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Elsa Alcala
Elsa Alcala was a judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. She was appointed to her seat on March 22, 2011, by Governor Rick Perry. Her term expired on December 31, 2018. She did not seek re-election in 2018.[1]
Education
Alcala received an undergraduate degree from Texas A&M University-Kingsville and earned her J.D. from the University of Texas.[1]
Career
Before being appointed to the Court of Criminal Appeals, Alcala was a judge on the Texas First District Court of Appeals. She was appointed in 2002 by Governor Rick Perry.[2] She was elected later that year and re-elected in 2006.[3] She served on the court for over seven years; authoring over 400 opinions and presiding over more than 1,000 cases.[1] In 2008, Alcala wrote 78 signed opinions and 46 per curiam opinions, as well as two dissenting opinions.[3] Prior to that, Alcala was appointed to serve on the district court for Harris County, by Governor George Bush, a position she held for three years. During her tenure on the court, she presided over hundreds of felony criminal matters.
Before becoming a judge, Alcala served as an assistant district attorney in Harris County and eventually rose to the position of chief felony prosecutor. She worked primarily with the special crimes bureau and the narcotics task force.[1]
Awards and associations
- Criminal law certification, Texas Board of Legal Specialization
- Member, College of the State Bar of Texas
- Member, Criminal Pattern Jury Charge Committee, State Bar of Texas[1]
Elections
2018
- See also: Texas Supreme Court elections, 2018
Elsa Alcala did not file to run for re-election.
2012
Alcala was unopposed in the Republican primary on May 29, 2012. She defeated William Bryan Strange in the general election on November 6, 2012, receiving 78.1 percent of the vote.[4][5]
- See also: Texas judicial elections, 2012
Political ideology
In October 2012, political science professors Adam Bonica and Michael Woodruff of Stanford University attempted to determine the partisan ideology of state supreme court justices. They created a scoring system in which a score above 0 indicated a more conservative-leaning ideology, while scores below 0 were more liberal.
Alcala received a campaign finance score of 0.67, indicating a conservative ideological leaning. This was less conservative than the average score of 0.91 that justices received in Texas.
The study was based on data from campaign contributions by the judges themselves, the partisan leaning of those who contributed to the judges' campaigns, or, in the absence of elections, the ideology of the appointing body (governor or legislature). This study was not a definitive label of a justice, but an academic summary of various relevant factors.[6]
Noteworthy cases
Prediction of future crime as basis to obtain search warrant in Texas
In 2010, officers with the anti-narcotics unit in Parker County had been conducting a month-long investigation of a home. They received a tip from a confidential informant that Michael Fred Wehrenberg, and others, were
| “ | . . .planning to use the 'shake and bake' method of manufacturing methamphetamine. . . to prevent detection of the illicit laboratory by law enforcement personnel.[7][8] | ” |
Several hours after receiving the information from the informant, officers went into Wehrenberg's home and detained him, as well as several others on the property, in handcuffs. Before obtaining a warrant and without asking Wehrenberg's permission, officers searched the property.
While officers did observe meth-making materials, no meth was being manufactured. After the search, officers requested a search warrant from a judge. The warrant did not indicate a search had already been conducted. They stated their warrant was based upon the information they'd received from their confidential informant. Upon receiving the warrant, officers again entered Wehrenberg's property, and collected the materials they'd located prior to obtaining the warrant.[9]
Attorneys for Weherenberg attempted to argue officers had illegally searched the property to locate the meth-making materials, so the evidence should not be allowed to be used against him in trial. The trial court permitted the evidence to be used at trial but agreed officers initially entered the property without a warrant and without any legal reason to do so. Weherenberg entered a plea of guilty and was sentenced to five years in prison. However, the Texas Second District Court of Appeals overturned the lower court's ruling and found the independent source doctrine did not apply in Texas. The court noted, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals
| “ | . . .ha[d] 'not squarely addressed whether or not the independent source doctrine applies in Texas'. . .[7][8] | ” |
The State of Texas appealed the case to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. In a majority opinion written by Alcala, the court found the federal independent source doctrine, which permits evidence that is first confirmed by an independent source to be used at trial, does apply in Texas. Since Parker County investigators were first told about Wehrenberg's plans to make meth by a confidential informant, the evidence police located during their initial search of the property, before they had gotten a search warrant, was admissible at trial.
In a dissenting opinion, Judge Lawrence Meyers disagreed and indicated that although the majority on the court had attempted to show the officers based their request for a search warrant on the information provided by the confidential informant, the basis for the warrant had actually come from their initial, illegal search of the property.
| “ | . . .[A]s has been shown, the informant's information was only a prediction of a future crime, rather than information about one that had been committed or was in the process of being committed. This prediction cannot be the basis for a valid search warrant. . .[10][8] | ” |
See also
External links
Footnotes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 Texas Courts Online, "Texas Court of Criminal Appeals: Judge Elsa Alcala," accessed August 15, 2014
- ↑ Texas Secretary of State, "Judges' terms"
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Houston Opinions, "Judge Alcala 2009 Opinions," accessed August 15, 2014
- ↑ Texas Secretary of State, "2012 General Election Summary" Select "2012 General Election"
- ↑ Texas Republican Party, "Candidates for Judge, Court of Criminal Appeals"
- ↑ Stanford University, "State Supreme Court Ideology and 'New Style' Judicial Campaigns," October 31, 2012
- ↑ 7.0 7.1 www.justia.com, "Original Opinion: Nos. PD01702-12, PD1703-12, Michael Fred Wehrenberg v. The State of Texas," December 11, 2013
- ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.
- ↑ The Blaze, "'Search warrants may now be based on predictions of the commission of future crimes,'" December 18, 2013
- ↑ www.justia.com, "Dissenting Opinion: Nos. PD01702-12, PD1703-12, Michael Fred Wehrenberg v. The State of Texas," December 11, 2013
Federal courts:
Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals • U.S. District Court: Eastern District of Texas, Western District of Texas, Northern District of Texas, Southern District of Texas • U.S. Bankruptcy Court: Eastern District of Texas, Western District of Texas, Northern District of Texas, Southern District of Texas
State courts:
Texas Supreme Court • Texas Court of Appeals • Texas Court of Criminal Appeals • Texas District Courts • Texas County Courts • Texas County Courts at Law • Texas Statutory Probate Courts • Texas Justice of the Peace Courts
State resources:
Courts in Texas • Texas judicial elections • Judicial selection in Texas
