When is giving a cop consent to search not consent? When the consent is obtained as a result of an illegal detention. I recently spoke with someone who was arrested for Possession of Marijuana on the Comal River in New Braunfels.
The person was floating down the Comal in an inner tube with a group of several people. There was a cooler attatched to the tube in which this person was riding. A cop on the riverbank ordered the tuber to come over to where the cop was standing. The cop did not say why he had stopped the tuber. The cop simply asked if he could search the cooler.
What does the U.S. Supreme Court's Second Amendment decision in District of Columbia v. Heller mean for Texas weapons offenses? Absolutely nothing.
We often represent people in Public Intoxication cases. Clients often ask what it means to be "publicly intoxicated." That's hard to define, but here's a clear example: According to the Palm Beach Post, a Florida man lost his arm early Sunday, after trying to swim across an alligator-infested canal. Kasey Edwards, 18, was drinking with friends at about 2 a.m., when he decided to swim across Nubbin Slough, a canal that empties into Lake Okeechobee and that is notorious for being chocked-full of gators. Some of his friends tried to persuade him not to take the plunge, but he dove in anyway. After Edwards splashed into the canal, an 11-foot alligator rose up and clamped Edwards in its jaws.