State v. Kristen Mae Staton ( 2020 )

REVERSE and REMAND; Opinion Filed March 30, 2020
In The
Court of Appeals
Fifth District of Texas at Dallas
No. 05-19-00661-CR
THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellant
V.
KRISTEN MAE STATON, Appellee
On Appeal from the County Criminal Court No. 9
Dallas County, Texas
Trial Court Cause No. MA14-52583-K
OPINION
Before Justices Partida-Kipness, Nowell, and Evans
Opinion by Justice Nowell
The State appeals the trial court’s order granting appellee Kristen Mae
Staton’s motion to suppress. In a single issue, the State argues the trial court’s order
is erroneous. We agree. We reverse the trial court’s order granting the motion to
suppress and remand this cause to the trial court for further proceedings.
Following a car accident, Staton was arrested for driving while intoxicated.
Staton refused to give a voluntary specimen of her breath or blood. Senior Corporal
Joshua Boykin of the Dallas Police Department executed an affidavit for a search
warrant. The affidavit stated Staton “has possession of and is concealing human
blood, which constitutes evidence that [Staton] committed the offense” of driving
while intoxicated. The affidavit continued: “I believe that the suspect is intoxicated
by not having the normal use of mental or physical faculties by reason of the
introduction of alcohol, a controlled substance, a drug, a dangerous drug, a
combination of two or more of those substances, or any other substance into the
suspect’s body.” Boykin’s affidavit requested a warrant “that will authorize Affiant
or Affiant’s agent to search the person of the suspect for the blood evidence
described above and seize the same evidence that the offense described was
committed and that the suspect committed the said offense.”
The magistrate issued a search warrant, which states:
Now, therefore, you are commanded to take custody of the suspect and
transport the suspect to a medical or jail facility in Dallas County,
Texas[,] where you shall search for, seize and maintain as evidence the
property described in said Affidavit, to-wit: human blood from the body
of Staton.
The magistrate also issued an order for assistance in execution of the search warrant,
which states: “[T]his court has issued a warrant to search for and seize blood” from
Staton. Staton’s blood was drawn.
Staton moved to suppress the results of the analysis of her blood that was
seized pursuant to the warrant.1 Staton argued the search warrant only allowed the
State to seize her blood; it did not allow the State to then analyze the blood it
1
Staton did not challenge the existence of probable cause to support the blood-draw warrant.
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collected. The trial court granted her motion to suppress the results of the blood-
alcohol analysis. The court’s order states: “The Court finds the taking of the blood
from the defendant was done properly, however, the subsequent search of that blood
through an analysis of the blood was illegal and any results obtained from that search
are inadmissible.” The State appeals the trial court’s order.
We review a trial court’s ruling on a motion to suppress under a bifurcated
standard of review. State v. Ruiz, 577 S.W.3d 543, 545 (Tex. Crim. App. 2019). We
give almost total deference to the trial court’s determination of historical facts and
review de novo the application of the law to the facts. Id. We view the record in
the light most favorable to the trial court’s ruling and uphold the ruling if it is
supported by the record and is correct under any theory of the law applicable to the
case. Id.
This appeal presents a purely legal issue: whether the search warrant obtained
by the State permitted the testing and analysis of Staton’s blood. Staton argued to
the trial court and maintains on appeal that the court of criminal appeals’ recent
opinion in State v. Martinez, 570 S.W.3d 278 (Tex. Crim. App. 2019), required the
State to obtain an additional search warrant to authorize the testing and analysis of
her blood and, because the State failed to do so, the results of the testing must be
suppressed.
After a traffic accident, Martinez was taken to the hospital where medical
personnel drew his blood for medical purposes. Martinez, 570 S.W.3d at 281.
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Martinez voluntarily left the hospital after informing nurses he could not afford any
tests. Id. at 282. Subsequently, upon the State’s presentation of a grand jury
subpoena, the hospital released Martinez’s blood to an agent of the Department of
Public Safety; the State sent the blood to a crime laboratory for testing. Id. Martinez
moved to suppress the blood-test results, and the trial court granted the motion. Id.
at 281. Affirming the trial court, the court of criminal appeals held “there is a Fourth
Amendment privacy interest in blood that has already been drawn for medical
purposes.” Id. at 292. In that case, Martinez had a subjective expectation of privacy
in his blood drawn for medical purposes, and the State’s warrantless testing of the
blood was a Fourth Amendment search separate and apart from the seizure of the
blood by the State. Id. Because no exception to the warrant requirement applied,
the State was required to obtain a warrant before testing Martinez’s blood. Id.
The Fourth District Court of Appeals considered Martinez when analyzing
facts akin to those before us today. See Crider v. State, No. 04-18-00856-CR, 2019
WL 4178633 (Tex. App.—San Antonio Sept. 4, 2019, pet. granted) (mem. op., not
designated for publication). Crider was arrested for driving while intoxicated.
Based on an officer’s affidavit, the trial court issued a valid search warrant
authorizing Crider’s blood to be taken. Id. at *1. Relying on Martinez, Crider filed
a motion to suppress the results of the blood testing and analysis because the State
did not obtain a separate warrant authorizing testing and analysis of the blood
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sample; the trial court denied the motion. Id. The Fourth District Court of Appeals
distinguished Martinez, stating:
Here, in contrast, police obtained Crider’s blood sample pursuant to a
valid search warrant. Although the warrant does not expressly
authorize testing and analysis of the blood sample, Martinez does not
require that it do so. Rather, Martinez merely holds that an individual
has an expectation of privacy not only in the blood in his body, but also
in blood previously drawn for purposes other than police testing. Crider
does not identify, and we are not aware of, any authority requiring that
a search warrant authorizing the drawing of a blood sample must also
expressly authorize testing and analysis of the blood sample.
Id. at *2 (internal citation omitted). The Crider court did not “believe the Martinez
court intended to require specific authorization of testing where probable cause
supports a warrant for blood collection.” Id. (citing Martinez, 570 S.W.3d at 290).
Rather, it stated, “common sense dictates that blood drawn for a specific purpose
will be analyzed for that purpose and no other.” Id. (citing State v. Comeaux, 818
S.W.2d 46, 52 (Tex. Crim. App. 1991)). The Crider court concluded the officer’s
affidavit, which requested a blood sample “constitut[ing] evidence that the offense
[driving while intoxicated] was committed and that [Crider] committed the offense,”
was sufficient to allow the State to test and analyze the blood for that purpose as
well. Id. Therefore, “[a]bsent any authority requiring specific authorization for
testing and analysis of blood drawn pursuant to a valid search warrant, we conclude
the trial court did not err in denying Crider’s motion to suppress.” Id. The Thirteenth
District Court of Appeals reached a similar conclusion after applying Martinez. See
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Hyland v. State, No. 13-16-00596-CR, 2019 WL 6205465, at *3-4 (Tex. App.—
Corpus Christi-Edinburg Nov. 21, 2019, no pet.) (op. on remand).
We agree with the Crider court’s analysis. Here, the police obtained Staton’s
blood sample pursuant to a valid search warrant. Staton’s blood was drawn solely
to test for alcohol, a controlled substance, a drug, a dangerous drug, a combination
of two or more of those substances, or any other intoxicating substance introduced
into her body, as indicated in Boykin’s sworn affidavit. The search warrant gave
authorization to “search for, seize and maintain as evidence the property described
in said Affidavit, to-wit: human blood from the body of” Staton. Although the
warrant does not expressly authorize testing and analysis of the blood sample,
Martinez does not require that it do so. Rather, Martinez holds that an individual
has an expectation of privacy in blood previously drawn for purposes other than
police testing. See Martinez, 570 S.W.3d at 291. Those are not the facts before us.
Staton, like Crider, does not identify, and we are not aware of, any authority
requiring a search warrant authorizing the drawing of blood for a specific purpose
to also expressly authorize testing and analysis of the blood sample to effectuate that
purpose. Rather, common sense dictates that blood drawn for a specific purpose will
be analyzed for that purpose and no other. See Crider, 2019 WL 4178633, at *2. In
this case, Staton’s blood was drawn and analyzed for the purpose of testing for
intoxicating substances, and the State sought to admit the results of that specific
testing. Accordingly, we conclude the trial court erred by granting Staton’s motion
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to suppress, and we sustain the State’s sole issue. We reverse the trial court’s order
granting the motion to suppress and remand this cause to the trial court for further
proceedings consistent with this opinion.
/Erin A. Nowell/
ERIN A. NOWELL
JUSTICE
Publish
TEX. R. APP. P. 47.2(b)
190661F.P05
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Court of Appeals
Fifth District of Texas at Dallas
JUDGMENT
THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellant On Appeal from the County Criminal
Court No. 9, Dallas County, Texas
No. 05-19-00661-CR V. Trial Court Cause No. MA14-52583-
K.
KRISTEN MAE STATON, Appellee Opinion delivered by Justice Nowell.
Justices Partida-Kipness and Evans
participating.
Based on the Court’s opinion of this date, the trial court’s order granting
Kristen Mae Staton’s motion to suppress is REVERSED and the cause
REMANDED for further proceedings.
Judgment entered this 30th day of March, 2020.
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