Oscar Gerardo Davila v. State

441 S.W.3d 751, 2014 WL 3605871, 2014 Tex. App. LEXIS 7912
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided July 22, 2014·No. 01-12-01174-CR·Published·Cited by 9 cases

Opinion

OPINION

HARVEY BROWN, Justice.

We originally issued our memorandum opinion in this appeal on May 15, 2014. We withdraw our previous memorandum opinion and judgment, and substitute this opinion and judgment in their place.

Oscar Davila pleaded guilty to possession with intent to deliver more than 400 grams of cocaine, and the trial court assessed punishment at 25 years’ confinement. 1 In two issues, Davila contends that the trial court erred by (1) overruling his motion to suppress evidence collected during a police search of his home and (2) assessing $294 in court costs that were unsupported by the record. We affirm.

Background

One October evening, a joint law-enforcement team, including United States Drug Enforcement Agency Special Agent M. Schmidt, sent a trusted confidential informant to Davila’s house to arrange a deal to buy two kilograms of cocaine. Schmidt testified that he had partnered with the informant on other successful investigations and that he was a reliable source. That evening, the informant wore a concealed recording device, allowing Schmidt to listen to the entire conversation between the informant, Davila, and the others inside Davila’s house. Schmidt monitored the audio feed from the informant’s wire and other law enforcement officers maintained visual surveillance of the outside of Davila’s house. According to Harris County Deputy Sheriff B. Ka-trib, parked cars lined the narrow street in front of Davila’s home, making surveillance difficult.

When' the informant approached the house, Davila and A. Lopez were sitting on the bed of a pickup truck in the driveway. Davila, Lopez, and the informant went inside the house where Davila showed the informant one kilogram of cocaine. The informant then asked to see the other kilogram. Lopez went outside to the truck, retrieved the other kilogram of cocaine, and brought it inside the house to show the informant. Relying on a child who was in the house as an interpreter, Davila and the informant discussed details of the deal.

The informant left the house and contacted Special Agent Schmidt to report what he had seen. The informant said that he last saw the two kilograms of cocaine on the kitchen counter and that Davila appeared “very nervous and in a hurry to do the deal.” Based on the informant’s report, Schmidt signaled for Katrib and a team of other law enforcement officers to conduct a protective sweep of Davi-la’s house without a warrant. The team members approached the house, identified themselves, and entered the house without consent. The team cleared the house of all of its inhabitants, including Davila, Lopez, Davila’s wife, and several children. The law enforcement officers handcuffed Davila and Lopez and brought everyone else into the front yard. Lopez tried to run back into the house, but the team stopped him and brought him back outside.

Once everyone was in the front yard, a member of the law enforcement team used *755 a specially-trained dog to conduct a dog-sniff test of the truck parked in the driveway. The dog alerted officers that there was an odor of some narcotic on the car.

Using a laptop computer, Harris County Deputy Sheriff A. Ortiz relied only on information from the informant and the results of the sniff test of the truck to complete an affidavit in support of a warrant. Ortiz e-mailed the affidavit to another officer who submitted the request for a warrant. The affidavit stated:

On 10/06/2011, I spoke with investigator B. Katrib of the Harris County Sheriffs Office Narcotics Unit, who advised me of the following facts:
Katrib told me that on 10/06/2011, he met with a confidential source, referred to as CS for the purposes of this investigation and affidavit. For safety purposes the name of this CS will be kept confidential. Katrib told me that he spoke with DEA Special Agent M. Schmidt, of the Houston Field Office, who told Katrib that this CS has provided information in the past on several occasions, which proved to be true and correct, and led to the seizure of narcotics and the arrest of individuals and charging them with felony offenses. Katrib told me that on 10/06/2011, at approximately 2100 hours, he along with several DEA Special Agents, met with this CS, who told them that he was going to the residence ... in order to discuss a cocaine deal. Katrib told me that he along with other DEA Special Agents, maintained surveillance on the target residence. Katrib told me that the CS went to the aforementioned location and met with two Hispanic males at the driveway.
Katrib told me that the CS walked into said residence and walked out shortly after, and departed the residence. Ka-trib told me that the CS told S/A Schmidt that the CS and two Hispanic males entered the kitchen of said residence and that the CS told S/A Schmidt that one Hispanic male walked out to the driveway and retrieved what he believed to be one kilogram of cocaine from behind the driver seat of the tan Chevy pick up truck ... and walked inside the kitchen.
Katrib told me that the CS told S/A Schmidt that the same Hispanic male walked back out to the same aforementioned vehicle and retrieved what the CS believed to be an additional kilogram of cocaine. Katrib told me that the CS told S/A Schmidt that, based on past experience, he is familiar with the physical appearance of several controlled substances, including cocaine, and marihuana.
Katrib told me that, he along with other Special Agents maintained surveillance on the target residence, and did not see any additional people or vehicles arrive or depart this location. Katrib told me that on 10/06/2011, at approximately 2140 hours, he spoke with Deputy Curtis of the Harris County Sheriffs Office K-9 Division. Katrib told me that Deputy Curtis told him that he deployed his K-9 partner “ANDOR” on the tan Chevy pick up truck identified by Texas license plate number [] and that “ANDOR” alerted for the odor of narcotics. Katrib told me that Deputy Curtis told him that “ANDOR” has been and remains certified by the National Narcotics Detector Dog Association NNDDA, in the detection of the odors of cocaine, marihuana, MDMA, methamphetamine, and heroin
[[Image here]]

Once the warrant was granted, Katrib and other members of the team searched the house and backyard. They found two kilograms of cocaine buried under construction debris in the backyard. Katrib *756 also identified a white substance on Davi-la’s face and used a field test to determine that the powder was cocaine.

Davila was arrested and charged with possession with intent to deliver more than 400 grams of cocaine. Before trial, Davila moved to suppress the evidence collected pursuant to the search warrant, arguing that the warrant was based on information gathered during an illegal raid of his house. At a pre-trial hearing on the motion, four people testified: Special Agent Schmidt, Deputy Katrib, Davila’s wife, and his daughter. The trial court denied the motion. Davila pleaded guilty with an agreed recommendation on the punishment. Pursuant to the agreement, the trial court assessed punishment at 25 years’ confinement.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Oscar Gerardo Davila v. State, 441 S.W.3d 751, 2014 WL 3605871, 2014 Tex. App. LEXIS 7912 (Tex. Ct. App. 2014).

441 S.W.3d 751 (Oscar Gerardo Davila v. State) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Jacob Joseph Romo v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2020
Mark Dwight Mason v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2019
Matthew D. Howard v. State
570 S.W.3d 305 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2018)
Lipscomb v. State
526 S.W.3d 646 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2017)
Demetrus Tremaine Horton v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2015
Derrick Brooks v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2015
Peraza, Osmin
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2015
Feanyichi Ezekwesi Uvukansi v. State
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2015