CA5: Search issue reserved in conditional plea is a limitation, and issues not specified are abandoned

Defendant’s conditional plea reserved “the issue of the validity of the search warrant,” and it limits the appeal. Thus, issues of consent and probable cause are outside the issues reserved in the conditional plea and thus abandoned. United States v. Olivas-Hinojos, 2016 U.S. App. LEXIS 2804 (5th Cir. Feb. 18, 2016):

A defendant wishing to preserve a claim for appellate review while still pleading guilty can do so by entering a ‘conditional plea’ under Rule 11(a)(2) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure.” United States v. Bell, 966 F.2d 914, 915 (5th Cir. 1992). A conditional plea under Rule 11(a)(2) “must explicitly designate particular issues intended to be preserved for appeal.” United States v. Wise, 179 F.3d 184, 186-87 (5th Cir. 1999). Conditions “are not to be implied.” Id. at 186. Given that Olivas-Hinojos reserved the right to appeal only “the issue of the validity of the search warrant,” not the denial of his suppression motion in general, the consent and probable cause issues are outside of the scope of the appeal reservation. Even if these issues were within the scope of the reservation, Olivas-Hinojos offers no argument on the merits of these issues and has abandoned them. See United States v. Scroggins, 599 F.3d 433, 446 (5th Cir. 2010).