Category Archives: Search and Seizures

Do You Have Any Privacy From the Police in Texas? Laredo vs. Dallas

If you watched the CBS crime show “Hawaii Five-O” last week, you saw the elite police squad use a device that allowed them to see through the walls of a building and view not only the location of the kidnapping victim but also the location and movements of her captors. The gizmo read the heat…


Forfeiture Funds are Back as Equitable Sharing Program Gears Up in Dallas County and State of Texas

Back in March, the Department of Justice issued a news release that had to have been met with lots of joy in law enforcement offices all over the State of Texas: the “Equitable Sharing Program” was back, effective immediately! Both the March 28, 2016 Letter Sent by the Department of Justice to State, Local, and…


Privacy of Your Smart Phone: Police Search and Seizure and Apple’s Fight Against the FBI

There is a huge privacy fight going on this month up in Washington regarding privacy and your smart phone, as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) wants access to all the data that is setting encrypted on the iPhone taken by the local police in the aftermath of the San Bernardino shootings. Some may argue…


Police Coming Into Texas Homes Without A Search Warrant

Search and Seizure: Police Entering Dorm Rooms, Apartments, Homes Our story begins a few weeks ago down near Austin, where Tori Thayer and Carly Christine were roommates sharing a home in Pflugerville (maybe you recognize Pflugerville as the place where lots of episodes of the TV show “Friday Night Lights” were filmed). It was three o’clock…


Waco Justice? 100 Days After Twin Peaks Biker Arrests, Things Look Fishy to Criminal Defense 

Today, the Dallas Morning News published an editorial calling for the end of the gag order down in Waco which prevents law enforcement and state authorities — much less anyone else — from revealing information about the May 17, 2015 shootout involving lots of bikers and motorcycle club members at the Twin Peaks restaurant in…


The Police and Your Phone: Invasion of Privacy by Police

Sure, people who are being investigated by law enforcement for committing crimes, as they are defined by state or federal law, need to know about their privacy rights — constitutionally protected privacy rights — and where the line is drawn between them and the police during that investigation. When is a search warrant required before…


Donley County 2nd Degree Money Laundering Reduced to Misdemeanor and Money Returned

Mr. Lowe’s client was stopped by DPS Trooper Danny Nunez and later prosecuted by District Attorney Luke Inman of the 100th Judicial District of Texas (Carson County, Donley County, Hall County, Collingsworth County and Childress County).  Trooper Nunez is one of the most prolific Drug Interdiction Police Officers in the State of Texas.  Trooper Nunez…


Open Carry of Handguns in Texas: Get Ready

You may assume that it’s not allowed anywhere in the United States for an ordinary citizen to carry their gun openly in public display, but you’re wrong if you do. It’s not. In fact, it’s strange but true that until this month Texas (that’s right, Texas!) was one of only a few states (the others…


Update on Law of Asset Forfeitures: Federal and Texas – Are You Any Safer?

As the general public becomes more and more aware, and more and more shocked, over police forfeiture actions – where private property is taken by law enforcement regardless of whether or not the owner has been involved in a crime, much less convicted, there’s been talk about changing forfeiture laws at both the federal and…


When The Police Stop You: the Law and Your Need for a Zealous Defense Lawyer

The death of Freddie Gray while in the custody of the Baltimore Police Department continues to be big news here in Dallas and the rest of the country: this week, the six police officers who were arrested in connection with what the medical examiner ruled a homicide of Freddie Gray are quickly beginning their defense….