Category Archives: Arrest and Indictment
Navarette v. California: Supreme Court Okays Anonymous Tip for Traffic Stop — We’ve All Lost Something Today
Back in January, we warned about what happened today: the United States Supreme Court has okayed police pulling people over to search their vehicles based upon an anonymous tip in the case of Navarette v. California. In February, we were still reeling from the SCOTUS decision in Fernandez, where they found it legally permissible and…
Texas Police Interrogations: Constitutional Protections Exist, Do You Know Your Rights Should Police Question You?
Police interrogations happen all the time here in Dallas, and over in Fort Worth as well as the rest of Texas and around the country. Texas law enforcement officers (troopers, police officers, deputies) arrest people then interrogate them and take people into interrogation rooms for questioning as part of crime investigation routinely. These actions are…
Dallas Cowboy Josh Brent DWI Intoxication Manslaughter Trial Provides Lessons in Police Drunk Driving Blood Testing and Privacy Rights
This week, lots of people are following a trial here in Dallas as the intoxication manslaughter criminal trial of recently retired Dallas Cowboy Josh Brent got underway this week. For those of you who don’t know what’s going on here, pro football player Josh Brent and his best friend Jerry Brown, Jr., were in a…
Six AM No Knock Warrant Gets Burleson County Deputy Killed as Homeowner Arrested for Capital Murder: Is There an 1983 Suit Here?
Around an hour before sunrise one Thursday this month, in rural Burleson County near the town of Somerville, a man named Henry Goedrich Magee was awakened to the sound of someone breaking into his mobile home and as his lawyer explained later, thinking that he was the victim of a home invasion, Magee grabbed his…
Dog Sniffing Searches and the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution: Have Your Privacy Rights Against Unreasonable Search and Seizure Gone to the Dogs in Texas?
Dogs are great, and no one is going to challenge that dogs have the ability to hear and to smell things that human beings cannot. Dogs, after all, have the ability to hear sounds at a much larger frequency range than humans — from 67 Hz to 45 kHz (humans max out at 23 kHz)….
Prosecutorial Misconduct Rules Issued by Texas Supreme Court: Where is Michael Morton’s Prosecutor, Ken Anderson, Now?
Prosecutors do bad things all the time here in Texas; if you doubt this, just read a few of the stories we’ve posted about regarding abusive and illegal actions by District Attorneys here in the Lone Star State. These state prosecutors do all sorts of illegal acts, from hiding evidence and introducing false evidence in…
Mortgage Fraud “Straw Buyer” Cases Are Major Target of Federal Fraud Investigations
Back in July 2013, we pointed out how mortgage fraud indictments have become a big part of federal arrests, investigations, plea deals, and trials and that media coverage will be reporting on a lot more federal mortgage fraud cases after Teresa Giudice and her husband, Giuseppe “Joe” Giudice, who appear in the reality show “The…
Texas Stop and Frisk: The New York City Stop and Frisk Law Just Held Unconstitutional – Texas Law Is Not Involved Here
There’s a lot of chatter this month about “stop and frisk laws” and the recent ruling by U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin who presides over a federal trial court up in the heart of New York City. In a lengthy (195 pages) decision (read it here), the Manhattan federal judge ruled that it violates the…
Structuring Arrest in Dallas Results in Plea Deal: What is Structuring and Why is 10,000 The Magic Number?
Many people in today’s economy don’t need to worry about whether or not their bank deposit is $10,000 or more because they’re never depositing that much cash into their bank account at any one time. On the other hand, many Texas businesses routinely have these big five-digit deposits, and they have bookkeepers or accountants that…
Salinas v Texas: Your Silence During Police Interrogation Does Not Get 5th Amendment Protection, Can Be Used Against You as Evidence of Guilt to the Jury
Well, prosecutors and police officers are happy today, because the United States Supreme Court just came down their way in the case of Salinas v. Texas (more about that pending case here). It’s not too far off to imagine that interrogation training is already being revised in Dallas and across the State of Texas…
