Better than Fiction

Mom has complained that I never blog anymore. The job that I have makes doing anything except work very difficult. I am usually too tired to blog when I get home.

I get Google alerts on my name to see what people might be saying about me. Nobody cares much about me, but there are lots of Keith Grahams out there. These Keiths are from all walks of life, saint and sinner and everything in between. I hope that they don’t mind that when they Google their names, they get me.

I found this reference to a Keith Graham in Texas and it sounds like an episode of Breaking Bad. It is my namesake’s appeal for a conviction on possession of a controlled substance (methamphetamine).

Why not? When you’re done, you’re done.

In January 2004, Detective Clark of the Harris County Sheriff’s Department seized a methamphetamine lab located on Main Street in Houston.   Around this same time, Detective Clark observed a dark blue Ford pickup truck with a bright orange tailgate parked outside this lab.   Detective Clark discovered that this truck was registered to appellant, Ronald Keith Graham, who was apparently known as “The Professor” in the illegal narcotics community.   Appellant was not present at the time the Main Street lab was seized, but his girlfriend, Tania Nieves was arrested in that seizure.   Detective Clark learned that the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles had issued a felony arrest warrant for appellant based on an alleged parole violation.

Upon further investigation, Detective Clark located Nieves’ residence at a motel in Manvel, Texas.   On April 20, 2004, in an attempt to find appellant, Detective Clark followed Nieves from the motel to a travel trailer located behind a concrete plant near Highway 6 in Manvel.   Detective Clark spotted appellant’s truck outside the trailer and contacted Sergeant Floyd Goodwin of the Texas Department of Public Safety and Deputy Tony Pena of the Brazoria County Sheriff’s Department.   Sergeant Goodwin and Deputy Pena immediately joined Detective Clark at the scene to conduct a felony arrest.   Sergeant Goodwin and Detective Clark approached the trailer and announced, “Police, arrest warrant, open the door.”   There was no response, but the door was partially open and Detective Clark called out, stating, “Mr. Graham, open the door.   Ronald Graham, open the door.”   Detective Clark saw a head rise from a bed adjacent to the door, and he immediately recognized appellant from the parole photograph.   Upon identifying appellant, Detective Clark and Sergeant Goodwin pushed the front door open and entered the residence to make the arrest.   The officers conducted a protective sweep of the trailer, and during this time, saw what appeared to be a clandestine methamphetamine laboratory.

After arresting and handcuffing appellant, the officers escorted him back to the patrol car to request consent from appellant to search the trailer.   Sergeant Goodwin advised appellant of his rights.   When asked, appellant indicated he knew how to read and Sergeant Goodwin read to him from a consent-to-search-form, and also removed the handcuffs from appellant so that appellant could read the document himself.   Sergeant Goodwin then asked appellant if the officers could search the trailer, and appellant responded, “Why not?   When you’re done, you’re done.”   After reading the consent-to-search form, appellant stated that he understood his rights and signed the document.   The officers then searched the trailer and its contents, discovering several containers that they suspected contained methamphetamine or were chemicals that were precursors in the production of methamphetamine.

Appellant was charged in a two-count indictment with the first-degree felony of possession of a controlled substance, and with the second-degree felony of possession of chemicals with the intent to manufacture methamphetamine.