TX13: Legibility of issuing magistrate’s signature on SW is subject to GFE

The legibility of the signature of the issuing magistrate for a search warrant is an issue subject to the good faith exception. This court first held the illegibility was reason to suppress, but the Court of Criminal Appeals reversed. State v. Arellano, 571 S.W.3d 422 (Tex. App.—Corpus Christi—Edinburg 2019), rev’d, 600 S.W.3d 53 (Tex. Crim. App. 2020). On remand, the good faith exception applies. State v. Arellano, 2020 Tex. App. LEXIS 8717 (Tex. App.—Corpus Christi—Edinburg Nov. 5, 2020). (After all, some signatures are completely illegible, so why should that matter if it’s typed below? Also, illegibility can be completely subjective.)

“‘[T]he Fourth Amendment requires only that the police reasonably believe the search to be consensual.’ DaCruz-Mendes, 970 F.3d at 909 (quoting United States v. Garcia, 197 F.3d 1223, 1227 (8th Cir. 1999)). [¶] The undersigned magistrate judge finds that, considering the totality of the circumstances, a reasonable officer in Trooper Foster’s position would believe Defendant voluntarily consented to the search of the Hyundai.” United States v. Morales, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 209932 (D. Neb. Oct. 26, 2020).*

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