Page 24 - Texas police Association Peace Officer Guide 2017

of the closed door. Upon entry, Deputy Gomez became suspicious that Garcia-Lopez’s first order
of business after their “standoff” over the locked door was to calmly request to sit back on his
bed. In that moment, Garcia-Lopez’s seemingly innocent request triggered something else
entirely for Deputy Gomez. To Deputy Gomez, the request led to his belief that Yonari might lay
hidden beneath the mattress in a hollowed box spring. Indeed, Deputy Gomez testified as much
before the district court, stating “. . . . when I was looking for Yonari because he could possibly
be hiding between the mattresses.”

It is true that these cases held protective sweeps overbroad where officers searched under
mattresses without justification. Garcia-Lopez fails to take into account that it was logical under
the specific facts of this case to suspect that a person might be hiding in a hollowed box spring.

Accordingly, we hold that the district court did not err in denying Garcia-Lopez’s motion to
suppress the evidence seized from under his mattress.

( Having addressed the mattress search, in which three firearms—including the firearm
particularized in Garcia-Lopez’s count of conviction—were discovered, we decline to consider
the constitutionality of the backpack search. Even if the guns found in the backpack were
suppressed, the three admissible guns stemming from the justified mattress search are sufficient
to support Garcia-Lopez’s conviction and sentence. Hence, the denial of the motion to suppress
the evidence seized from the backpack is inconsequential. )

th
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U.S. v. Garcia-Lopez, No. 14-41392, 5 Cir. Jan. 11 , 2016.
SEARCH & SEIZURE, CURTILAGE, DRUG DOG. VOLUNTARY STATEMENTS.

Rickey Nikki Beene entered a conditional plea of guilty, and the district court entered a
judgment of conviction and sentence. Beene’s plea was conditioned on the right to appeal the
denial of his motion to suppress evidence obtained during a search of his vehicle and the
statements he made following his arrest. We VACATE Beene’s conviction and sentence and
REMAND for further proceedings in accordance with this opinion.

Beene was charged in a six-count indictment with (1) being a felon in possession of a firearm
and ammunition, (2) possession with intent to distribute crack cocaine, (3) possession with intent
to distribute cocaine powder, (4) possession with intent to distribute methamphetamine, (5)
possession with intent to distribute marijuana, and (6) possession of a firearm in furtherance of
drug trafficking. Beene moved to suppress evidence of (a) the firearm, ammunition, and drugs
seized from his automobile, (b) evidence of drugs seized from his residence, and (c) the post-
arrest statements he made about his possession of the firearm.

In June 2012, a dispatcher advised Haynesville (Louisiana) police officers that an unnamed caller
reported that Rickey Nikki Beene pointed a gun at people on Mill Street, then left the scene
driving a gray Honda Accord. Officers knew Beene to have dealt in illegal drugs.

A Peace Officer’s Guide to Texas Law 19 2017 Edition