Opinion ID: 479808
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Piper's Run

Text: 7 On January 22, 1985, a confidential informant told a San Antonio police narcotics officer, Detective Maurice Rose, that a methamphetamine laboratory was in operation at a residence on Piper's Run in San Antonio. Detective Rose had previously received reliable tips from this informant, and believed the information was trustworthy. Rose was at that time assigned by the San Antonio police department (SAPD) to work with the DEA but still reported to the SAPD. He testified that the operational relationship between the two agencies was an informal task force and stated that he would ordinarily call in the DEA whenever he learned that a methamphetamine laboratory was involved. He also stated that it was customary practice for officers from both agencies to execute search warrants when a suspected laboratory was the target of the search. Detective Rose contacted Agent Phillips to tell him about the tip, and the two officers looked at the Piper's Run house that same day to plan how a search could best be executed. 8 The next day, January 23, Detective Rose applied for a search warrant to a San Antonio justice of the peace, who then issued the warrant to Rose. As testimony at the pretrial suppression hearing revealed, justice of the peace courts were generally--albeit erroneously--believed to be courts of record by local law enforcement officers in San Antonio. 3 9 Rose testified that he knew he could obtain a valid state search warrant from a number of different state courts, including a municipal court conveniently located in the police department building downstairs from his own office, to which he ordinarily went for warrants. He stated that he was aware of the Rule 41 state court of record requirement and that his knowledge of that rule motivated him to seek a warrant not from the nearby municipal court--which he knew was not a court of record 4 --but, instead, from the more distant justice of the peace court, which he believed was a court of record. While he was preparing the warrant application, Detective Rose called DEA Agent Phillips and arranged for the state and federal officers to meet in the vicinity of the Piper's Run residence, but he did not tell Agent Phillips which court would issue the warrant. However, Detective Rose did discuss the court of record requirement with his supervisor, SAPD Sergeant Pat Dotson, who confirmed that a justice of the peace court was a court of record. Sergeant Dotson testified, It has always been the opinion of all the men in our offices that it was a court of record. 10 Detective Rose claimed that, at the time the warrant was requested and until after it was executed, he intended to bring state charges against the defendants, but, after entering the Piper's Run residence, he decided to turn the case over to the federal agents because he just felt they were better qualified and better equipped to handle a case of this magnitude. 11 There is nothing to suggest that the justice of the peace issuing the warrant believed, or had any reason to believe, that participation of federal officers in the search was likely or contemplated. 12 Rose further testified that when the warrant was executed some ten to twelve local police officers were present as well as at least three federal agents, including Agent Phillips. Detective Rose entered the Piper's Run residence first. Those arrested in the house included Comstock, Barrios, and Ackerson. As the district court found, on adequate evidence, Rose and other state officers ... entered the house and gathered the persons inside the living room area. Three federal agents, including Phillips, arrived during the execution of the warrant, and two more came later. The state officers conducted a cursory search of the residence and located the [disassembled methamphetamine] laboratory and other evidence. 13 Then, Detective Rose, Sergeant Dotson, and Agent Phillips withdrew into an unoccupied bedroom to discuss who should take control of the evidence. Portions of Rose's testimony indicate that he then told Phillips that the warrant was issued by a justice of the peace; at another place, Rose indicates that what he told Phillips was that he had gotten the warrant from Judge Gutierrez (there is no evidence that Phillips knew that Judge Gutierrez was a justice of the peace). Phillips' testimony was that he did not look at the warrant, or ask to examine it, and that he did not know what court had issued it. In any event, the testimony of Rose, Dotson, and Phillips is unequivocal that both Rose and Dotson, in response to Phillips' inquiries, assured Phillips that the warrant had been issued by a court of record. Moreover, Phillips' testimony reflects that, although he was aware of the court of record requirement for federal warrants, and would not have proceeded with the search had he not been informed that the warrant had been issued by a court of record, he nevertheless did not know which Texas courts were courts of record, and would not then have known if a warrant had been issued by a court of record by looking at it. Phillips also testified that he was not aware that Texas justice of the peace courts were not courts of record until he was so informed the day before the suppression hearing. Although Phillips was otherwise an experienced DEA officer, and had assisted in some searches under state warrants, this was the first occasion on which he was the agent in charge of a search conducted under the authority of a state warrant. He had known Rose and Dotson for a considerable time and knew them to be officers who were knowledgeable in state law. 14 After these discussions with Rose and Dotson, Phillips then telephoned the Assistant United States Attorney to seek his approval for federal prosecution of the case. Although Phillips told the Assistant United States Attorney he had a valid warrant, he did not say--and was not asked--what court had issued the warrant. With federal prosecution authorized, Phillips then participated with the SAPD officers in a more thorough search. The district court found that Phillips went into each room, labelled evidence and took photographs. The defendants and the evidence were placed into federal custody. Charges were filed only by the federal agents. 15 The Piper's Run search produced significant quantities of methamphetamine, as well as photographs taken inside the house showing ordinary household items apparently used in processing the drug. In addition, a bedspread from the Lexington Hotel, several chemicals used in making methamphetamine, and components of a portable laboratory were discovered packed into trunks in a pickup truck which Comstock claimed to own. The truck was backed into Barrios' garage, its front visible from the street through the open garage door. During the search, the truck was unlocked by SAPD Officer Salazar with keys which he found inside the house in a pair of pants which Comstock indicated to Salazar were his.