Category Archives: Search and Seizures
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…
Share ThisRead More
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…
Share ThisRead More
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)….
Share ThisRead More
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…
Share ThisRead More
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…
Share ThisRead More
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…
Share ThisRead More
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…
Share ThisRead More
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…
Share ThisRead More
Will U.S. Supreme Court Protect Citizens Once Again Against Overzealous Law Enforcement in Salinas v Texas? Dallas Prosecutors May No Longer Be Able to Argue Silence Means Guilt
A week ago today, the United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a Texas case called Salinas v. Texas, grading the papers of the highest criminal court in the Lone Star State, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. It’s another major federal case that will impact Texas criminal defense cases and people arrested and…
Share ThisRead More
Warrantless DWI Blood Tests Violate the United States Constitution Rules U.S. Supreme Court in Today’s Opinion, Missouri v. McNeely: Police Need a Warrant Before DWI Blood Test
This morning there’s big news out of Washington D.C. for those defending DWI cases, something that prosecutors and police probably aren’t going to be happy to learn. The United States Supreme Court issued its opinion in Missouri v. McNeely, a DWI case where there was a blood test taken from a man without his consent…
Share ThisRead More