Page 27 - TPA Journal May June 2021

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 2021

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 – POSSESSION OF FIREARM IN is omitted)
FURTHERANCE OF DRUG POSSESSION. We now turn to the merits of Cooper’s appeal.
Cooper makes two interrelated arguments on
Appellant Adam Cooper pleaded guilty to one appeal: first, that the district court should have
count of possession with intent to distribute inquired as to whether there was a sufficient
methamphetamine and one count of possession factual basis to support Cooper’s guilty plea to
of a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking count 2, the firearm count; second, that the
crime. On appeal, Cooper contends that the facts factual basis is, in fact, insufficient to show that
do not support his guilt of the firearm offense. his possession of the firearm was in furtherance
Because there is a sufficient factual basis to show of the drug-trafficking offense because he did not
Cooper possessed a firearm in furtherance of a know that the firearm was in the car.
drug-trafficking crime, we AFFIRM.
Cooper’s first argument that the district court
Nevertheless, because the court’s judgment should have inquired further is meritless. Cooper
erroneously indicates that Cooper pleaded guilty correctly states that the district court has a “duty
to the second superseding indictment—when in to compare the factual basis to the elements of
fact he pleaded guilty to the superseding the offense to determine if the factual basis
indictment—we REMAND for correction of the supports conviction before accepting the plea.”
judgment under Federal Rule of Criminal The district court, however, satisfied this duty
Procedure 36. through the Rule 11 colloquy conducted by the
(The extended discussion of the error in pleading magistrate judge at the plea hearing.

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