Page 48 - TPA Journal May - June 2018

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 2018

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.

SEARCH & SEIZURE. SEARCH WARRANT which recounted Huerras suspected trafficking
AFFIDAVIT. GOOD FAITH EXCEPTION TO activities and included information from two
EXCLUSIONARY RULE. confidential informants (CIs) and two other police
officers. A Texas state-court judge issued a
Jesse Huerra was convicted of distributing warrant to search Huerras house for
methamphetamine, using firearms to further a methamphetamine and related items. San Angelo
drug-trafficking crime, and possessing firearms as police, including Heathcock, executed the warrant
a convicted felon. Huerra has appealed and and found drug paraphernalia, three firearms, and
contends that: (1) there was no probable cause to more than 1,500 grams of methamphetamine.
issue the warrant and therefore the district court
should have suppressed the evidence seized Before trial, Huerra filed a motion to suppress the
during a search of his home; (2) errors during (jury evidence seized during the search. He argued that
argument) and (3) (sentencing guidelines error). the affidavit so lacked indicia of probable cause
We affirm. that the officers who executed the warrant could
not in good faith have thought that it was valid.
Police in San Angelo, Texas, suspected Huerra of The district court held a hearing and then denied
trafficking methamphetamine and applied for a the motion. It ruled that the good-faith exception
warrant to search his home. Primary support for to the exclusionary rule applied and, alternatively,
the warrant application came from San Angelo that the supporting affidavit gave the state-court
Detective Hank Heathcocks five-page affidavit, judge a substantial basis to find probable cause.

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