Court Opinion

ID: 9682765
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 13:16:34.135412+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:17:41.323364
License: Public Domain

OPINION ON APPELLANT’S MOTION FOR REHEARING
DOUGLAS, Judge.
Appellant was convicted for aggravated robbery. Punishment was assessed by the court at seventy-five years.
*392The Court, on original submission, held that the search warrant upon which appellant’s house was searched was defective because the affidavit supporting it failed to present sufficient surrounding circumstances upon which the reviewing magistrate could judge either the reliability and credibility of the unnamed informants or determine that the items in question were where they were alleged to be. The Court concluded, however, that the error was harmless in light of the totality of the record.
Appellant points out that the opinion on original submission recited that none of the items found during the search was admitted into evidence. These items were not formally introduced but they were exhibited before the jury after testimony had been admitted that they were taken as a result of the search. Because of this, we have again examined the affidavit and the search warrant. We now conclude that the affidavit is sufficient to show probable cause for the search.
The affidavit in question states in relevant part:
“MY BELIEF OF THE AFORESAID STATEMENT IS BASED ON THE FOLLOWING FACTS:
“I, Officer D. H. Pfeifer, a police Detective for the city of Grand Prairie, have been investigating the aggravated robbery of the Buddies Supermarket on N. Carrier in Grand Prairie.
“During the investigation officers found a white pick-up truck used in the robbery and positively identified by an eyewitness to the robbery as being used in the robbery.
“A witness who knows John Doescher personally has stated to the affiant that he observed Doescher drive up and park the pick-up used in the robbery where it was found. This witness saw this the night of the robbery and shortly thereafter. Two eyewitnesses of the robbery did positively identify John Doescher’s photograph as being the robber. This identification occurred on this date of 1-9-75. The address to be searched is the address of John Doescher and Doescher has even listed this as his address with his parole officer. Doescher is presently on parole for robbery and has been seen by the affiant entering and leaving 2038 Fort Worth Street on several occasions within the past two weeks. The license plate on the pick-up used in the robbery is registered to a man named Taggert at 2038 Fort Worth Street and the affiant knows Taggert to be a friend of Doescher.
“On 1-9-75 person or persons unknown called the affiant by phone and stated ‘that John Doescher robbed the Buddies store and has the gun and bag used in the robbery at 2038 Fort Worth Avenue at this time.'
“Mrs. John Doescher, after being arrested and warned of her rights by officers, stated that part of the money taken in the robbery is at 2038 Fort Worth Street, Grand Prairie, Texas.”
It is well settled that independent corroboration on the part of the affi-ants or informants may be used to supply deficiencies in either of the Aguilar requirements. Wood v. State, 573 S.W.2d 207 (Tex.Cr.App.1978); Stoddard v. State, 475 S.W.2d 744 (Tex.Cr.App.1972). See Spinelli v. United States, 393 U.S. 410, 89 S.Ct. 584, 21 L.Ed.2d 637 (1969); Frazier v. State, 480 S.W.2d 375 (Tex.Cr.App.1972). To show probable cause the affidavit must set out sufficient circumstances to enable the magistrate to independently determine whether the affiant’s beliefs are valid. Lopez v. State, 535 S.W.2d 643 (Tex.Cr.App.1976); Frazier v. State, supra. Although no magical formula exists for stating probable cause in affidavits, they are to be interpreted in a “commonsense and realistic fashion.” United States v. Ventresca, 380 U.S. 102, 85 S.Ct. 741, 13 L.Ed.2d 684 (1965).
In Lopez v. State, supra, the affidavit in support of the search warrant was based on the hearsay statements of a named informant to the effect that .he had seen the defendant moving bloodstained bumper jacks from a car on the premises and had observed blood on the car’s tires. The informant lived across the street from the defendant and was described as “gainfully *393employed.” The defendant challenged the affidavit because it failed to show that the informant was credible or reliable. After noting that hearsay information in an affidavit is sufficient to satisfy the Aguilar test provided the informant is named and the information supplied suggests that the informant had direct knowledge of it, this Court held that since the informant lived across the street from the premises to be searched, was gainfully employed and gave detailed information, his credibility was sufficiently established to justify the issuance of the warrant.
In Hester v. State, 544 S.W.2d 129 (Tex.Cr.App.1976), the affidavit was based solely on the hearsay statements of the co-defendant’s wife to the effect that she saw furniture stolen in a burglary by her husband and his co-defendant unloaded at the address to be searched. The affidavit named the informant but contained no other statements regarding her credibility. The Court held that the allegations in the affidavit were sufficient probable cause to support the issuance of a search warrant. See Wood v. State, supra.
In the case at bar, the affidavit named the wife of appellant as an informant and stated that she had told officers that money obtained in the robbery was in the house to be searched. Two eyewitnesses to the robbery positively identified appellant as the robber. The address of the premises to be searched, 2038 Fort Worth Street, was given by appellant as his address to his parole officer. Appellant was on parole for robbery and he was observed by the affiant entering and leaving the address on several occasions within two weeks prior to making the affidavit. The truck identified as being used by the robber is registered to a man named “Taggert” at 2038 Fort Worth Street whom the affiant knew to be appellant’s friend.
In United States v. Squella-Avendano, 447 F.2d 575 (5th Cir. 1971), the court noted the development of a three-tiered method of analyzing whether the Aguilar tests have been met and stated in part:
“Secondly, less detailed information from a reliable source may be used as grounds for a finding of probable cause if independent investigation by law enforcement agencies yields sufficient verification or corroboration of the informant’s report to make it ‘apparent that the informant had not been fabricating his report out of whole cloth.’ Spinelli v. United States, supra.

“If sufficient corroborative evidence can be collected to support a clear inference that the informer was generally trustworthy, then Aguilar’s second requirement is met.”
See and cf. Abercrombie v. State, 528 S.W.2d 578 (Tex.Cr.App.1974). See also Whiteley v. Warden of Wyoming Penitentiary, 401 U.S. 560, 91 S.Ct. 1031, 28 L.Ed.2d 306 (1971); Weeks v. Estelle, 509 F.2d 760 (5th Cir. 1975).
Based on these recitations, we conclude that the magistrate was warranted in determining that the named informant was credible and the information given was reliable.
The affiant had talked to an anonymous informant who advised him that appellant had participated in the robbery and that the money bag and gun could be found at 2038 Fort Worth Street. This information, coupled with that set out above, was sufficient to place the gun and money bag at appellant’s residence, 2038 Fort Worth Street. See Wood v. State, supra.
For these reasons, the appellant’s motion for rehearing is denied.
The judgment is affirmed.
ROBERTS and CLINTON, JJ., dissent.