Court Opinion

ID: 9679010
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 06:38:19.747645+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:09.642374
License: Public Domain

ROBERTS, Judge
(concurring).
I agree that the search was reasonable.
The appellant’s clothes were initially in the custody of Nurse Kuechele; she had an affirmative responsibility to conduct an inventory of this clothing for the physical and legal benefit of the appellant, the hospital staff, and the other patients in the hospital. For this reason, and because the clothes were actually in her custody, the rationale of South Dakota v. Opperman, - U.S. -, 96 S.Ct. 3092, 49 L.Ed.2d 1000 (1976), is applicable. See the dissenting opinion in Robertson v. State, 541 S.W.2d 608, 611—615 (Tex.Cr.App.1976).
This lawful inventory produced tangible evidence that the appellant had committed the offense of unlawfully carrying a handgun, in violation of V.T.C.A., Penal Code, Sec. 46.02. Accordingly, Officer Garcia came to the hospital and made a custodial arrest1 of the appellant. At that time, the officer had the authority to continue the inventory of appellant’s clothes, not only for the reasons stated in South Dakota v. Opperman, supra, but also because a search of his clothing was justified under the holding of United States v. Robinson, 414 U.S. 218, 94 S.Ct. 467, 38 L.Ed.2d 427 (1973).

. It is not significant that the officer called this a “constructive” arrest at one point in his testimony. The officer was merely referring to the obvious fact that he would not be taking the appellant to the county jail until the appellant had recovered physically.