Opinion ID: 6637
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: analysis

Text: 6 We begin by noting that when a state officer secures a search warrant from a state judge, Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 41(a) is not the rubric for determining whether the search warrant was issued by an appropriate court even when the seized evidence is offered in federal court. State law controls in that instance. 5 The constitution and statutes of Texas do not explicitly provide the answer to the jurisdictional question posited, and there is a dearth of jurisprudence. 6 We approach today's interpretive task in that setting. 7 7 The Texas Code of Criminal Procedure provides that a search warrant is a written order issued by a magistrate. 8 The title magistrate has come to connote one having duties which are judicial in nature. 9 The Code identifies magistrates as including justices of the supreme court and courts of criminal and civil appeals, the judges of the district courts, county judges, judges of the county courts at law, and justices of the peace. 10 Although [i]t is the duty of every magistrate to preserve the peace within his jurisdiction by the use of all lawful means ..., 11 the Code denotes no territorial limitations to a magistrate's jurisdiction when issuing a search warrant. In absence of such limitations, the Code is to be liberally construed to attain the objects of prevention, suppression, and punishment of crime. 12 When the Code fails to provide a rule of procedure in a given case, the rules of the common law apply. 13 8 Most of the cases discussing the jurisdiction of magistrates involve justices of the peace. When acting as a magistrate, the jurisdiction of a justice of the peace is coextensive with the limits of the county. 14 In the seminal case of Hart v. State, involving a justice of the peace, the court explained: 9 When sitting as an examining court, the law nowhere limits the magistrate, if he be a justice, to his particular precinct; and, not being limited in this regard, there is no reason why it was not intended that he should hold the court in any portion of the county most convenient for the purposes of the examination as to the commitment or discharge of the accused, whether the place of the sitting be in the precinct of another justice, competent and qualified to act, or not. 15 10 The territorial jurisdiction of a justice of the peace is his or her precinct. The caselaw has extended the jurisdiction of justices of the peace functioning as magistrates, however, to the limits of the county. This would indicate that the territorial jurisdiction of the justice of the peace depends upon which hat is being worn, that of a justice of the peace or that of a magistrate. We presume to suggest that such a rubric should be equally so of the judges of the supreme, district, and county courts. 16 11 Although by title and office Judge Thompson is a district judge of the 62nd Judicial District, when he issues a search warrant, he is acting as a magistrate 17 by virtue of his office as a district judge, 18 for Judge Thompson's authority to act in the capacity of magistrate is dependent upon his office. 19 We must therefore examine Judge Thompson's jurisdiction as a district judge to assist in resolving the question of his jurisdiction as a magistrate. His territorial jurisdiction as a magistrate will at least encompass that of a district judge. 12 The Texas Constitution divides the state into judicial districts. 20 These judicial districts are further defined by the counties encompassed. 21 A district judge's duties, however, are not limited to the district over which he or she presides. For example, Article 1.23 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure provides: 13 All justices of the Supreme Court, judges of the Court of Criminal Appeals, justices of the Courts of Appeals and judges of the District Courts, shall, by virtue of their offices, be conservators of the peace throughout the State. The style of all writs and process shall be The State of Texas.... 22 14 It is well recognized that district judges hold court for each other for various reasons such as illness, vacation, disqualification, or a buildup or backlog in a particular docket. 23 The Texas Government Code provides for the transfer of cases between district judges within the same county: 15 In any county in which there are two or more district courts, the judges of those courts may, in their discretion, either in term time or vacation, on motion of any party or on agreement of the parties, or on their own motion, transfer any civil or criminal case or proceeding on their dockets to the docket of one of those other district courts. The judges of those courts may, in their discretion, exchange benches or districts from time to time. 24 16