A concurring opinion where there wasn’t probable cause for a search warrant, which is really hard to do these days: Staley v. State, 2025 Tex. App. LEXIS 1523 (Tex. App. – Ft. Worth Mar. 6, 2025)*:
III.
What the Majority Opinion Does Mean
What the majority’s holding means, like the many legal opinions that have come before it in cases where search-warrant affidavits were held to be inadequate, is that law enforcement cannot search and seize the personal belongings of citizens without probable cause. It means that all citizens can rest assured that their personal belongings will not be taken and inspected by law enforcement unless the highest legal protections are followed.
We commend law enforcement for the work that they do in trying to bring justice to victims and their families. We are also very sympathetic to the pressures that men and women in law enforcement face every day. It is not lost on us in the judiciary that those in law enforcement often deal with seemingly impossible tasks. In the face of an insurmountable workload, there is the constant pressure to afford crime victims quick justice-all while dealing with a public that is seemingly, and often unfairly, more and more hostile to their efforts. But the law is the law, and we are duty bound to follow it.
It is safe to presume that few citizens, if any, desire to live in a world where those in power can take the personal belongings of the citizenry and search them without the highest possible protections being in place. Who wants to live in a society where a police officer can tender a conclusory search-warrant affidavit to a magistrate; secure a warrant from said magistrate; and then seize and search our homes, cars, computers, phones, and even our personal diaries?
I know that those in law enforcement similarly appreciate the Constitutional rights that we have in our country and those that protect us from unlawful governmental intrusion. Accordingly, it is my hope that the majority opinion will encourage those in law enforcement and magistrates alike to be more thorough-as the law requires-in the application and issuance of search warrants.
IV.
Why Probable Cause Matters
It matters for defendants and victims that those in law enforcement apply for and obtain search warrants in compliance with the law. It matters for the sake of justice, and it matters because-whether they realize it or not-crime victims depend on it. Two rights cannot make a wrong, nor can two wrongs make a right. If evidence is not seized and searched in accordance with the appropriate process, it can lead to unjust results for all parties.
That is why it is paramount for those in law enforcement to do whatever is necessary to ensure that there are sufficient and particularized facts in their respective search-warrant affidavits that actually and specifically connect alleged suspects to the potential crimes in which they are being investigated. See Baldwin, 664 S.W.3d at 133.
