Page 32 - March April 2021 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

March-April 2021

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.

SEARCH & SEIZURE. Standing to assert Davis on her cell phone, [XXX]-[XXX]-0889, to
4th Amendment violation. Warrant for cell arrange a meth deal. Heckard listened in. Heckard
phone data. used that information and Davis’s cell phone
number to request a search warrant. In the warrant
This is a case about GPS searches, Fourth application, Heckard asked for the GPS coordinates
Amendment standing, and the Stored of Davis’s cell phone over the next sixteen hours.
Communications Act. Matthew Beaudion and his Louisiana District Judge Larry Jefferson found
girlfriend, Jessica Davis, were drug dealers. probable cause to support the request and issued
Narcotics officers obtained a warrant for the GPS the warrant. Heckard promptly faxed the warrant
coordinates of Davis’s cell phone and used the to Verizon’s law-enforcement division. Verizon
coordinates to intercept the car in which she and agreed to provide the longitude and latitude
Beaudion were traveling. After losing a motion to coordinates of Davis’s phone as many times as
suppress, Beaudion pleaded guilty to drug charges. Heckard called to request them within the sixteen-
He appealed. We affirm. hour window. Heckard called six times. Each time
During a narcotics investigation by the Monroe he received a verbal recitation of the most recent
Police Department (“MPD”), multiple drug dealers GPS data and an estimated margin of error. The
and cooperating witnesses identified Beaudion and coordinates confirmed that Davis (or at least her
Davis as their suppliers. One witness informed phone) was headed east toward Monroe. Heckard’s
MPD Officer Heckard that Beaudion and Davis final call to Verizon indicated that Davis was
were planning to drive from Houston to Monroe passing through Shreveport and on her way to
with four pounds of meth. The witness then called Monroe. So Heckard and other MPD officers

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