Category Archives: Search and Seizures
U.S. Supreme Court Will Make Big Decisions on Your Privacy Rights from Police this Year: the Boundaries of Law Enforcement Intrusion
Yesterday’s State of the Union address is still the talk of many today, with many discussing the extent of the executive branch’s power and exactly what “checks and balances” means. However, for many criminal defense practitioners there’s more to be considered in 2014 than what the President or Congress may be doing up in Washington,…
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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…
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New Texas Court Case May Allow Police to Search Your Home Without a Search Warrant or Your Okay
On television, the police cannot come into your home without (1) a warrant or (2) your approval and consent — unless they’ve got a really, really good reason (like they can see someone on the living room floor unconscious by looking through the no-curtained window). Perhaps you learned in class while in high school or…
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Texas Marijuana Laws: Strict Drug Laws Now as Marijuana is Absolutely Illegal in Texas, But Will This Change and Can You Still Be Arrested for Pot in Texas?
Make no mistake about it: marijuana is 100% illegal in the State of Texas. It doesn’t matter if you are a marijuana farmer with a huge crop for harvest, or a marijuana distributor with lots and lots of product, or a recreational user with a tiny bit of pot in your possession: having any amount…
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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)….
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Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Do Not Trust Prosecutor’s Crime Lab Forensic Evidence, When Will Public Become Aware that Crime Lab Results Aren’t Like TV Forensics?
Forensic evidence seems so darn scientific and reliable when you watch TV. Unfortunately, things are NOT the same in the real world as they are on television shows and we’ve been monitoring how bad Texas Crime Labs can be in processing evidence to be used in criminal trials for a long while now. (See, for…
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Texas DWI Arrests: Drunk Driving Crackdown by Police and Prosecutors Just Keeps Getting Bigger as Paramedics Do Roadside BAC Tests and Feds Push for Lower .05 BAC Limit
Make no mistake, Texas law enforcement – from troopers on the road to district attorneys heading up offices filled with prosecutors in counties all around the state – are focused upon arresting and charging people for DWI. And things are getting tougher out there for anyone on the road with even a single glass of…
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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…
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Police and Your Phone: The Justice Department Pushes Supreme Court To Okay Police Searching Your Phone Without a Search Warrant. Will Your Smartphone Be Private Anymore?
We’ve posted about police in Texas circumventing search warrants to get cell phone tower information by getting special court orders from Texas judges and how many are concerned that this is a constitutional violation of our rights to privacy. (The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, which presides over Texas in federal appellate matters, has ruled…
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Federal Child Pornography Charges Often Involve Federal Surveillance of Online Communications, Personal Email Records, Stored Computer Files
Child pornography (possession or promotion) is a serious felony under both federal statute (18 USC Section 2256(B)(8)) and Texas law (Texas Penal Code Section 43.26) and law enforcement in the Dallas area continues to target their investigations into this type of crime. In these cases, government access to computer information without the person’s knowledge and…
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