Salinas v. State

• Citation: 625 S.W.3d 203
• Decision Date: 13 May 2021
• Docket Number: NUMBER 13-19-00504-CR
• Court: Court of Appeals of Texas
• Parties: Antonio SALINAS, Appellant, v. The STATE of Texas, Appellee.

625 S.W.3d 203

Antonio SALINAS, Appellant,

v.The STATE of Texas, Appellee.

NUMBER 13-19-00504-CR

Court of Appeals of Texas, Corpus Christi-Edinburg.

Delivered and filed May 13, 2021

David Reuthinger Jr., Isidro R. Alaniz, Laredo, Christina Rodriguez, for Appellee.

Uriel Druker, Laredo, for Appellant.

Before Chief Justice Contreras and Justices Longoria and Tijerina

Opinion by Chief Justice Contreras

Appellant Antonio Salinas appeals the denial of his motion to suppress following his convictions for two counts of possession of child pornography, a third-degree felony. See TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 43.26(a). By three issues, Salinas argues the trial court should have suppressed the evidence because (1) its admission violates the Texas exclusionary rule; (2) its admission violates the United States Constitution and the Texas Constitution; and (3) there were false or reckless statements included in a search warrant affidavit. We affirm.

I. BACKGROUND ¹

On August 26, 2017, Salinas was indicted on thirty-five counts of possession of child pornography. See id. He filed a motion to suppress the evidence underlying his offenses, arguing that: (1) the evidence was obtained by a private person in violation of the law; (2) law enforcement performed an illegal warrantless search; and (3) the search warrants were invalid because their supporting affidavits contained materially false information and omitted information in reckless disregard for the truth.

After a hearing, the trial court denied the motion and issued findings of fact and conclusions of law. The trial court's findings of fact provided:

1. On June 12, 2017, Antonio Salinas, dropped off his Ford F150 pickup at Sames Motor Company to perform a diagnostic because the "check engine" light was on, the air conditioner was blowing hot air[,] and part of the glove compartment was detached. In the ordinary course of business, [the] Sames [car dealership] obtained Antonio Salinas's authorization and signature on Sames’ "Service Drive Quick Write Up" form that included the following language: "DISCLAIMER: It is understood that this company assumes no responsibility [sic] for loss or damage to this vehicle or its contents. Permission is granted to operate this vehicle on any street or road for the purpose of testing or inspection [emphasis added]. Authorization for labor and materials is granted and an express mechanic's lien is hereby acknowledged to secure payment." Signs inside the warehouse and elsewhere on the premises stated Sames was not responsible for lost or stolen items.

2. Sames Motor Co. issues an "Employee Handbook" to all employees and obtains signatures attesting they will abide by the policies. Sames has employee policies including a requirement that employees follow all laws and regulations and should have the highest standards of conduct and personal integrity and further advises the employees to turn over valuable or dangerous property to the appropriate manager for safe keeping if the employee observes such property when caring for a customer's vehicle.

3. Alberto Luna, Octavio Limon[,] and Eden Salinas^[2] were service mechanics employed by Sames Motor Co. and each signed acknowledgment of policies.

4. Approximately two hours after dropping his truck off at Sames, [Salinas] returned to recover his laptop. [Salinas] personally retrieved his computer laptop from inside the truck.

5. [Limon] was authorized to use his personal computer at Sames and was provided with the necessary licensed software to conduct any diagnostics. On June 13, 2017, [Limon], while performing diagnostics on the truck from the truck's driver seat, connected his computer to the truck's port. [Eden], a technician whose dock neighbored Limon's, approached the open driver's side door to talk to Limon. [Salinas] noticed some Splenda packets located in the driver's door open compartment. Salinas the[n] noticed a USB^[3] device among the Splenda packets. The [thumb drive] was not connected or interconnected to any computer or device and was not marked with any identifying marks or names. Curious to find out if there was any music on it, [Eden] asked [Limon] to look into the [thumb drive].

6. Upon plugging in the [thumb drive], [Limon] was able to access images in a file entitled "ZZZZ"; the [thumb drive] did not have a password and was not encrypted. Limon, sitting directly in front of his laptop, saw thumbprints^[4] of images depicting what he believed were minor girls in sexual poses with little to no clothing. [Eden], standing by the open driver's door, also observed the images.

7. Shocked, [Eden] informed [Luna] that he and [Limon] had observed child pornography when looking into a [thumb drive] they obtained from a truck Limon was servicing, and asked Luna for help in deciding what action to take, if any. Luna contacted a friend, who recommended they report their discovery to the police right away. [Luna] called 911 and reported the discovery of child pornography because [Limon] and [Eden] were afraid of losing their jobs. Although [Luna] was not involved in servicing [Salinas's] truck and did not personally observe the child pornography, he injected himself into the story when he [falsely] told the 911 operator and the first arriving officer, Officer David Paz [that he saw the images of child pornography while using the [thumb drive] as part of the inspection and work on the vehicle].^[5]

8. Upon Officer Paz’[s] arrival at approximately 10:43 a.m., [Luna] informed Officer Paz that he and [Eden] were working on a truck and while checking to see if the truck's USB port was properly working, they connected a [thumb drive] that was in the vehicle to determine whether it was the USB port or the USB device that was not working[, and] they plugged the USB device into Limon's computer and discovered images of child pornography. Officer Paz was unaware of the employee policy and believed that Luna was being truthful about what was seen on the [thumb drive]. Officer Paz had no cause to believe that the testimony given by Luna, as to the reason for viewing the [thumb drive], was untrue. Officer Paz acted on the information obtained by the Sames’ employees with a good faith belief of its veracity.

9. Alberto Luna identified the truck where the [thumb drive] was found and further handed the [thumb drive] to Officer Paz. Officer Paz held the [thumb drive] and asked Luna to show him what they had found. Luna, Limon[,] and [Eden] led Officer Paz to Limon's computer and connected the [thumb drive] to Limon's computer and showed Officer Paz where the child pornographic images had been discovered by them.

10. Officer Paz observed the images and confirmed that the [thumb drive] had approximately 7 images of young females without any clothing between the ages of 11 and 14 exposing breasts and vaginal area. Officer Paz then removed the [thumb drive], contacted his sergeant and waited for his arrival.

11. When Sergeant Edgar Garza and Special Victim's Sergeant Cordelia Perez arrived, Officer Paz again connected the [thumb drive] to Limon's computer and showed them where the child pornography images were located. Thereafter, Detective Charlie Rosales arrived on the scene, where he spoke to [Limon] and obtained written consent from Limon to take Limon's computer for forensic analysis, along with the [thumb drive] containing child pornography.

12. Based on the foregoing, on June 14, 2017, Laredo Police Department Special Investigations Unit ("SVU") Detectives applied for a search warrant to conduct a forensic analysis on the [thumb drive] and Limon's computer. SVU detectives then obtained two additional search warrants to search Dr. Salinas’^[6] office ... and Dr. Salinas’ home....

13. On June 22, 2017, SVU attempted to execute the search warrant of Dr. Salinas’[s] home.... Dr. Salinas was not at home at that time. Investigator Rosales called Dr. Salinas on his mobile phone and Dr. Salinas agreed to meet with Investigator Rosales at Doctor's Hospital. At the hospital, Investigator Rosales advised Dr. Salinas of the investigation and search warrants. More specifically, Investigator Rosales advised Dr. Salinas that they had found child pornography on his [thumb drive] taken from his vehicle. Investigator Rosales further advised Dr. Salinas that because of what was found on the [thumb drive], he had obtained search warrants for Dr. Salinas’[s] home, office, and electronic mobile devices. Investigator Rosales explained to Dr. Salinas that the device that downloaded the illicit images found on his [thumb drive] and his mobile phone were subject to the search warrants. Dr. Salinas led Investigator Rosales to a private room and unlocked the door so he and Rosales could speak. Dr. Salinas then tendered his Laptop computer and cell phone to SVU detectives. Dr. Salinas agreed to meet Investigator Rosales at LPD headquarters in his own vehicle. Before going to LPD headquarters, no law enforcement officers followed Dr. Salinas to LPD headquarters.

14. At LPD headquarters, after being advised of the warrants and details of the investigation, Dr. Salinas asked Investigator Rosales if he was going to be arrested. Investigator Rosales told Dr. Salinas that if he was compliant and answered all of Investigator Rosales’[s] questions, he would not be arrested and could go home. Investigator Rosales then read Dr. Salinas his Miranda warnings and Dr. Salinas answered Investigator Rosales’ questions in a recorded interview. During the interview, Dr. Salinas was equivocal about the [thumb drive], saying he did not remember it or that he forgot about any [thumb drive] containing child pornography. Dr. Salinas further detailed how he became involved in viewing these images and videos of child pornography, the frequency of his viewing of child pornography[,] and that he possessed additional child pornography on his computers and other USB [devices]. After the interview, Dr. Salinas was allowed to go home but was advised that LPD would be seeking a

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