Houston Texas Criminal Defense Blog

Police officers in Texas and around the country generally must obtain warrants if they wish to search the residences or automobiles of suspects, and judges only issue these warrants if they are satisfied that there is probable cause to believe evidence of criminal activity will be discovered. However, the Fourth Amendment protections that guarantee the right of individuals to be secure in their persons, homes, papers and effects do not seem to currently apply to digital information.

Only Washington, Utah and California have passed laws requiring law enforcement to obtain search warrants to access confidential digital information. In the vast majority of cases, law enforcement need only present technology companies with a subpoena to gain access to this data. This worries civil rights groups because police do not have to show probable cause to obtain a subpoena. The ride-sharing company Uber was presented with more than 1,400 requests for information by police departments and federal agencies in 2017. A search warrant only accompanied 231 of these requests. The company says that it handed over data on 3,000 of its customers and drivers anyway.

Jurors in Texas criminal cases tend to believe identifications made by eyewitnesses, especially if the witness is very confident about the identification. However, research indicates that there are still several questions about and potential problems with eyewitness accounts. Witnesses are often asked to identify the perpetrator of a crime by picking him or her out of a live lineup or out of a photo array. The outcome of the identification process is often introduced by the prosecution in a subsequent criminal trial.

Many wrongful convictions that included eyewitness identifications have been highlighted by the efforts of the Innocence Project, and researchers have known for some time that eyewitnesses are not as reliable as people tend to think they are. Research has been conducted on several different possible indicators of accuracy, including how quickly the witness picks out the party and the witness's pattern of eye movement when looking at the lineup. Witness confidence, though, has drawn the most attention.

The accumulation of fines and fees that emerge from the criminal justice system can be particularly damaging to people living in poverty in Texas. Across the country, multiple state, county and city governments have developed a growing dependence on the proceeds of court fines and citations in order to fund their activities. As a result, impoverished people are disproportionately affected as they are far less able to pay these fines. While the original citation issue can be relatively minor, an inability to pay can escalate the issue rapidly. People may find themselves facing the loss of their driver's license or even jail time as a result of being unable to pay fines.

The Supreme Court ruled in 1983 that people cannot be thrown in jail because they are too poor to pay fines. Nevertheless, local jails are filled nationwide with people with no criminal convictions, or even charges in some cases, who are unable to repay their bills. In other cases, people are put on probation and in extended contact with the criminal justice system until they finally pay off all of their nearly unrepayable debts.

A 58-year-old man is facing a felony charge for allegedly punching a woman in the face and then kicking her as she lay on the ground. The incident is said to have taken place in Raymondville on June 10. The man, who remains in custody on a $150,000 bond, claims that he was acting in self-defense. He has been charged with domestic assault in the third degree, which is a Class E felony in Texas.

Police became involved when a deputy was dispatched to the Texas County Memorial Hospital after the Texas County Sheriff's Department received a report of an assault. Initial reports do not make clear if it was the alleged victim or doctors who called law enforcement. According to media reports, the woman identified her assailant and told the deputy that he had become enraged because she was speaking with her son on the telephone. Initial reports reveal that the woman had a lump and a small bruise on her face but no stomach or hip injuries.