Page 38 - TPA Journal May June 2025

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 2025

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.

EVIDENCE – MIRANDA inside the OPD building to the parking lot, where
they observed Fernandez pulling halfway into a
A grand jury indicted Luis Fernandez for being an parking space while holding both of his hands out
unlawful user of a controlled substance in posses- of his truck’s window. Rocha approached
sion of a firearm. The indictment stemmed from Fernandez and observed a firearm in his lap.
an incident in Odessa, Texas, in which Fernandez Rocha removed the firearm, and Kapets pulled
drove to a police station while in possession of a Fernandez out of his truck and patted him down.
rifle, and eventually confessed to having recently Officer Yolanda Medrano responded to the scene
used cocaine. Fernandez moved to suppress the in her patrol vehicle, arriving around 1:41 p.m.
statements he made to the police. The district When she arrived, Rocha stated that he did not
court granted Fernandez’s motion to suppress in know what was going on, only that Fernandez had
part and denied it in part. At a bench trial, the dis- claimed he was being chased and was in posses-
trict court found Fernandez guilty and later sen- sion of a firearm. Medrano then approached
tenced him to a within-guidelines term of 10 Fernandez, who was not handcuffed or otherwise
months of imprisonment and three years of super- restrained, and Kapets asked, “So what’s going on,
vised release. For the reasons that follow, we like, can you walk me through who’s chasing you
AFFIRM the judgment. and all that stuff?” Fernandez responded only that
“they” were following him.
Around 1:38 p.m. on May 29, 2020, while driving Kapets then asked Fernandez whether there was
to the Odessa Police Department (“OPD”), anything illegal in his truck, and Fernandez
Fernandez called 911 claiming that he was armed replied that his truck had already been searched by
and being chased by multiple people. Corporal Ian sheriff’s deputies he had encountered on the way
Kapets and Detective Donny Rocha ran from to the police station. Kapets requested permission

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