Page 35 - 2023 May June TPA Journal_Neat

In United States v. Ruiz, 536 U.S. 622 (2002), it Rather than to grant Applicant relief on his claim
held that the failure to disclose evidence that would that his guilty plea was involuntary, I would
have served to impeach a state’s witness, had the remand the cause for further fact development of
case gone to trial, did not render the guilty plea so his ineffective assistance of guilty-plea counsel,
uninformed as to affect the voluntariness of the and for recommended findings of fact and
plea. “To the contrary, this Court has found that the conclusions of law with respect to that issue from
Constitution, in respect to a defendant’s awareness the convicting court. I respectfully dissent.
of relevant circumstances, does not require
complete knowledge of the relevant circumstances, Ex Parte Yearling, No. WR-93,662-01, Ct. Crim
but permits a court to accept a guilty plea, with is App. May 25, 2022.
accompanying waiver of various constitutional
****************************************
rights, despite various forms of misapprehension
****************************************
under which a defendant might labor.” Among the
examples the Supreme Court gave of circumstances
about which a defendant who pleads guilty need SEARCH & SEIZURE – Border search
not be aware is that the admissibility of his out-of-
court confession could have been challenged in Following a bench trial, appellant Julio Cesar
court. Tenorio was convicted of smuggling bulk cash in
violation of 31 U.S.C. § 5332. Tenorio appeals his
Here, while Applicant may have been unaware of conviction and sentence, arguing that the district
the existence of the body cam video when he court erred in denying his motion to suppress
entered his guilty plea, he was present when the evidence obtained from a stop and search at the
police officers re-entered his motel room without a border as he was leaving the United States and
warrant, and so he was aware of the circumstance attempting to enter Mexico. We AFFIRM.
that might have rendered admission of the gun at a
subsequent trial challengeable. That Applicant’s On June 13, 2019, Tenorio drove a Chevrolet Tahoe
lawyer may not have discovered enough about the to the port of entry in Del Rio, Texas, on the U.S.-
case to recognize the Fourth Amendment Mexico border. Customs and Border Protection
significance of that circumstance before advising (“CBP”) officers stopped Tenorio’s vehicle in the
him to plead guilty seems to me to be a matter of outbound lane, and Tenorio told the officers that he
the potential ineffectiveness of his counsel, not the was leaving the country and traveling to Mexico.
voluntariness of his plea. To me, this case sounds Tenorio declared that he did not have any weapons
an awful lot like Richardson. or ammunition and that he had $3,200 in U.S.
currency. CBP officer Eric Medina testified that
What is more, Ruiz also held that due process does Tenorio “appeared nervous” during the encounter
not even require the Government to disclose and “began to have a facial twitch” “as soon as
evidence of which it is aware at the time of a guilty [they] started talking about the currency.”
plea that would establish that the accused may have
an affirmative defense to prosecution or that a He further testified that when another officer began
witness may be impeached. That being so, it is a spot check of the vehicle with a canine, Tenorio
hard to imagine how an accused’s ignorance of a “kept looking back towards the canine to see what
potential Fourth Amendment basis to challenge the the canine was doing.” According to Medina,
admissibility of evidence in court could prove fatal because of Tenorio’s nervous demeanor, his
to the voluntariness of his guilty plea. The Court indication that he was traveling from the United
does not explain why it should in its per curiam States to Mexico, and the fact that the canine
opinion today. “showed some interest” in the vehicle, officers
asked him to pull his vehicle over. Tenorio pulled

30 www.texaspoliceassociation.com • (512) 458-3140 Texas Police Journal