Page 33 - TPA Journal Sept Oct 2021

searches of computers and cell phones.” We therefore insufficient. Neither argument has merit, and we affirm.
agree with the district court that the good faith
exception to the exclusionary rule applies to the forensic In June 2017, Avalos-Sanchez and several others
search of Aguilar’s phone, and we affirm the district attempted to rob a
court’s denial of Aguilar’s motion to suppress. McAllen, Texas residence. Avalos-Sanchez and his crew
“believed that
To sum up: the only issue presented in this appeal is hundreds of pounds of marijuana and/or over five
whether the district court erred in denying Aguilar’s kilograms of cocaine were
motion to suppress the information obtained from the being stored at the private residence,” and they intended
forensic border search of his cell phone. And because to obtain by force,
the good faith exception to the exclusionary rule applies and then distribute, those controlled substances. The
to the forensic search of Aguilar’s phone, the district plan was
court did not err in denying Aguilar’s motion to straightforward: Some of the crew would enter the home
suppress. Accordingly, the judgment of the district court to steal the
is, in all respects, AFFIRMED. controlled substances at gunpoint, while Avalos-
Sanchez and others would
U.S. v. Aguilar, Jr., No. 19-40554, 5th Cir., Sept. 02, watch for law enforcement. But the June 6 robbery went
2020. sideways; the crew
******************************************** had hit the wrong house. Instead of fleeing, the robbers
held the four
FEDERAL ROBBERY ELEMENTS occupants at gunpoint and stole $700 cash and two cell
phones.
Alfredo Avalos-Sanchez served as lookout during an
armed home invasion gone awry. The plan was to steal The next day, some of the crew—not including Avalos-
drugs and money from a known drug dealer. But Avalos- Sanchez—ran
Sanchez and his crew invaded the wrong house. Instead the same play and tried to rob the correct residence. The
of hightailing it, as some might have done,1 they robbed crew never made it
the four non-drug-dealing occupants anyway. Avalos- to the front door. They encountered law enforcement on
Sanchez pleaded guilty to, and was convicted of, their way.
interference with interstate commerce by robbery, in A grand jury issued a four-count indictment against
violation of the Hobbs Act, 18 U.S.C. § 1951(a). The Avalos-Sanchez
district court sentenced Avalos-Sanchez to 87 months in and several other defendants involved in the June 6
prison. robbery and the June 7
attempted robbery. Count Three of the indictment
1 See Jenna Laine, Bad House Call: Buccaneers’ Tom charged Avalos-Sanchez
Brady Mistakenly Enters Wrong Home, ESPN (Apr. 23, with violating the Hobbs Act:
2020),https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/29086979/b
uccaneers-tom-brady-mistakenly-enters-wrong-home On or about April 24, 2017 through June 7, 2017, . . .
(“Brady immediately apologized before darting out the [Avalos-Sanchez] did unlawfully obstruct, delay, and
door.”). affect commerce and the movement of articles and
Avalos-Sanchez challenges his guilty-plea conviction commodities in commerce by robbery and attempt to
and sentence on two grounds: (1) that the factual basis obstruct, delay, and affect commerce and the movement
for his guilty plea was insufficient, in violation of of articles and commodities in commerce by robbery, as
Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 11, because the the terms robbery and commerce are defined in Title 18,
Government failed to establish the commerce element United States Code, Section 1951(b), in that the
of the Hobbs Act robbery charge; and (2) that his guilty defendants did unlawfully take and attempted to take
plea was not knowing and voluntary, in violation of the controlled substances and drug proceeds from
Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment, because individuals against their will by means of actual or
he did not know the factual basis for his guilty plea was threatened force, violence, or fear of immediate or

Sept./Oct. 2021 www.texaspoliceassociation.com • (512) 458-3140 29