Todd Michael Glover v. the State of Texas

CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 30, 2024
Docket01-22-00366-CR
StatusPublished

This text of Todd Michael Glover v. the State of Texas (Todd Michael Glover v. the State of Texas) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Todd Michael Glover v. the State of Texas, (Tex. Ct. App. 2024).

Opinion

Opinion issued May 30, 2024

In The

Court of Appeals For The

First District of Texas ———————————— NO. 01-22-00366-CR ——————————— TODD MICHAEL GLOVER, Appellant V. THE STATE OF TEXAS, Appellee

On Appeal from the 56th District Court Galveston County, Texas Trial Court Case No. 19-CR-2254

OPINION

A jury convicted appellant Todd Michael Glover of the first-degree felony

offense of engaging in organized criminal activity and assessed his punishment at

fifteen years’ confinement plus a $10,000 fine.1 In four issues on appeal, Glover

1 See TEX. PENAL CODE § 71.02(a)(5), (b)(3). argues that: (1) the trial court erred by denying his motion to suppress evidence

obtained from an illegal search of his cell phone; (2) the trial court erred by admitting

extraneous offense evidence during the punishment phase; (3) the jury charge

erroneously instructed the jury on the law of parole; and (4) the evidence was legally

insufficient to sustain the jury’s verdict.

Concerning Glover’s first issue challenging the denial of the motion to

suppress, Glover argues that the warrant affidavit supporting the cell phone search

was conclusory. The State urges us to affirm, but it acknowledges that the affidavit

is “very weak” and that it would be “easy enough for this Court to point out all of

the deficiencies in the warrant affidavit and be done with it.” We agree with Glover

that the affidavit is conclusory and fails to satisfy the Fourth Amendment’s

constitutional requirements. The State does not dispute that the error was harmful,

so a new trial is required. Our resolution of Glover’s first issue is dispositive of this

appeal.2 Accordingly, we reverse and remand for a new trial.

2 Our resolution of Glover’s first issue is dispositive because the remaining issues would not provide Glover additional relief. Concerning Glover’s fourth issue challenging the legal sufficiency of the evidence, Glover requests that this Court reverse his conviction, reform the judgment to show a conviction for the lesser- included offense of prescription fraud, and remand the case for a new trial on punishment. However, our resolution of Glover’s first issue results in a remand for a new trial, which provides greater relief than Glover requests in his legal sufficiency challenge. Accordingly, we need not address Glover’s second through fourth issues. See TEX. R. APP. P. 47.1. 2 Background

In 2019, a grand jury indicted Glover for the first-degree felony offense of

engaging in organized criminal activity. See TEX. PENAL CODE § 71.02(a)(5), (b)(3).

The indictment alleged that Glover intentionally or knowingly delivered a

prescription for a controlled substance for a purpose other than a valid medical

purpose, and Glover acted with two other individuals—Victoria Lyn Scales and

Justin Cyr—pursuant to a common scheme or continuing course of conduct. The

controlled substance was dextroamphetamine, the generic version of the drug known

as Adderall. The indictment also alleged that Glover possessed or obtained Adderall

by misrepresentation, fraud, or deception.

Before trial, Glover moved to suppress evidence collected from his cell phone.

He alleged that a single-paragraph affidavit filed in support of the search warrant

failed to establish probable cause to search his cell phone. According to the search

warrant affidavit, which was executed by Louisiana law enforcement, Glover was

investigated for the separate alleged offense of rape based on a text message sent to

a female stating, “don’t tell anybody what happened this past weekend.” Louisiana

police sought a warrant to search Glover’s phone “to try and confirm/deny this text

message, as well as[] obtain any other evidence that may be helpful to this

investigation.” A search of Glover’s cell phone pursuant to the warrant revealed text

messages that the State entered into evidence in this case to prove its allegations that

3 Glover engaged in organized criminal activity by delivering a prescription for a

controlled substance for a purpose other than a valid medical purpose. The trial court

denied the motion to suppress.

Multiple witnesses testified at trial, and the trial court admitted several

exhibits into evidence, including the text messages. After the close of evidence, the

jury found Glover guilty of the offense of engaging in organized criminal activity.

The jury assessed Glover’s punishment at fifteen years’ imprisonment and a fine of

$10,000. See id. § 12.32. This appeal followed.

Motion to Suppress Evidence

In his first issue, Glover contends that the trial court erred by denying his

motion to suppress evidence obtained from a search of his cell phone. Glover argues

that the affidavit in support of the search warrant failed to state probable cause for

the search. This issue is dispositive of this appeal.

A. Standard of Review and Governing Law

The Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution protects people

from unreasonable searches and seizures by requiring police officers to first obtain

a warrant based on probable cause before conducting a search or seizure. U.S.

CONST. amend. IV; see also TEX. CONST. art. I, § 9 (requiring warrant describing

probable cause to search any place or seize any person or thing). Probable cause

exists when, looking at the “totality of the circumstances” stated in a sworn affidavit

4 supporting an application for a search warrant, there is a “fair probability” that

evidence of a crime will be found at a particular location. State v. Baldwin, 664

S.W.3d 122, 130 (Tex. Crim. App. 2022); see also State v. Elrod, 538 S.W.3d 551,

556 (Tex. Crim. App. 2017). Probable cause is a “flexible, non-demanding

standard.” Baldwin, 664 S.W.3d at 130. Evidence obtained without probable cause

in violation of the United States or Texas Constitutions is inadmissible as evidence

against the accused at trial. TEX. CODE CRIM. PROC. art. 38.23(a); see Utah v. Strieff,

579 U.S. 232, 237 (2016) (stating that exclusionary rule encompasses both primary

evidence obtained as direct result of illegal search and evidence later discovered and

found to be derivative of illegal search, or “fruit of the poisonous tree”) (citation

omitted).

To protect the reasonable expectation of privacy that individuals have in the

contents of their cell phones, police officers generally must obtain a warrant before

searching the contents of a person’s cell phone. See Riley v. California, 573 U.S.

373, 386 (2014); State v. Granville, 423 S.W.3d 399, 417 (Tex. Crim. App. 2014).

Probable cause requires “a sufficient nexus between criminal activity, the things to

be seized, and the place to be searched.” Bonds v. State, 403 S.W.3d 867, 873 (Tex.

Crim. App. 2013); see State v. Duarte, 389 S.W.3d 349, 354 (Tex. Crim. App. 2012)

(“The core of the Fourth Amendment’s warrant clause and its Texas equivalent is

that a magistrate may not issue a search warrant without first finding ‘probable

5 cause’ that a particular item will be found in a particular location.”).

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