Police in Texas may now obtain a search warrant based on “a prediction of a future crime,” according to a dissenting judge on the state’s criminal appeals court.
The ruling by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals came last week, ending a controversial case in which police searched a house before obtaining a warrant but were still able to present the confiscated evidence during a trial.
The incident began during the summer of 2010, when police in Parker County, Texas, staked out Michael Fred Wehrenberg’s home for a month. According to the Dallas Observer, authorities allegedly received a tip from a confidential informant stating Wehrenberg and his associates were “fixing” to cook meth in the home. Without obtaining a search warrant, they walked into the home and arrested the people inside.
It was only after arrests were made that police sought out the warrant necessary to confiscate the meth-making material in the home, including boxes of pseudoephedrine, stripped lithium batteries, and other items. On the warrant application, however, police declined to mention that they had actually been in the house prior to obtaining authorization for the search, mentioning only the informant who tipped them off.
During Wehrenberg’s trial, his attorney argued the confiscated material was inadmissible due to the fact that police seized it illegally. The judge overruled this request, saying federal “independent source doctrine” allows such evidence when a third party — the unnamed informant — tells police about it beforehand.
As a result, Wehrenberg pleaded guilty to one count of possession and another count of intent to manufacture. He was sentenced to five years in prison.