Page 31 - September October 2020 TPA Journal

Joe C. Tooley, Legal Digest Editor
Joe C. Tooley, Attorneys & Counselors, Rockwall, Texas
www.TooleyLaw.com 972-722-1058

TEXAS POLICE ASSOCIATION

LEGAL DIGEST

September/October 2020

AUTHOR’S NOTE: It is the goal of this submission to extract those portions of relevant appellate
opinions or the syllabus of the legal reporter which bear directly upon law enforcement methods
and provide guidance for officers on an operational level. Much of the information pertaining to
these cases is lifted verbatim from the court opinion or syllabus with independent analysis inserted
as appropriate. Due to clarity for training purposes, the distinction between quotes from the
opinions and inserted analysis is not always identified and legal citations within the opinion are
often omitted. Emphasis is placed upon reported decisions from the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals
and the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

PROBABLE CAUSE – WIRETAP tributing crack cocaine. The narcotics transactions
involving the informant and Jones occurred on
Defendant-Appellant Troy “99” Kendrick was January 4 and February 17 of 2016, and on March
charged and convicted of conspiracy to distribute 10, the informant was involved in a physical alter-
cocaine base (“crack cocaine”) and possession of cation with Jones.
a firearm by a convicted felon. He now contests • January 4: The DEA and SJPSO officials wit-
the Government’s Title III wiretap that intercepted nessed the informant contact Jones at his phone
calls and text messages from his phone, the suffi- number, Telephone #1,1 to arrange meetings to
ciency of the evidence on his drug conspiracy con- purchase crack cocaine. The informant met with
viction, the district court’s sentencing enhance- Jones at Jones’s Reserve, Louisiana home and pur-
ment for possessing a firearm, and the effective- chased 12 grams of crack cocaine. According to
ness of counsel. We affirm. the informant, he witnessed Jones initially meet

The wiretap events are drawn from Drug Kendrick in the front of Jones’s home to purchase
Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent crack cocaine before subsequently selling the nar-
(SA) Scott Arseneaux’s supporting warrant affi- cotics to the informant.2
davits.
1. The Garrick Jones Surveillance and Wiretap. • February 17: The DEA and SJPSO again
The DEA and St. John Parish Sheriff’s Office observed the informant contact Jones (via
(SJPSO) initially investigated Kendrick’s co- Telephone #1) to arrange a meeting to purchase a
defendant Garrick “Gnu” Jones and used a reliable half-ounce of crack cocaine from Jones. Once the
confidential source/informant to surveil Jones dis- informant and Jones agreed to meet, the DEA and
SJPSO surveillance units followed the informant

Sept.-Oct. 2020 www.texaspoliceassociation.com • (512) 458-3140 27