Court Opinion

ID: 9685029
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 14:21:23.525399+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:07:19.410153
License: Public Domain

TEAGUE, Judge,
dissenting.
I am unable to agree with .the majority that appellant relies solely upon the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution in support of his assertion that the arrest warrant affidavit is deficient. From the record of appeal and appellant’s brief before this Court, he has expressly stated that he relies upon, among other things, Art. 1, Section 9, Texas Constitution, and Art. 18.01, V.A.C.C.P. Thus, I believe it is incorrect to state that “he makes no claim under the constitution or statutes of this State.”
Appellant argues that the arrest warrant affidavit in this cause does not satisfy the underlying prongs that were stated in Aguilar v. Texas, 378 U.S. 108, 84 S.Ct. 1509, 12 L.Ed.2d 723 (1964). Also see Spinelli v. U.S., 393 U.S. 410, 89 S.Ct. 584, 21 L.Ed.2d 637 (1969). For a discussion of the “prongs” of Aguilar, see Winkles v. State, 634 S.W.2d 289 (Tex.Cr.App.1982) (On original submission).
At the time of appellant’s trial, and thereafter when the El Paso Court of Appeals handed down its decision in this cause, and when this cause was argued before this Court, Aguilar and Spinelli, supra, were alive and breathing. However, since Illinois v. Gates,-U.S.-, 103 S.Ct. 2317, 76 L.Ed.2d 527 (1983), the holdings of Aguilar and Spinelli are no longer viable, and the decisions have been rendered lifeless by the Supreme Court — as a matter of Federal Constitutional law. Thus, because of this change in the law by the Supreme Court, the cause should be remanded to the Court of Appeals for it to reconsider the issue, in light of Gates and Texas law as it existed prior to Aguilar v. Texas, supra, and for that Court to also decide whether Texas law mandates that this Court should adopt, as a matter of Texas Constitutional law, the principles stated by the Supreme Court in Aguilar and Spinelli, supra. The parties, of course, should be granted permission to file supplemental briefs.
I further point out, as Circuit Judge Rives did in his dissenting opinion in Hoover v. Beto, 467 F.2d 516, 544 (5th Cir.1972), certiorari denied, 409 U.S. 1086, 93 S.Ct. 703, 34 L.Ed.2d 673 (1972), that “Aguilar announced no ‘new’ doctrine. That fact is demonstrated beyond cavil both by the opinion in Aguilar itself and by the opinion of the Supreme Court in Riggan v. Virginia, 1966, 384 U.S. 152, 86 S.Ct. 1378,16 L.Ed.2d 431.”
Furthermore, when Aguilar v. State, 172 Tex.Cr.R. 629, 362 S.W.2d 111 (1962), also see Aguilar v. State, 170 Tex.Cr.R. 189, 339 S.W.2d 898 (1960), was decided on original submission, this Court, in rejecting the defendant’s contention that the search warrant affidavit in that cause was deficient, neither discussed nor referred to the Texas Constitution, Texas statutes, nor the Federal Constitution. Instead, it cited two of this Court’s decisions as authority for its holding, each of which also do not cite or discuss either the Texas or Federal Constitutions. It was not until rehearing that the Texas and Federal Constitutions were injected into the opinion of Aguilar v. State, op. cit. The defendant’s contention that the search warrant affidavit was deficient was again rejected. In reaching its holding, that the affidavit was valid, this Court first did so on State grounds. However, in support of the motion for rehearing, the defendant relied upon Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643, 81 S.Ct. 1684, 6 L.Ed.2d 1081 (1961). This Court held that his reliance was misplaced, because Mapp was not in point to the ease. Nevertheless, the Court expressly rejected the defendant’s claim that the affidavit was deficient under Federal Constitutional law. In reaching that result, the Court pointed out that it was unable to see a meaningful distinction between how this Court had previously interpreted the applicable provision of the Texas Constitution and how the Supreme Court had previously *798interpreted the Fourth Amendment >to the United States Constitution. In arriving at its result, the Court, unquestionably, was persuaded by what its research had revealed: “We are aware of no decision of the Supreme Court of the United States holding that such an affidavit is insufficient.”
Of course, the Supreme Court of the United States soon put a decision on the books, which held that the search warrant affidavit in Aguilar v. State, supra, was deficient as a matter of Federal Constitutional law. See Aguilar v. Texas, supra.
Because the Supreme Court established in Aguilar v. Texas, supra, a minimum Federal constitutional standard, regarding a search warrant affidavit, this Court has obediently, as it is required to do under the Federal Constitution, see Art. VI, Federal Constitution, followed Aguilar v. Texas, supra. See Aguilar v. State, 382 S.W.2d 480 (Tex.Cr.App.1964).
My research reveals that up to and including Aguilar v. State, supra, this Court, when it came to making the determination whether a search warrant affidavit was valid, has always been consistent. It has first looked to the Constitution and laws of this State to make that determination. If this Court determined that the affidavit was valid under the State Constitution and State laws, and the issue that the affidavit was invalid as a matter of Federal Constitutional law was presented to it, then, and only then, would it look to Federal law to resolve the issue. For a discussion on this point, see, for example, Chapin v. State, 107 Tex.Cr.R. 477, 296 S.W. 1095, 1096 (1927).
It is without question that neither this Court nor its members are infallible, and occasionally the Court errs in its decisions. However, that is one of the beauties of the system under which we live: If this Court renders a decision unacceptable to the citizens of this State, the citizens are free to either amend the Constitution or have the Legislature change the law upon which the decision rests. And if this Court errs in construing the Federal Constitution, as it did in Aguilar v. State, supra, and the defendant complains to the Supreme Court, then the Supreme Court is free to overrule that decision and apply a more liberal interpretation. Unquestionably, the Supreme Court, by its decision of Aguilar v. Texas, supra, made it more demanding before law enforcement officials could obtain a search warrant.
The pendulum, however, has now swung in the other direction. By its decision of Illinois v. Gates, the Supreme Court now believes that the obtaining of a search warrant should not be so technical, or demanding. In the future, through a change in personnel, the Supreme Court may or may not revert back to its former interpretations of the Fourth Amendment. As history has taught us, the pendulum never remains in one particular position. And that is one of the beauties of having an independent Federal judiciary; the Supreme Court is free to interpret the Federal Constitution however it sees fit. However, it is only when the Supreme Court more liberally interprets a provision of the Federal Constitution than state courts have, that state courts must adhere to the decisions of the Supreme Court. State courts are thus free to give the provisions of its respective state constitutions a more liberal meaning than the Supreme Court might, had it been deciding the issue.
Whether this Court should interpret Art. I, Section 9, of the Texas Constitution in such fashion that it will have the same meaning that the Supreme Court has given to the Fourth Amendment to the Federal Constitution is at the present time an open question. Perhaps this Court should so decide. On the other hand, it may be that this Court will eventually decide that citizens of Texas desire for this Court to mandate more stringent requirements before a search warrant may issue in order that forcible entry into a fellow citizen’s residence or business may occur. Regardless of what this Court may eventually decide, as a matter of policy, the chaff should first be separated from the grain by the Court of Appeals.
Because the majority does not see fit to remand the cause to the Court of Appeals, I *799dissent. To its decision that the appellant has not invoked the Texas Constitution and Texas law on the subject, I also dissent.