Court Opinion

ID: 9681158
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 07:44:38.95791+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:39:21.184324
License: Public Domain

ROBERTSON, Justice,
dissenting.
Believing that the majority opinion is out of step with the realities of the vernacular of those involved in drug trafficking, I respectfully dissent.
Officer Boutte, an eleven and one-half year veteran of the Houston Police Department, assigned to the vice division for the last six and one-half years, testified that the different names for cocaine “on the street” were “rocks, stones, coke, crack. It just depends on the area of town.” He *137stated that when attempting to buy cocaine on the street, if you go up to a person and say, “I want some cocaine ... you probably wouldn’t be able to do any business with the people that sell it.”
In response to complaints of residents in a Houston neighborhood that drug sales were being made on the street, Officer Boutte and others were conducting an investigation and making undercover drug buys. On the evening in question, as Boutte was slowly driving his “code ear” on the street, appellant waved his hand and the officer stopped. Appellant approached the car and the following testimony explains what happened:
A. He walked up to the right-hand side, the passenger’s side. He asked me what did I need; and I told him, I said, hey, I need to buy one of those ten cent rocks. Q. What does ten cent rocks mean?
A. That means buying a small portion of crack cocaine for the amount of ten dollars.
Q. So ten cents means ten dollars?
A. Yes, sir.
Q. What happened next?
A. The individual told me they didn’t have any tens, all they had was twenties. And he was speaking of a little bit larger size for twenty dollars. And still playing a role, I told him, well, I really didn’t need a twenty but if that’s all he had, I would go ahead and buy one.
Q. And what happened after you said you would buy a twenty?
A. Well, he told me to give him the money, pull my vehicle a little bit farther to the right-hand side of the road so if the cops would come, then I would act like I was parked by the store. It’s a store right there on the corner.
Q. Did he tell you all that, or is that just the thing you thought he meant when you said—
A. No, sir, he told me to pull over that way. If the police car would pass by, they wouldn’t think anything was suspiciously going on.
Q. Did he say anything else at that time?
A. Yes, sir. He told me when I pulled over there, to turn around and look at him, that he was (sic) trying to rip me off, that he was going to walk back to the fence and get the dope from him.
Q. What is meant, he wasn’t trying to rip you off?
A. Well, sir, during this program it was a lot of instances that them would take the money and say they were going to get the dope for you and they would never come back so they would rip you off, just take your money and never return.
Q. But this guy told you to keep an eye on him, that he wasn’t going to rip you off?
A. Yes, sir.
While I agree with the majority that there is no evidence that appellant ever expressly represented the substance he sold to Boutte to be “cocaine,” I would hold the “street talk” sufficient to constitute an express representation.
The majority holds that a proper indictment in this case should have alleged that appellant represented the substance to be a controlled substance “in a manner that would lead a reasonable person to believe that the substance [was] a controlled substance.” Tbx.Rev.Civ.Stat.Ann. Art. 4476-15b § 2(a) (Vernon Supp.1989). I agree the indictment could have alleged the offense in these terms. Even if it had, however, it is questionable whether the language “they didn’t have any tens, all they had was twenties” would lead a reasonable person to believe that the substance was cocaine. Therefore, I do not believe the result reached by the majority solves the problem which this case presents. In fact, it causes more of a problem for police officers attempting to control drug trafficking in our communities.
I respectfully dissent.