State of Texas vs. B.A.H.

Outcome: DISMISSED after Suppression Hearing

Description: B.H., Defendant, was an 18-year-old who was the passenger in a car pulled over by Stafford PD. During the course of the stop, officers found marijuana on both driver and passenger. I filed a motion to suppress, alleging that the stop was illegal because the facts stated by the officer did not constitute an offense justifying a detention (failure to signal turn on exiting parking lot). On the day of the hearing, the DA informed me that the officers intended to testify to a second maneuver that they saw the driver commit, and that this was a traffic offense that justified the stop (wide turn on exiting parking lot). DA also tells me that if we persist with the hearing, his offer of deferred adjudication is off the table and he will demand a jury trial. I suggested to B.H. that we move forward with hearing because I knew the new allegation also was insufficient to justify the stop. Just prior to the hearing, DA refuses to stipulate that there was no warrant (even though that's not in dispute), leaving the burden on me, but also leaving me with control of which witnesses testify in what order. (Because they were adverse, I got to cross examine his officers before he got to question them.) First, I called the second officer to arrive on the scene, and he established that he could remember nothing independently of the report--except, conveniently, the newly-disclosed wide turn. He also admitted that the officer who pulled B.H. over never mentioned this wide turn to anyone until after he learned of the motion to suppress and its reason. I then did the same with the officer who stopped the vehicle and, again, he could remember nothing else from that night other than what was in his report, not even what kind or color of car he saw make these maneuvers. At the end of the hearing, the judge made clear that he did not believe the officers' accounts of the new offense, but agreed to reserve judgment on the suppression issue until we could submit briefs on the legality of the stop under the wide-turn allegation. The hearing was Friday afternoon. On Tuesday, the DA called to concede that neither allegation was sufficient to justify the stop, and that he was dismissing B.H.'s charges.