Legal Question in Criminal Law in Texas

I would like to know if the law allows police to enter a private residence after the owner has denied entry if there is a person inside that a party at another location has claimed in injured and they see someone laying down? Also, if this is the case is it legal for the police to dress an officer in paramedic attire and send them into the residence and that officer tackles the home owner and arrests him? I ask due to an arrest and an upcoming trial where the home owner is being charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon when the only evidence is the fact that he was in the home with the injured person and the fact that he would only allow paramedics in the home, not the police until they provided a search warrant. Also, is evidence seized after the residence was released from being a crime scene to family valid? The evidence was touched by family members of the home owner and was in pieces when found. When the police came to collect it they picked it up without gloves and reassembled the item before placing it in an evidence bag. Also, if an interrogation is recorded and during the interrogation the suspect requests counsel multiple times during the interrogation is it valid? This occurred in Johnson County, TX. Please help! Thank you.


Asked on 7/18/11, 11:24 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Cynthia Henley Cynthia Henley, Lawyer

First, this person has a lawyer. These questions are more appropriately directed to that lawyer who has all the facts and information and not just whatever you think is important enough to share. Any answers you get here are very limited by the lack of information available to the person answering.

If the police have information from a person they believe to be credible that someone is injured and needs assistance, they can enter a home without the homeowners' permission and even against the demand of the homeowner.

I'm not going to answer the part about a cop dressing like a paramedic and tacking the homeowner because I am positive there is more to that scenario that is being shared.

I highly doubt that the only evidence is that the person is in the home with the injured person. Is the injured person unable to talk? Does the injured person say that the homeowner didn't do it? What about the 3rd party who sent the cops to the house in the first place?

Not enough information about the evidence found in pieces and touched by others. . . If it is suspected to be the crime weapon and has homeowner's prints then it does not matter if it also has other prints. And, based on the way you ask the question, it sounds like it is a matter that would go to the weight, not the admissibility of the evidence.

If a person is in custody and not free to leave, he must be read his Miranda rights and the interview must be recorded. If the person is NOT in custody, then it is a different story. If in custody and being interrogated, police must stop the interview when the person invokes his right to counsel. Failure to do so will result in the suppression of the statements made after the invocation of counsel. HOWEVER, if the person restarts the conversation with police - the police do not initiate it - the the statements may be admissible.

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Answered on 7/20/11, 7:16 pm


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