Douds, Kenneth Lee ( 2015 )

IN THE COURT OF CRIMINAL APPEALS
OF TEXAS
NO. PD-0857-14
KENNETH LEE DOUDS, Appellant
v.
THE STATE OF TEXAS
ON STATE’S PETITION FOR DISCRETIONARY REVIEW
FROM THE FOURTEENTH COURT OF APPEALS
BRAZORIA COUNTY
M EYERS, J., filed a dissenting opinion.
DISSENTING OPINION
While the majority holds that Appellant failed to preserve his Fourth Amendment
complaint, I disagree. I believe that the court of appeals properly set out the law and that,
once the defendant established that the search was conducted without a warrant, the burden
became the State’s to show that the search was reasonable without a warrant. State v.
Robinson, 334 S.W.3d 776, 778-79 (Tex. Crim. App. 2011). It is the State’s burden to show
why the warrantless blood draw was reasonable; not the defendant’s to prove that the
Douds dissent - Page 2
warrantless action was unreasonable. Appellant had no burden to show lack of exigent
circumstances, and he did not abandon his Fourth Amendment claim simply because the
suppression hearing focused on Section 724.012 of the Texas Transportation Code.
For these reasons, I would affirm the judgment of the court of appeals and, therefore,
I respectfully dissent.
Meyers, J.
Filed: October 14, 2015
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