Gabriel v. State

In Gabriel v. State, 900 S.W.2d 721 (Tex. Crim. App. 1995), the officers found the rocks of crack cocaine at issue in separate containers. The appellant argued that the evidence was legally insufficient to prove the alleged amount of cocaine because "the State was required to test enough substance to meet the alleged weight amount." Gabriel, 900 S.W.2d at 721. In Gabriel the State seized fifty-four individual plastic bags, each allegedly containing only two or three rocks of crack cocaine. Id. at 721-22. The chemist for the State tested the rocks in five of the fifty-four bags using tests similar to those used in this case. Id. at 722. As for the remaining bags, she visually inspected them, finding their contents to be "virtually identical to the ones she tested." Id. Presiding Judge McCormick, writing the plurality opinion joined by three other members of this Court, held, that "it was rational for the factfinder to conclude that identically packaged substances, which appear to be the same substance, are in fact the same substance." Id. That opinion continued, "The manner of testing the substances by random sampling goes only to the weight the jury may give to the tested substances in determining the untested substance is the same as the tested substance." Id.