TX6: Generic motion to suppress and hearing didn’t specify issue appealed; held all waived

Defendant’s generic motion to suppress was denied and there was no specific proof or argument at the suppression hearing as to what it was all about. It was essentially waived for appeal by failure to articulate the ground argued on appeal. Douglas v. State, 2016 Tex. App. LEXIS 4804 (Tex. App. – Texarkana May 6, 2016):

At the trial court, Douglas filed a generic motion to suppress alleging, in pertinent part,

II.

The law enforcement officers unlawfully entered and intruded upon the privacy of this Defendant without lawful authority, without probable cause[,] and without a valid search warrant. The trespass and intrusion were followed by the search of a cell phone, above, and seizure of evidence without consent or lawful authority and without lawful search warrant or probable cause.

III.

That the search of his cell phone was therefore illegal[,] and all the fruits of the search must be suppressed.

IV.

That if such search was upon a search warrant, the affidavit therefore did not allege sufficient facts to establish probable cause.

At the evidentiary hearing, Douglas offered no testimony or other evidence in support of these allegations. Further, the only objections Douglas asserted at trial were that there was insufficient probable cause for the issuance of the warrant, that the text messages were hearsay, and that the probative value of the texts was substantially outweighed by the danger of unfair prejudice. At no time during the hearing did Douglas contend that there had been a prior unlawful warrantless search of the cell phone or that the affidavit was based on information from a prior warrantless search. Since his issue on appeal does not comport with his objections made at trial, Douglas has presented nothing for our review. We overrule this point of error.