Rodriguez v. Jones

• Decision Date: 06 February 1973
• Docket Number: No. 72-2135.,72-2135.
• Parties: Tomas RODRIGUEZ et al., Petitioners-Appellants, v. Clarence JONES et al., Respondents-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit

473 F.2d 599 (1973)

Tomas RODRIGUEZ et al., Petitioners-Appellants, v. Clarence JONES et al., Respondents-Appellees.

No. 72-2135.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

February 6, 1973.

G. William Baab, Ed J. Polk, Douglas R. Larson, Frank P. Hernandez, Dallas, Tex., Warren Burnett, Odessa, Tex., for petitioners-appellants.

Henry Wade, Dist. Atty., Gerald Weatherly, Asst. Dist. Atty., Dallas, Tex., Michael N. Buckley, Grand Prairie, Tex., for Jones, Valentine, Barker.

N. Alex Bickley, City Atty., Thomas B. Thorpe, Joseph G. Werner, Asst. City Attys., Jim E. Cowles, Dallas, Tex., for Dyson and Dixon.

Before GOLDBERG, AINSWORTH and INGRAHAM, Circuit Judges.

AINSWORTH, Circuit Judge:

On February 15, 1971, three Dallas County deputy sheriffs were shot and killed in West Dallas, Texas. The suspected killers, Guzman and Lopez, were subsequently apprehended. In the meanwhile, Tomas Rodriguez and his wife were wounded by Texas law officials by gunfire on February 18, 1971, when they forcibly entered the Rodriguez residence in the mistaken belief that Guzman and Lopez, the murder suspects, were on the premises.

As a result of their injuries Tomas and Austraberta Rodriguez and their eight children filed this civil rights complaint for damages under 42 U.S.C. § 1983¹ against named members of the Dallas Police Department and the Dallas County Sheriff's Office.² Trial was held without a jury, and the District Judge entered judgment in favor of defendants. Plaintiffs have appealed, presenting the following issues for review:

1. Whether the Trial Court erred in holding that appellees' forcible entry into the Rodriguez apartment was not an unreasonable entry in violation of appellants' constitutional rights.

2. Whether the Trial Court erred in holding that appellees were excused from the requirements of Vernon's Ann.Texas Code Crim.Proc. Art. 15.25 of announcing their purpose and authority prior to their forcible entry into appellants' residence.

3. Whether the Trial Court erred in holding that appellants were not entitled to damages from appellees as the result of an alleged unreasonable search of appellants' residence which occurred subsequent to the entry herein.

We have examined each of appellants' contentions to determine if the District Court erred, either in its findings or application of the law. We find no error and therefore affirm.

Shortly after the murder on February 15, 1971 of the three deputy sheriffs, arrest warrants were issued for the suspected killers, Guzman and Lopez. Lopez' name was unknown at the time and the warrant authorizing his arrest was in the name of "John Doe." Through the combined efforts of the Dallas Police Department and the office of the Dallas County Sheriff, an intensive search was instituted for the two suspects. Three days subsequent to the murders, Gerald Voyles, a federal narcotics agent, and Guy Rose, a Dallas police officer, received a tip from an informer who said that he had seen Guzman and Lopez that evening in a garage apartment at 4627 San Jacinto Street, in Dallas. He told the officers that if they went to that address they would find the suspects, and agreed to point out the house. Both Rose and Voyles had previously acted on information received from the informant and considered him to be reliable. Some time between 9:30 and 10 p. m. that night Rose, with Voyles in the front seat of the automobile, and the informant in the rear seat, drove to the San Jacinto Street address area. Rose drove slowly past the apartment building, back and forth, three times. Each time the informant pointed out a small garage apartment where he said he had seen Guzman and Lopez that evening. The apartment was located to the rear of a main apartment building. A light was on over the door of the rear apartment, and he said, "It's that apartment where the door is, where the light is on." He further remarked, "They are there. If you hit that place right there, you will get them" and warned, "They have guns, and they are going to kill any policeman that comes after them."

Voyles and Rose returned to the police station at about 10 p. m. The information which they had received from the informant was conveyed to Captain Dixon of the Dallas Police Department and to Clarence Jones, Sheriff of Dallas County. Under the direction of Captain Dixon an elaborate plan was formulated for the arrest of Guzman and Lopez at the garage apartment, including blocking off of the area, the formation of several teams composed of men from the Dallas Police Department and the Sheriff's Office, who were delegated certain responsibilities for their participation in the plan, and a graphic blackboard description of the location of the apartment and planned interaction of the teams. The plan was put into action and the teams proceeded to their designated posts. At approximately 12:30 p.m. on February 19, 1971, Police Captain Dixon, Police Officer Rose and Deputy Sheriffs Barker and Valentine approached the garage apartment. There is no material dispute among the several parties relative to events and incidents up to this point. In regard to what actually occurred thereafter, however, the testimony of the Rodriguez family and that of the officers is contradictory in some respects. There is no question that the officers had in their possession arrest, but not search, warrants and that gunfire was exchanged between Tomas Rodriguez and Deputy Sheriffs Tom Barker and James Valentine. It is also undisputed that Mr. and Mrs. Rodriguez were wounded during the exchange of gunfire, that a search of the premises was subsequently made, and that the officers did not announce their authority before entering the apartment — that they held arrest warrants, or their purpose — that they were there to arrest the fugitives, prior to entering the Rodriguez premises. What is disputed is the question of who opened fire, whether or not the police identified themselves as police officers before entering, and whether or not appellees conducted the search.

The Rodriguez family lives in a three-room apartment. The two front rooms are used as sleeping rooms; the third is a kitchen. Tomas Rodriguez, with the aid of a Spanish-speaking interpreter, testified that he was awakened by noise which he could not understand. The children were crying and shouting when he got up from the middle room where he had been sleeping and entered the front room. There he saw Rudy, one of his sons, holding his hands up. He saw what appeared to be fire in the room and described the man at the front door as resembling "bundles." Sitting on the floor was his wife. His arm felt heavy, as if he had been hit, whereupon he picked up a gun from beneath a cushion on a chair in the front room. He returned to the kitchen and fired a shot, at which point he was hit by another shot. He then returned to the front room and may have fired another shot. His son told him, "It's the police, Daddy. He says for you to put your hands up and get rid of and throw the gun down." He said the boy told him to turn around and kneel down, which he did. Someone put handcuffs on him, and about thirty minutes later he was taken to a hospital. He admitted that he understands the English words "open," "door," "police," "stop," "pistol," and "hold it," but that the only sounds he had heard prior to entering the front room were shouts and screams.

Mrs. Rodriguez also testified through an interpreter. She said that she went to sleep at about 10 p. m. She, her husband and the two youngest children were occupying the middle room. She heard a loud noise at the front door, got up to check on the other children and, upon entering the front room, was shot in the lower part of her right leg. Up until this time there were no lights on. The shootings did not last long. She and her husband were taken in the same ambulance to Parkland Hospital. Mrs. Rodriguez is familiar with a few English words. She understands the phrase "open the door" and the word "police." She said that she did not hear the word "police." After she was shot she saw an unidentified man search the house.

Police Captain Dixon of the Dallas Police Department testified that it was the responsibility of the Police Department to assist the Sheriff in his investigation. He was the first to arrive at the Rodriguez apartment. He knocked on the wall several times and called out, "Police — Police Officers — open the door" several times. He then moved to a stairway at the left of the house leading to an upstairs apartment. He heard no noise from within the house. He knocked and called again from the corner of the building. He then heard others knocking and calling out, "Police, Police, open up." An officer was also shouting in Spanish. He then heard the front door being opened and the words, "Hold it. Hold it. Police officers. Freeze. Hold it." This was followed by two pistol shots and the return fire of two shotguns. From inside the apartment he heard running or shuffling and yelling. Several additional shots came from the right of the apartment. After the shooting subsided, Dixon entered the apartment. A subsequent investigation revealed that no person from the Dallas Police Department had discharged any firearms that night at the Rodriguez residence.

Deputy Sheriffs Tom Barker and James Valentine arrived shortly after Captain Dixon. They were both members of a team designated to enter the residence and effect the arrest of the fugitives. Barker testified that on his arrival he heard Captain Dixon knocking on the wall to the left of the house and calling, "Police, come to the door." Barker observed a light go on, then off, inside the apartment. He unlatched the screen door and knocked on the wooden door. Shortly thereafter he heard sounds resembling walking or shuffling and low-spoken Spanish. He kicked the door in. When asked if he had been refused entry, he said, "Well, I had the impression I was being ignored. There was plenty...