Opinion ID: 392678
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Facts The Fabric for Decision

Text: In the late evening hours of September 21, 1979, Special Agent Lloyd Clifton of the DEA was directing DEA agents and other law-enforcement officers in a surveillance of the Hulett-Redmond farm in rural Kaufman County, Texas. The DEA had obtained information over a two-year period that one of the farm owners, the appellee Redmon, was bringing large amounts of marijuana into the Dallas-Fort Worth area by transporting it in a large gas tank mounted on a tractor-trailer. On September 19 such a tank truck had arrived at the farm; and on September 21 Clifton had executed an affidavit before a federal magistrate and obtained a warrant to search the farm for the large quantity of marijuana believed to be concealed there. On the evening of September 21, Clifton worked out of a surveillance command-post in a motor home approximately one-mile south of the property. Using radio equipment, agents reported activity on the property to Clifton and received instructions from him. Clifton also watched the property himself with a nightscope, an infrared telescope that aids in seeing at night. At another surveillance point, in a hay barn about 200 feet from the observed activity, agents used a second nightscope to watch the property. At approximately 9:00 P.M. the agents observed a maroon Chevrolet pickup arrive at the farm. After proceeding to another property a few miles east, the pickup returned to the farm. It disappeared into a large barn, where it remained for about two hours. The pickup then moved to a point near the residence on the farm. During the early morning hours of September 22, the agents observed various cars arrive at the farm and park near the residence. The trunks of the cars were loaded with large black bundles, which were apparently being taken from the bed of the pickup. After being loaded, the cars left the farm. As each vehicle left the farm, the agents watched its movements and relayed them to Clifton at the command-post. Because he did not want any vehicle to escape with a large amount of marijuana, Clifton directed that each of the vehicles leaving the farm be stopped and the occupants arrested. Besides the pickup, there were four cars stopped 3 a Ford LTD sedan driven by the appellee Pugh, a 1974 Chevrolet Impala driven by the appellee Redmond, a green 1974 Buick Riviera driven by the appellee Blair, and a black 1969 Chevrolet driven by the appellee Baker. None of these cars had any passengers when they left the farm. The agents stopped each of these five vehicles as they left the farm property. They arrested the occupants and searched the vehicles. In the trunk of each of the four cars and in the open bed of the pickup, the agents discovered numerous black plastic-wrapped bundles that are the subject of this appeal. The bundles consisted of black polyethylene plastic garbage bags held shut with tape. Some of the plastic bags had tears through which marijuana debris and stems protruded. The more tightly wrapped bags showed the outline of packed bricks inside. Some of the bags emitted the odor of marijuana. However, the government's evidence at the hearing on the motion to suppress failed to adequately establish which vehicles had bags fitting these descriptions. The agents did not probe the bundles further on the highway, but instead transported the arrested persons to the county jail and drove the vehicles to a nearby church parking-lot guarded by sheriff's deputies. The law-enforcement team reassembled at the church, and Clifton set up the logistics for executing the search warrant on the farm property. The agents executed the warrant, and in the course of searching the large barn they discovered several thousand pounds of marijuana. Later that day, the bundles were removed from the vehicles and marked as to which vehicle had carried them. The bundles were kept with the bulk marijuana seized from the ranch. On September 24, samples were taken from the bundles. For each vehicle, a brick of marijuana was cut out of one bag and preserved. In addition, core samples were taken from each bag by the insertion of a knife to cut a section out of the bag.