CRIMINAL DEFENSE LIBRARY
Articles examining Fourth Amendment issues, search warrants, warrantless searches, traffic stops, consent, probable cause, curtilage, suppression of evidence, and related Texas criminal-defense issues.
The home receives strong Fourth Amendment protection, but recognized exceptions can sometimes permit police entry without a warrant. The defense should determine precisely why officers entered, what they knew beforehand, and whether their actions remained within the legal authority they claimed.
READ ARTICLEPolice may generally approach a home to attempt to speak with an occupant, but that limited ability is not necessarily permission to investigate the entire property. The route officers take, where they go after knocking, what they observe, and where they were standing can become important Fourth Amendment questions.
READ ARTICLEA search warrant does not end the defense investigation. The affidavit, timeline, officer observations, probable cause, nexus, and events occurring before the warrant may all require examination.
READ ARTICLEPolice conduct before a search warrant is obtained may matter—including officer location, observations, consent, exigent circumstances, and the pre-warrant timeline. A later warrant does not necessarily resolve earlier constitutional issues.
READ ARTICLEA search warrant obtained later does not automatically validate police conduct before the warrant existed. The defense must reconstruct the timeline, determine when the warrant was actually issued, and examine what officers did and observed before that critical moment.
READ ARTICLEFourth Amendment protection may extend beyond the walls of a home. Where an officer stands, how the officer reached that location, and what could be observed from that vantage point can become important issues in search-and-seizure litigation.
READ ARTICLEPolice may approach a home to speak with its occupants in appropriate circumstances, but that does not necessarily create unlimited authority to explore the property. Where officers went, what they did, and what they observed can become important Fourth Amendment questions.
READ ARTICLEPolice may sometimes claim an emergency justified acting without a search warrant. The defense should examine what officers knew, when the alleged emergency arose, why immediate action was considered necessary, and whether the police response remained within the scope of that claimed exigency.
READ ARTICLEWhen police rely on an emergency to justify warrantless action, the defense should examine what happened before that emergency arose—including officer location, investigative conduct, timing, probable cause, and the precise event that allegedly required immediate action.
READ ARTICLEA signed warrant does not eliminate the need to examine its foundation. The defense should determine what facts were actually presented to the issuing magistrate, where those facts came from, when they arose, and whether they established probable cause for the particular search requested.
READ ARTICLEProbable cause that an offense occurred does not necessarily answer why evidence should be found in a particular home, vehicle, cellphone, account, or other location. Search-warrant analysis should examine the factual connection between the suspected evidence and the specific place police seek authority to search.
READ ARTICLEWhen evidence conflicts with an important factual statement in a search-warrant affidavit, the defense may need to examine whether the discrepancy affects probable cause and whether the requirements for a Franks challenge can be established.
READ ARTICLETexas has its own statutory exclusionary rule. When evidence may have resulted from unconstitutional or unlawful police conduct, the defense should identify the violation, trace how the evidence was obtained, and determine whether Article 38.23 affects its admissibility.
READ ARTICLEA parent's ownership of a home does not necessarily answer whether police may search every private area or belonging of an adult child who lives there. Authority, access, control, officer knowledge, and the scope of the consent can all matter.
READ ARTICLEEvidence discovered after unlawful police conduct may raise additional suppression questions, but later evidence is not automatically excluded. The defense should trace how each piece of evidence was obtained and examine its relationship to the original police conduct.
READ ARTICLEA guilty or no-contest plea does not necessarily answer whether a suppression ruling can still be appealed. The type of plea, preservation of the issue, the appellate record, and the trial court's certification of the right of appeal can all matter.
READ ARTICLEPolice may rely upon confidential informants when seeking search warrants, but the defense should examine what the informant actually knew, how the information was obtained, what police independently corroborated, and what the warrant affidavit told the magistrate.
READ ARTICLEA warrant obtained after police have already entered a location does not erase the earlier timeline. The defense should determine what officers did before the warrant, what information they obtained, what went into the affidavit, and whether the later search rested upon an independent lawful basis.
READ ARTICLEAn officer seeing an object does not necessarily end the Fourth Amendment inquiry. The defense should examine where the officer was standing, why the officer was lawfully there, what was actually visible, and whether police had lawful authority to access and seize the evidence.
READ ARTICLEA protective sweep is intended to address safety concerns involving people, not provide a general opportunity to search a residence for evidence. The defense should examine why officers entered, what danger they perceived, where they looked, and what they discovered.
READ ARTICLEA lawful arrest can permit certain warrantless searches, but it does not give police unlimited authority to search every room, vehicle, container, or digital device associated with the arrested person. The location, timing, scope, and asserted legal basis of the search matter.
READ ARTICLEPolice may inventory a vehicle lawfully taken into custody in appropriate circumstances, but an inventory is not simply an unrestricted evidence search. The reason for impoundment, department procedures, scope of the inventory, documentation, and actual sequence of events can matter.
READ ARTICLEPolice may search a vehicle without a warrant when applicable law permits a probable-cause vehicle search, but the defense should examine what created probable cause, when it arose, what officers were looking for, and whether the search remained within its lawful scope.
READ ARTICLEConsent can permit police to search without a warrant, but the defense should examine who gave permission, whether it was voluntary, what the person actually authorized, whether the person had authority to consent, and whether officers stayed within the scope of that permission.
READ ARTICLEPolice taking possession of a cellphone and searching its digital contents are different constitutional events. The defense should examine how the device was seized, what warrant or consent authorized access, what information police were permitted to search, and what investigators actually examined.
READ ARTICLECellphone records can be used to make arguments about where a device was located, but different types of location data have different meanings and limitations. The defense should examine how the information was obtained, what the raw data actually shows, its precision, and who was using the phone.
READ ARTICLEDigital evidence may come directly from email, social-media, cloud, and other account providers. The defense should examine what legal process police used, what records were requested and produced, the relevant time period, account ownership or control, and the context of the evidence ultimately used.
READ ARTICLEA drug-detection dog's alert can become the basis for a warrantless search, but the complete encounter matters. The detention, timing, canine deployment, handler conduct, training and reliability, alleged alert, and resulting search may all require examination.
READ ARTICLEThere is no universal number of minutes that determines whether a traffic stop is lawful. The defense should examine what officers were doing, when the traffic mission should have been completed, whether the investigation was extended, and what facts justified any additional detention.
READ ARTICLEA claimed marijuana odor can become an important part of probable cause, but the complete circumstances matter. The officer's location, timing, contemporaneous statements, resulting police actions, evidence recovered, and laboratory testing may all require examination.
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