Page 21 - May June 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

May/June 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.

SEARCH & SEIZURE: SEARCH & and walked to the rear of the Suburban so
SEIZURE. TRAFFIC STOP Solomon could show Smith why he had been
pulled over. During this conversation, Solomon
This case raises a recurring question: did law asked Smith about his itinerary and passengers.
enforcement officers conduct an “unreasonable” Smith said he had found a good deal on a small
seizure under the Fourth Amendment by icemaker1 for his Fort Worth, Texas, restaurant on
extending what began as a routine traffic stop? Craigslist and was headed to Indiana to pick it up.
Agreeing with the district court that the traffic Solomon asked about the machine’s size (it was
stop here was not unreasonable under the Fourth apparently a small one) and then asked why it
Amendment, we AFFIRM. made sense to drive all the way from Texas to
Indiana to pick up a small icemaker rather than
Just before 6:00 one evening in October 2017, just having the machine shipped to Texas. Smith
Officer Hunter Solomon of the Hernando Police did not have a good answer.
Department pulled a black Chevy Suburban over
on northbound Interstate 55 in Hernando, Note 1 A daiquiri machine may also have been
Mississippi, because it had an improperly involved.
displayed license plate. As Solomon walked to the
vehicle, he saw that the vehicle actually had a Smith also told Solomon that his two passengers
temporary license displayed in its tinted rear used to work for him and were helping him pick
windshield. Solomon approached the vehicle, and up the icemaker. (Curiously, Smith only knew the
defendant Corey Smith, the driver, produced his name of one passenger.) He told Solomon that he
license. At Solomon’s invitation, Smith got out had picked up the men in Jackson, Mississippi.

May/June 2020 www.texaspoliceassociation.com • (512) 458-3140 17