Page 163 - Texas police Association Peace Officer Guide 2017

uncontested that she had no knowledge of the presence of the plastic bag in Hyatt’s cell.
Thomas’s failure to inspect Hyatt’s cell and retrieve the plastic bag, and any other potential
ligatures, was perhaps negligent, but “negligent inaction by a jail officer does not violate the due
process rights of a person lawfully held in custody of the State.”

Finally, although failure to properly execute a suicide prevention policy may amount to
deliberate indifference, in this case, considering the steps that Thomas did take, any potential
noncompliance with Callahan County’s policy would have been at most negligent. We therefore
hold that, while not ideal, her failure to exercise even greater care to avoid Hyatt’s suicide did
not amount to deliberate indifference.

Officer Thomas took measures to prevent Jason Hyatt’s suicide: she withheld from him the most
obvious potential ligature, placed him under video surveillance, and directed her relieving officer
to keep a close watch over him. Although these measures were ultimately, and tragically,
insufficient, we cannot say that they constitute deliberate indifference. The judgment of the
district court granting summary on grounds of qualified immunity is therefore AFFIRMED.

th
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Hyatt v. Thomas, No. 15-10708, 5 Cir., Nov. 18 , 2016.
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8. Warrants and Affidavits:

SEARCH WARRANT AFFIDAVIT – WHEN DOES IT BECOME PUBLIC RECORD?
A.G. OPINION. (But see subsequent legislation mentioned below.)

Chapter 18 of the Code of Criminal Procedure establishes the search warrant process. See TEX.
CODE CRIM. PROC. arts. 18.01-.24. Texas law makes public most search warrant affidavits.
Article 18.0l(b) provides, in relevant part:
Except as provided by Article 18.011 the affidavit is public information if executed,, and the
magistrate's clerk shall make a copy of the affidavit available for public inspection in the clerk's
office during normal business hours.
The question presented to the Attorney General was: whether a search warrant affidavit is
"executed" and thus public information for purposes of this subsection when the affidavit is
signed and sworn to before the magistrate or when a peace officer executes the search warrant.
Your office takes the position that the affidavit becomes public if and when a peace officer
executes the search warrant. You explain, however, that several district court judges "are
concerned that 'execution' in this context refers to when the affidavit is signed and sworn to."

As the Texas Supreme Court recognized, the term "'execute' has several definitions."
MidContinent Cas. Co. v. Global Enercom Mgmt., Inc., 323 S.W.3d 151, 157 (Tex. 2010).
Common understandings of the term "execute" include "[t]o perform or complete (a contract or
duty)," "[t]o change (as a legal interest) from one form to another," and "[t]o make (a legal
document) valid by signing; to bring (a legal document) into its final, legally enforceable form."
BLACK'S LAW DICTIONARY 689 (10th ed. 2014). Determining the meaning of the term
"execute" in a specific statute will depend on its context. Generally, executing a search warrant
contemplates carrying out the search according to the terms of the warrant. See TEX. CODE
CRIM. PROC. art 18.06( a) (describing the process for execution of warrants). Unlike a search

A Peace Officer’s Guide to Texas Law 158 2017 Edition