Johnson v. Texas (original by presiding judge keller)
Annotate this CaseAn officer activated his emergency lights and approached a parked vehicle at a “park and ride” lot. The main use of the park-and-ride was “during the daytime for people that go into plant traffic and park,” but it was open twenty-four hours. The park-and-ride was close to a bar, and because the bar’s own parking lot was small, patrons often parked at the park-and-ride and walked over. Sergeant Robert Cox knew that the park-and-ride was a place where “a variety of criminal activity” took place, including burglaries of motor vehicles, public lewdness, and illicit drugs. In his ten years of patrolling the area. When patrolling the park-and-ride, the sergeant’s general practice was to drive around the lot and shine a spotlight on the vehicles. Sergeant Cox saw a vehicle parked by itself away from where other vehicles were parked. This solitary vehicle’s headlights and other outside lights were off, and there were no lights on inside the vehicle. When he shined his spotlight on the vehicle, Sergeant Cox could tell that there were two occupants and that there was movement inside the vehicle. He approached the vehicle on foot, made contact on the driver’s side using caution, and identified himself. At some point, the driver’s side window was rolled down, and once that occurred, Sergeant Cox smelled marijuana. Appellant Jacob Johnson appealed the charges against him (presumably for drug possession) and the trial court’s denial of his motion to suppress evidence obtained after his encounter with Sergeant Cox, arguing the officer did not have a reasonable suspicion to detain him, making the whole encounter unconstitutional. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals concluded the officer had reasonable suspicion to conduct an investigative detention because the parking lot had a significant association with criminal activity and because the occupants of the vehicle engaged in activity that appeared secretive and was unusual for the time and place. Consequently, the judgment of the court of appeals was reversed, and the judgment of the trial court was affirmed.
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