Court Opinion

ID: 9644141
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 20:48:47.552531+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:11:09.110030
License: Public Domain

ON MOTION FOR REHEARING
In its motion for rehearing, the State contends that we erred in holding that the trial court erred in denying appellant’s motion to suppress. Additionally, the State contends that even if the court erred in denying the motion to suppress, the error was harmless. We have considered the State’s motion and the appellant’s reply and based on the following rationale, the motion will be overruled.
On rehearing, the State argues we incorrectly concluded that Ms. Scott, the lady from whom appellant rented his room, had access to his room “only for the purpose of cleaning.” The State contends there was evidence before the trial court that Ms. Scott had “complete access” to appellant’s room. Under the State’s reading of the record, the evidence of “complete access” refutes the appellant’s evidence that Ms. Scott only entered his room to clean. Therefore, the State contends there was a conflict in the evidence and this Court should have accepted the trial court’s finding that Ms. Scott was authorized to consent to the search of appellant’s room. Thus, the State concludes, we erred in not affirming the granting of the motion to suppress.
Once again, we read the record differently than does the State. We find no factual evidence from the State that Ms. Scott had “complete access” to appellant’s room. In its motion for rehearing, the State concedes that even though Ms. Scott was free to enter appellant’s room at any time, as a practical matter she only did so to clean. The State contends that Ms. Scott revealed these matters via Officer Bullock, one of the officers who conducted the search of appellant’s room.1 In answer to the State’s inquiry, Officer Bullock testified:
Q. “Okay. And did Ms. Moore (Scott) have complete access to that room?”
A. “She advised us that she did.”
*458This inquiry reveals the State was aware of the necessity for showing Ms. Scott’s equal control of appellant’s room. The answer however, fails to give a factual basis for the conclusion and opinion that Ms. Scott had “complete access” to appellant’s room. We fail to find such a bare conclusion to be an evidentiary basis for a finding of control.
A more revealing question and a response more evidentiary in nature was propounded to Officer Bullock by appellant’s counsel:
Q. “You did hear her (Ms. Scott) say to Officer Saunders that I have the right or I do go in and clean up the room occasionally, did she not?”
A. “Yes sir.”
At the motion to suppress hearing, the appellant consistently denied that Ms. Scott had an equal right to use or occupy his room. While there was evidence Ms. Scott had access to clean appellant’s room “when she got ready”, such access can not be deemed to be an equal right or sufficient joint control to enable her to consent to a search of appellant’s room.
Having found the court erred in denying the motion to suppress, we address the State’s contention that the error was harmless under Rule 81(b)(2) of the Texas Rules of Appellate Procedure.
In its motion for rehearing, the State contends that even if the trial court erred in denying appellant’s motion to suppress, such error was harmless. The State argues that the trial court’s denial of appellant’s motion to suppress was harmless because following the denial, appellant pleaded guilty to the offense charged. In compliance with Tex.Crim.Proc.Code Ann. art. 1.15 (Vernon Supp.1993), the State offered sufficient proof to support the plea by means of appellant’s judicial confession. The State did not have to offer the evidence taken from appellant’s room to show appellant’s guilt. Therefore, the State contends that any error in denying appellant’s motion to suppress the items taken from his room was harmless. We do not agree.
As recognized in Morgan v. State, 688 S.W.2d 504 (Tex.Crim.App.1985), when a defendant’s motion to suppress evidence is denied, his subsequent judicial confession is literally a fruit of the contested search or seizure. Id. at 507 n. 2. A judicial confession given after the denial of a motion to suppress will not bar an appellate court from reaching the merits of a defendant’s claim that the denial was erroneous. Id. at 507. If the appellate court finds that the trial court erred in denying the defendant’s motion to suppress, it must be determined whether the evidence sought to be suppressed “has somehow been ‘used’ in securing the defendant’s conviction.” McKenna v. State, 780 S.W.2d 797, 799 (Tex.Crim.App.1989). If so, the erroneous denial is harmful error.
In McKenna, the Court of Criminal Appeals noted that a trial court’s denial of a defendant’s motion to suppress evidence “undoubtedly contributes in some measure to the State’s leverage in the plea bargaining process [because] the more relevant evidence [the defendant] knows [can] be marshalled against him, the more preferable would appear his option to relinquish constitutional rights of trial and confrontation in exchange for a favorable punishment recommendation.” Id. at 799 (quoting Kraft v. State, 762 S.W.2d 612, 614 (Tex.Crim.App.1988)). In such a situation it may be presumed that the State has “used” the contested evidence to obtain the defendant’s plea. Id.
In the present case, the State obtained a ruling that the gun, socks, and sweatshirt appellant sought to suppress would be admissible at trial. We find that the trial court’s ruling “undoubtedly contributed in some measure to the State’s leverage in the plea bargaining process”, id., and may well have contributed to appellant’s decision to relinquish his rights and plead guilty. In our view, the evidence sought to be suppressed was “used” in obtaining appellant’s confession. Accordingly, it can in no wise be said that the trial court’s error in denying appellant’s motion to suppress was harmless. See Tex.R.App.P. 81(b)(2) (“If the appellate record in a criminal case reveals error in the proceedings below, the *459appellate court shall reverse the judgment under review, unless the appellate court determines beyond a reasonable doubt that the error made no contribution to the conviction or the punishment”).
Finding that the court committed error in denying the motion to suppress and having found that the error was not harmless, we overrule the motion for rehearing.

. Ms. Scott did not testify on behalf of the State.