Legal Question in Criminal Law in Texas

I'm doing a paper on different crime scene and police policy. What if in a sexual assault case there were two crime scenes with two different victims, let's say a car and a room, where sex was had in both places. Both victims were in the car but only one had sex in the car and the other victim was the only one who had sex in the room. Wouldn't an investigating officer have to get search warrants for both crime scenes to be able to charge a suspect with both crimes? If he didn't get a warrant for, lets say the car, Would that look bad on the officer for not only securing a main crime scene but also look bad because it was where BOTH victims were transported? Would it be grounds for dismissal for one of the cases? or both? Would it create a loophole where the defense attorney would be able to say that if anything was found in the room was planted by police because they only secured one crime scene with less evidence than would have been found in the car because both victims were there rather than just one?


Asked on 12/24/09, 7:47 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Keith Engelke Law Office of S. Keith Engelke

It is always best to have a warrant. However there are exceptions to the warrant requirement that would render discovered evidence admissible.

If the arresting officer got a warrant for one crime scene and arrested the subject in the other crime scene discovered evidence from the arrest might be admissible.

If only one warrant were possible, I'd pick the house because the automobile exclusion is much broader than the search incident to arrest exclusion. Especially in a home.

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Answered on 12/29/09, 6:43 pm


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