Busby v. State

In Busby v. State, 990 S.W.2d 263 (Tex. Crim. App. 1999), the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals considered, and rejected, an argument similar to appellant's argument. In Busby, the defendant shot the complainant and subsequently left the scene of the offense in the complainant's pickup truck. Id. at 269. A police officer relayed this information to other officers on his police radio, and a different officer arrested the defendant after spotting the described pickup truck. Id. The defendant asserted that the officer did not have statutory authority to arrest him without a warrant. Id. Rejecting the defendant's challenge, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals explained: "Although we have held that the felony/escape rule is not satisfied merely by proof that a suspect travels from one place to another, we have also stated that "the escape requirement is obviously met where the suspect has previously fled." Here, the evidence available to the police shows that the defendant had fled the scene of the offense in the complainant's pickup truck. The complainant relayed the crime and the defendant's flight to law enforcement officials. The officer clearly had satisfactory proof that the defendant had committed a felony and had already fled the scene of the offense. That evidence, in turn, was satisfactory proof that appellant was about to escape." Id. at 270.