M&A Law Firm's Criminal Law Questions/Information

What to Do If You Are Arrested?
Arrest in Texas:
Arrested Without a Warrant:
Probable Cause Requirements in Texas:
Temporary Detention Based on a Reasonable Suspicion in Texas:
Warrantless Arrests by Peace Officers in Texas:
Who Can Make an Arrest Under Texas Law as a Peace Officer?
Can a Private Citizens Make a Warrentless Arrest in Texas?
Acts Constituting a Breach of Peace in Texas:
Acts Not Constituting Breach of Peace in Texas:
Places Found To Be Suspicious in Texas:
Places Found Not To Be Suspicious in Texas:
Assaults and Threats of Future Violence in Texas:
Rights of Police Officers Making Warrantless Arrests in Texas:
Fresh (“Hot”) Pursuit in Texas:
What Is an Arrest Warrant
Searches of Persons During Stop of Automobile:
Right to Have Attorney Present
Penalties That Could Come From a Drug Charge in Texas:
ALR Hearings in Texas:
Deferred Adjudication and DWIs in Texas:

What to Do If You Are Arrested?
During the initial stage of your case, you must remember three things that are crucial and paramount to a successful defense of your case:

1) Hire a criminal defense attorney that regularly practices in the county that you are charged, and make sure your attorney is ready to fight for you. Not all criminal defense attorneys are ready to fight for you, make time to go see the attorney. Make time to go his or her office. Ask the attorney how many cases he or she has handled which are similar to your case. Ask questions.
2) Be honest with your criminal defense attorney. Your criminal defense attorney is bound by law and ethical code to keep anything you tell him/her confidential. Tell your criminal defense attorney everything, no matter how embarrassing. The more your attorney knows, the better he or she can prepare a defense for you.
3) Stay away from any witnesses, state or federal investigators, or reporters. If anyone approaches you, do not say anything and have them contact your criminal defense attorney. Do not say anything.
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Arrest in Texas:
A person is arrested when he has been actually placed under restraint or taken into custody by an officer or person executing a warrant of arrest, or by an officer or person arresting without a warrant.

• An arrest occurs when a person’s liberty of movement is restricted or restrained. The handcuffing of a suspect does not always mean that he is under arrest. Amores v. State of Texas, 816 Southwestern Reporter 2nd Edition page 417 and Rhodes v. State of Texas, 945 Southwestern Reporter 2nd Edition page 115.
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Arrested Without a Warrant:

• There is no federal constitutional requirement that a warrant be obtained as a pre-requisite to the validity of an arrest in a public place even if there was adequate time to obtain one, so long as probable cause exists. United States v. Watson, 423 United States Reporter page 411.
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Probable Cause Requirements in Texas:

• In the process of analyzing a warrantless arrest, it is the combination of factors that constitute a reasonable conclusion that there is probable cause to make an arrest without a warrant:
 
a. Information that a crime has been committed
b. Knowledge by the arresting officers of the facts of the crime
c. Observations of the arresting officers
d. Arresting officers’ basis for believing that a suspect would take flight if not placed in custody.
  Allridge v. State of Texas, 850 Southwestern Reporter 2nd Edition page 471
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Temporary Detention Based on a Reasonable Suspicion in Texas:

• Circumstances short of probable cause for an arrest may justify a temporary detention for purposes of further investigation. Ebarb v. State of Texas , 598 Southwestern Reporter 2nd Edition page 842.
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Warrantless Arrests by Peace Officers in Texas:

• A peace officer may arrest an offender without a warrant for any offense committed in his presence or in his view. Alvarado v. State of Texas, 894 Southwestern Reporter 2nd Edition page 869.
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Who Can Make an Arrest Under Texas Law as a Peace Officer?

The following are peace officers:

1) sheriffs, their deputies, and those reserve deputies who hold a permanent peace officer license issued under Chapter 1701, Occupations Code;
2) constables, deputy constables, and those reserve deputy constables who hold a permanent peace officer license issued under Chapter 1701, Occupations Code;
3) marshals or police officers of an incorporated city, town, or village, and those reserve municipal police officers who hold a permanent peace officer license issued under Chapter 1701, Occupations Code;
4) rangers and officers commissioned by the Public Safety Commission and the Director of the Department of Public Safety;
5) investigators of the district attorneys’, criminal district attorneys’, and county attorneys’ offices;
6) law enforcement agents of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission;
7) each member of an arson investigating unit commissioned by a city, a county, or the state;
8) officers commissioned under Section 37.081, Education Code, or Subchapter E, Chapter 51, Education Code;
9) officers commissioned by the General Services Commission;
10) law enforcement officers commissioned by the Parks and Wildlife Commission;
11) airport police officers commissioned by a city with a population of more than one million, that operates an airport that serves commercial air carriers;
12) airport security personnel commissioned as peace officers by the governing body of any political subdivision of this state, other than a city described by Subdivision (11), that operates an airport that serves commercial air carriers;
13) municipal park and recreational patrolmen and security officers;
14) security officers commissioned as peace officers by the comptroller;
15) officers commissioned by a water control and improvement district under Section 49.216, Water Code;
16) officers commissioned by a board of trustees under Chapter 54, Transportation Code;
17) investigators commissioned by the Texas State Board of Medical Examiners;
18) officers commissioned by the board of managers of the Dallas County Hospital District, the Tarrant County Hospital District, or the Bexar County Hospital District under Section 281.057, Health and Safety Code;
19) county park rangers commissioned under Subchapter E, Chapter 351, Local Government Code;
20) investigators employed by the Texas Racing Commission;
21) officers commissioned under Chapter 554 Occupations Code;
22) officers commissioned by the governing body of a metropolitan rapid transit authority under Section 451.108, Transportation Code, or by a regional transportation authority under Section.110,Transportation Code;
23) investigators commissioned by the attorney general under Section 402.009, Government Code;
24) security officers and investigators commissioned as peace officers under Chapter 466, Government Code;
25) an officer employed by the Texas Department of Health under Section 431.2471, Health and Safety Code;
26) officers appointed by an appellate court under Subchapter F, Chapter 53, Government Code;
27) officers commissioned by the state fire marshal under Chapter 417, Government Code;
28) an investigator commissioned by the commissioner of insurance under Article 1.10D, Insurance Code; and
29) apprehension specialists commissioned by the Texas Youth Commission as officers under Section 61.0931, Human Resources Code;
30) officers appointed by the executive director of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice under Section 493.019, Government Code;
31) investigators commissioned by the Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education under Section 1701.60, Occupations Code; and
32) commission investigators commissioned by the Texas Commission of Private Security under Section 1702.061(f), Occupations Code;
33) the fire marshal, and any investigators commissioned by an emergency services district to assist that fire marshal, under Subchapter F, Chapter 775, Health and Safety Code.
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Can a Private Citizens Make a Warrentless Arrest in Texas?

• In accordance with Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 14.01, Texas law permits private citizens to make arrests of those observed committing crimes against the public peace. Just as for peace officers, in order for a private citizen to make a valid arrest under this article, he must witness enough of the offense to form probable cause. The right of a private citizen to make an arrest under Article 14.01 is limited to the time the offense is committed or while there is a continuing danger of a re-commission. A private citizen cannot, after witnessing an offense, later pursue and validly arrest an offender. The right of a private citizen to make an arrest under this article also is limited to certain types of offenses; those that are classified as felonies and those that constitute a breach of the peace. A security guard can validly make an arrest under this article as a private citizen. Perkins v. State, 771 Southwestern Reporter 2nd Edition page 195 and Turner v. State, 901 Southwestern Reporter 2nd Edition page 767
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Acts Constituting a Breach of Peace in Texas:

• The following have been found to constitute a breach of the peace:
 
a. Disorderly conduct by yelling and screaming.
b. Carrying a concealed weapon.
c. Drug transactions.
d. Public intoxication.
e. DWI.
f. Dangerous driving.
g. Assaults on peace officers.
h. Burglary.
i. Shoplifting.
j. Throwing a bottle of beer on another person.
k. Excessive acceleration.
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Acts Not Constituting Breach of Peace in Texas:

• The following circumstances have been found to not constitute a breach of the peace:
 
a. The offensive middle finger gesture (where it was found that the gesture did not tend to incite an immediate breach of the peace).
b. Ordinary traffic law violations.
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Places Found To Be Suspicious in Texas:

• Under the facts and circumstances of a particular case, the following have been found to be suspicious places:
 
1) Dwelling places:
 
• A closet where the defendant was hiding. An apartment where a murder occurred.
• Defendant’s house (where there was a dead body in the yard).
• Defendant’s house where there is a stolen vehicle in the yard.
• Defendant’s apartment.
• efendant’s garage.
 
2) Vehicle:
 
• Defendant’s car when found in the vicinity of a shooting.
• The defendant’s car.
 
3) General locations:
 
• Apartment complex parking lot.
• A high crime area.
• Murder crime scene.
• Scene of an automobile accident outside of a bar.
• A hiding place near a shoplifting scene.
• The street.
• A hospital.
• Any scene where the activity is as consistent with lawful activity as with unlawful activity.
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Places Found Not To Be Suspicious in Texas:

• Under the facts and circumstances of a particular case, the following have been found not to be suspicious places:
 
1) An automobile (where the facts and circumstances did not demonstrate that the driver was intoxicated).
2) Defendant’s apartment.
3) Apartment complex parking lot.
4) Yard of another person’s residence.
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Assaults and Threats of Future Violence in Texas:

• A police officer is justified in arresting a suspect without an arrest warrant under Texas law if he observes injuries on a victim, the victim tells the officer she fears the defendant will assault her again, and the defendant is found in close proximity to the victim (here only one block away). Romero v. State of Texas, 709 Southwestern Reporter 2nd Edition page 53.
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Rights of Police Officers Making Warrantless Arrests in Texas:

• In each case enumerated where arrests may be lawfully made without warrant, the officer or person making the arrest is justified in adopting all the measures which he might adopt in cases of arrest under warrant, except that an officer making an arrest without a warrant may not enter a residence to make the arrest unless:
 
1) a person who resides in the residence consents to the entry; or
2) exigent circumstances require that the officer making the arrest enter the residence without the consent of a resident or without a warrant.
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Fresh (“Hot”) Pursuit in Texas:

• The doctrine of “hot pursuit,” provides that if a peace officer initiates pursuit of an offender in his jurisdiction he may then continue the pursuit into another jurisdiction. Preston v. State of Texas, 700 Southwestern Reporter 2nd Edition page 227.
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What Is an Arrest Warrant

• A “warrant of arrest” is a written order from a magistrate, directed to a peace officer or some other person specially named, commanding him to take the body of the person accused of an offense, to be dealt with according to law.
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Searches of Persons During Stop of Automobile:

• When officers make a valid traffic stop, they are entitled to take sufficient measures to guarantee their safety, which includes ordering drivers out of their cars. Pennsylvania v. Mimms, 54 Lawyers 2nd Edition Reporter page 331.
• If the officer stops a person for speeding and issues a citation rather than making a full custodial arrest, then he is not permitted to make a full search of the vehicle. Knowles v. Iowa, 142 Lawyers 2nd Edition Reporter page 492.
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Right to Have Attorney Present

• A suspect undergoing custodial interrogation has the right to the assistance of counsel in his dealings with law enforcement agents. This right includes both the right to consult with a lawyer prior to questioning, as well as the right to have a lawyer present during questioning. Miranda v. Arizona, 16 Lawyers 2nd Edition Reporter page 694.
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Penalties That Could Come From a Drug Charge in Texas:

• Penalties for drug charges vary depending on the degree of the felony. Nevertheless, penalties across the board are severe and can include jail time, fines, seizure of assets, loss of driver's license, and much more.
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ALR Hearings in Texas:

• When a driver fails to submit to a breath or blood test after being arrested for driving under the influence or driving while intoxicated, his/her driver’s license will be suspended unless a hearing is requested within a certain amount of days after notice of suspension (15 days). Texas Department of Public Safety will notify the alleged offender as to the date, time, and location of the hearing.
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Deferred Adjudication and DWIs in Texas:

• Under Texas law, a person who pleads guilty to a DWI charge is not eligible for deferred adjudication. However, if the DWI is reduced to a non-DWI offense such as reckless driving, deferred adjudication becomes an option.
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