Justia Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Opinion Summaries

Appellant Christopher James Wade was an electrician who was spending his lunch hour sitting in his work truck in the near-empty parking lot of the Flat Rock public boat ramp off Lake Waco in China Spring, Texas. It was mid-May in Texas; he left the truck engine running. Two wardens for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department-pulled up their boat to the ramp right around lunchtime to investigate fishing violations. One got out and approached appellant's truck. He had noticed its engine was running and "wanted to make sure the occupant was okay." He thought that the truck was "out of place" and "suspicious" because he did not see a boat or any fishing equipment. Appellant said he was eating lunch, but the warden thought that was a lie because he did not see any "evidence"-food, wrappers, or a cooler - of a lunch. From the onset of the contact, the warden testified that appellant's demeanor was "one of nervousness." The warden asked appellant if he had any weapons, and appellant replied "why are you doing this to me". The warden though this was a strange response, then asked appellant to step out of the vehicle. After a search, the warden found a small amount of methamphetamine. The State ultimately charged appellant on a felony drug charge, and appellant filed a motion to suppress. The Supreme Court has previously held that a person's refusal to cooperate with a police request during a consensual encounter could not, by itself, provide the basis for a detention or Terry frisk. Because appellant's refusal to cooperate was accompanied only by his extreme nervousness and a game warden's hunch he was up to no good, the warden's stop-and-frisk of appellant violated the Fourth Amendment. The Supreme Court therefore reversed the judgment of the court of appeals that had upheld the stop-and-frisk. View "Wade v. Texas" on Justia Law