce concluded that appellant had lost the normal use of mental and physical faculties and placed appellant under arrest.
Appellant was charged by information with a misdemeanor DWI offense. At trial, the jury found appellant guilty and assessed punishment at three days’ confinement in the Harris County Jail and a $400 fine.
II. Issues Presented
Appellant asserts the following issues on appeal:
(l)-(2) The trial court abused its discretion in denying appellant’s (1) request to strike venire member number three, for cause and (2) request for a hearing to further examine this venire member’s ability to be fair and impar- . tial.
(3)-(4) The trial court abused its discretion in denying appellant’s motion to*721 suppress the fruits of an allegedly unlawful arrest and detention in which he allegedly was seized and searched without a warrant or probable cause.
III. Analysis
A. Did the trial court abuse its discretion in denying appellant’s request to strike venire member number three for cause?
In two issues, appellant challenges the trial court’s denial of his (1) request to strike venire member number three, Charlotte Ann Denton, for cause and (2) request for a hearing to further examine Denton’s ability to be fair and impartial. During voir dire, Denton explained that she was a death claims analyst. When asked whether her line of work would affect her ability to be fair, the following exchange occurred:
Defense Counsel: Does it involve DWI accidents?
Venireperson No. 3: I’m a death claims analyst. I pay death claims.
Defense Counsel: DWI’s?
Venireperson No. 3: Well, if someone dies, yes, I would.
Defense Counsel: Would that experience affect your ability in this case to—
Venireperson No. 3: Probably not as long as there wasn’t a child involved. Because I have two children, I tend to—
Defense Counsel: “Probably not” does not work. I’ve got to have a definitive. I always tell people to err on the side of caution. If you are not sure, I always tell them to err on the side of caution. So we’II call you up individually.
Later, when the parties were making their peremptory strikes, appellant’s counsel objected as follows:
Defense Counsel: Judge, I’m going to ask that No. 3 be challenged for cause. She was the one who it — I asked her about her job and she does death claims and she said it would probably affect her. I told her that we would bring her up only because of the time element involved.
The Court: That’s denied.
Defense Counsel: Can I bring her up, Judge?
The Court: That’s denied.
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Defense Counsel: Just for clarification on the record, my understanding when we started, you were going to allow us to bring them up if we had any questions of them. So that’s why I left — I just wanted to be clear on it, I was running out of time and I told her to think about it and we would bring her up, we would have to answer yes or no. I told her “probably” wouldn’t be sufficient and I was going to move on it.
The Court: What I said was if you think it is going to screw up the whole panel, then you can bring them. Also, the question she was toying with was the death of a child. We don’t have that.
Defense Counsel: She doesn’t know that.
The Court: Okay.
Defense Counsel: Judge, for the record, I’m going to request an extra peremptory challenge, I’m having to use one of my peremptory challenges on No. 3, juror No. 3, Charlotte Denton. And, by doing so, I’m having to take another juror that I would use a strike on. At this time I’m requesting a challenge and once*722 I submit my strikes and the State submits their strikes, then I would identify the juror that I’m having to . take, Your Honor, that I don’t have a strike to use on.
The Court: All right, sir. That will be denied.
Defense Counsel: Judge, I used — I would use the strike that I’m using on Ms. Denton, No. 3, I would use that strike — or, if the Court granted me an extra strike, I would use it on No. 20, Your Honor. He noted to be victim of a DWI.
The Court: All right, sir.
Defense Counsel: Therefore I wouldn’t want him as a juror in this case.
The Court: All right.1
We cannot conclude, as appellant suggests, that the answers Denton gave demonstrate that she would be unfair or biased in this case. Denton never said she could not be fair to appellant; she merely indicated that her judgment might be impacted in a DWI accident case involving a child. This case, however, does not involve a DWI accident or injury or death to any person.
Bias is an inclination toward one side of an issue rather than to the other. See Hyundai Motor Co. v. Vasquez,
If a prospective juror’s bias or prejudice for or against a party in a lawsuit is established as a matter of law, the trial court must disqualify that person from service. Tex. Gov’t Code Ann. § 62.105(4) (Vernon Supp.2005); Malone v. Foster,
The record does not conclusively show that Denton’s feelings were so strong in favor of a party that she would base her verdict on those feelings and not on the evidence. Although Denton stated that she dealt with death claims (that sometimes resulted from DWI accidents), she affirmatively stated that it probably would not affect her unless there was a child involved. Moreover, the trial court was in a better position to evaluate Denton’s voir dire responses than this court, and the
Turning to appellant’s second contention, that the trial court erred in failing to grant his request to further examine Denton regarding her alleged bias, we again consider whether the trial court abused its discretion in making this ruling.
B. Did the trial court abuse its discretion in denying appellant’s motion to suppress?
In issues three and four, appellant contends the trial court erred in denying his motion to suppress. Specifically, in issue three, he alleges that the trial court should have suppressed evidence of the DWI offense because the initial detention was unlawful. In issue four, he contends the motion to suppress should have been granted because the initial detention was actually an illegal arrest, and, for this reason, the trial court erred in denying his motion.
We review the trial court’s ruling on a motion to suppress under an abuse-of-discretion standard. Long v. State,
1. Investigative detention or arrest?
Interactions between police and civilians are divided into three categories: (1) encounters, (2) investigative detentions, and (3) arrests. See State v. Larue,
Appellant contends that actions the officer took at the time he was stopped transformed the traffic stop into an unlawful arrest. During an investigative detention, an officer may employ the force reasonably necessary to effect the goal of the detention: investigation, maintenance of the status quo, or officer safety. Id. at 117. However, if the force utilized
At the suppression hearing, Officer Dag-nault testified that, around midnight on Saint Patrick’s Day 2005, he received a call from dispatch about a possible auto theft in progress around the 5100 block of Richmond, involving a white Cadillac pickup truck driven by an unknown male. At the time he received the call, Officer Dagnault was located north of Richmond on Sage, about three-quarters to a mile away from the location at which the possible auto theft was in progress. Approximately two minutes later, Officer Dagnault arrived near the suspect area and observed a “tan or goldish colored or silver, light colored Cadillac pickup truck.” Officer Dagnault advised dispatch that he had located the Cadillac pickup truck and was waiting for back-up before he initiated a felony traffic stop. Officer Dagnault further testified that he waited for another unit because of the safety concerns involved with a stolen vehicle. Officer Dagnault testified that, in conducting a felony stop of a suspected stolen vehicle, the procedure is to approach the vehicle as if a highly dangerous person is behind the wheel. Officer Dag-nault and two other officers approached appellant’s vehicle with guns drawn and gave appellant and his passenger oral commands to put their hands out the windows to ensure there were no unseen persons in the vehicle. The officers then opened the doors to the vehicle, escorted appellant and his passenger out, and told them to place their hands on the vehicle while the officers conducted a pat-down. Officer Dagnault testified that during a felony stop, he typically puts his weapon away as soon as he feels “safe,” meaning that the situation is in his control. Officer Dag-nault testified that, during this particular stop, the guns were put away after a minute or less, as soon as appellant’s hands were on the ear.
At this time, Officer Dagnault and the officers conducted a thorough investigation, including checking the vehicle’s registration. At the hearing, Officer Dagnault described this investigation:
Q: [The State]: And what happened after they got out of the car?
A: [Dagnault]: We go through, we actually, you know, pat them down, make sure there’s no weapons or anything like that. Get their Ids, run the registration, verify — basically just investigate the scene, find out what’s going on, who is what, you know, make sure if it is a stolen vehicle, of course, registration may not match or it won’t match. The ignition may be popped or something like that.
Q: [The State]: And what investigation did you do in this case?
*726 A: [Dagnault]: At that point in time we pulled them out of the vehicle. We pat them down, pull their wallet out, took his ID, one officer stands there and watches, the other checks the ID to the registration. I believe it was registered to his wife. It wasn’t him. Actually, it was registered to a business and under his wife.
Q: [The State]: And at that point, when you find out that the car is registered to Defendant’s wife, what do you do?
A: [Dagnault]: Well, it depends. In the current situation, we got them out the vehicle, we detected a strong odor of alcoholic beverage and had very glassy eyes, red eyes. So the investigation kind of — once we verified the vehicle was theirs, wasn’t stolen, the investigation went into a different direction.
Officer Dagnault testified that upon detection of the alcohol on appellant, he advised appellant that he was going to investigate him for driving while intoxicated. The officers waited for the DWI task officer to arrive. Appellant was never placed in handcuffs or put in the back of the patrol car.
Appellant, testifying at the suppression hearing, stated that the officers blocked his vehicle and asked him to throw his keys out the car window and exit the vehicle. Appellant testified that the officers forced him at gunpoint to place his hands on his vehicle while they searched him for weapons. Appellant stated that he did not believe he was free to go, and he thought that he was being placed under arrest at this time. Appellant points to these facts in arguing that the traffic stop was an illegal arrest. In support of this argument, he relies on two cases, Amores,
In Amores, a police officer responded to a “burglary in progress” call from an apartment complex indicating a black male was loading a box into a car. Amores,
Appellant’s reliance on Amores is misplaced. Unlike the situation in Amores, in this case there is testimony from the officer that supports the only reason that the guns were drawn — for safety concerns involved in felony stops of possible stolen vehicles. See Gunnel v. State, No. 14-04-00214-CR,
Appellant’s reliance on Colston v. State,
In addition, both Amores and Colston preceded the Court of Criminal Appeals’s opinion in Rhodes, a case in which our high court rejected a “bright-line” test that mere handcuffing is always the equivalent of an arrest. See Rhodes,
Reasonableness must be judged from the perspective of a reasonable officer at the scene, rather than with the advantage of hindsight. Furthermore, allowances must be made for the fact that officers must often make quick decisions under tense, uncertain and rapidly changing circumstances.
Id. The Rhodes court indicated that, during an investigatory detention, (1) officers may use such force as is reasonably necessary to protect the officers; (2) boxing in a suspect’s car and drawing weapons does not automatically convert a detention into an arrest; and (3) in the interest of officer safety, it may be reasonable to surround a suspect’s car and approach with drawn weapons during an investigatory detention. Id. at 117.
The trial court did not abuse its discretion in impliedly determining that, under the circumstances reflected by this record, the traffic stop amounted only to a temporary investigative detention. See Rhodes,
2. Was appellant’s investigative detention valid?
Appellant also contends that there was no reasonable suspicion to make the initial stop of his vehicle. Therefore, we address whether Officer Dagnault, at the very least, had reasonable suspicion to stop appellant’s vehicle. Reasonable sus
An investigatory detention or an arrest is not invalid merely because an officer relies upon reasonably trustworthy information that later proves to be erroneous. Dancy v. State,
When there has been some cooperation among police officers, the cumulative information known to the cooperating officers at the time of the stop is to be considered in determining whether reasonable suspicion exists. Hoag v. State,
Officer Dagnault had a reasonable suspicion to detain appellant based upon the circumstances and his knowledge and experience as a police officer. He stopped appellant in the vicinity of a reported possible vehicle theft. Although Officer Dag-nault was not sure of the color of the vehicle, he testified that appellant was driving some kind of light-colored Cadillac pickup truck. . Officer Dagnault had information that a white Cadillac pickup truck possibly had been stolen in the area. Officer Dagnault, after receiving the report over his radio, was justified in searching for and stopping a vehicle that was similar to the vehicle described by the caller. See Mann v. State,
Appellant relies on Faulk v. State,
Appellant’s reliance on Faulk is misplaced. First, Faulk has been seriously undermined, if not expressly overruled, by the Court of Criminal Appeals’s decision in Woods v. State,
In McMillan, the Court of Criminal Appeals found that the initial stop of the defendant’s vehicle was not justified.
Therefore, we conclude that Officer Dagnault had reasonable suspicion to stop appellant’s vehicle to investigate whether it was stolen. Pursuant to this investigative detention, Officer Dagnault was entitled to question appellant regarding his identity and vehicle registration. See Hoag,
IV. Conclusion
The trial court did not abuse its discretion in impliedly finding that (1) Officer Dagnault had reasonable suspicion to stop appellant’s vehicle, (2) the investigative detention did not rise to the level of an arrest, and (3) during this valid detention, the officers acquired probable cause to arrest appellant after they detected a strong odor of alcohol on appellant’s breath and noticed that appellant’s eyes were red, glassy, and bloodshot. Therefore, we conclude that the trial court did not abuse its discretion in denying appellant’s motion to suppress.
The trial court’s judgment is affirmed.
EDELMAN, J., concurring.
Notes
. We note that after this exchange, the clerk of the court called the venire members, in-eluding venire member No. 20, John Bynum, to be seated.
. Appellant has not provided this court with any authority in support of his position that he was entitled to a hearing to further question Denton.
. Emphasis added.
. Compare Delk v. State, 855 S.W.2d 700, 704-05 (Tex.Crim.App.1993) (concluding that fact that car parked outside building was listed on police computer as stolen provided police officers with reasonable suspicion of criminal activity sufficient to permit their investigatory stop of ordering residents from the building to answer questions); Colston,
Concurrence Opinion
concurring.
I would overrule appellant’s third and fourth points of error on the ground that:
. In response to this reference to the inevitable discovery rule, appellant’s motion for rehearing en banc states that the federal constitutional law of inevitable discovery has no place in Texas search and seizure law, citing State v. Daugherty, 931 S.W.2d 268 (Tex.Crim.App.1996). However, this contention ignores the fact that appellant’s challenge on appeal to the denial of his motion to suppress was based exclusively on the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution (without any mention whatever of the Texas Constitution). While a State is free to provide greater restrictions on police activity under its own state law than is imposed under federal law, it may not impose any greater restrictions as a matter of federal law. Arkansas v. Sullivan,
