Texas No Knock Warrants!

What is the law in TX regarding warrants, no-knocks, time delay between knock/announcement adn kicking in the door, etc?

Thanks,
C-

SFAIK, about the same as most anywhere. But I'd imagine the time-delay thing is policy, not law.

As far as warrants, it's not the same as yesteryear in Georgia. Used to be, the sheriff would send a deputy around to the back door. When the sheriff knocked, the deputy would holler out, "Come ih-yun!"

:D, Art

Neither law nor policy. I thought the time delay thing had been established by the courts -- but I don't recall if it was SCOTUS or a lower Federal court, or state courts. I have a fuzzy recollection that it was SCOTUS, however, and a fuzzy recollection that they decided that 20 seconds was a "reasonable" length of time to wait after knocking before bashing down the door.

I find that troublesome. If I'm in the shower, I won't hear the doorbell nor will I hear someone pounding on the door. If I'm sound asleep upstaris, even if I wake up at the first knock (a BIG "if"), there's no way I can come fully awake, get myself upright and oriented, and make it downstairs to open the door within 20 seconds. Or 30 seconds. Or 60 seconds.

One nightmare scenario I imagine is police busting into my house and me thinking it's BG's and shooting one of them...and then being shot and killed myself of course. There is no reason that police would be busting into my house but I occasionally read a news story about how they got the wrong one.

brad cook

The property laws in TX favor the homeowner so strongly in alot of areas, so i wondered about this one. I know a few folks I can ask and I will post if i get an answer.

It would be nice to know that the situation will never happen. Or at least to live with the certainty that if my door flies in its the bad guys and I'll know what to do.

C-

One nightmare scenario I imagine is police busting into my house and me thinking it's BG's and shooting one of them...and then being shot and killed myself of course. There is no reason that police would be busting into my house but I occasionally read a news story about how they got the wrong one.

This is precisely why I think the 20-second delay and the no-knock warrant are such a bad idea. If there could be a 100% iron-clad guarantee that the police have the correct address, and that the informant didn't lie about the probable cause, then maybe -- MAYBE -- I could go along. But given the reality that there may NOT really be probable cause, and that the police may indeed come smashing down the wrong door, I see it as fraught with difficulty.

Not even dead.

I am looking specifically for texas law and not why its so bad, etc etc.
C-

I probably oughta just go back and delete the non-Texas-info posts...

The question is about laws and/or policies in Texas. Sticking with the subject of the thread will keep it open. Otherwise...

Insofar as what's written in the law, some--if not all--of "Vernon's Annotated Civil Statutes of Texas" (VACS) is online.

Google search? "Warrants+Texas" or some such?

Art

Texas really is unlike any other state in the Union, and has different laws, often differing from the laws of all other States, anywhere in the World. Don't forget, Texas was a sovereign nation, for a while.

I had occasion to look up a Texas statute when I was visiting there, back in '92. I went to the shelf in the Austin Public Library that had the Texas Statutes on it, and was amazed to find that the Texans weren't exactly thinking like everybody else when they wrote their laws. In some cases, I think they did better than other folks, in others, I think they need psychiatric help, but, at least they're still trying to preserve the tradition of "Different Laws for Different States." and I honor them for it.

Wouldn't it be great if Air Marshalls could deal with hijackers via the click of a mouse?

:D, Art

I am looking specifically for texas law and not why its so bad, etc etc.
Sorry -- I misunderstood the intent of the question.

As I noted above, however, I believe the 20-second delay )or 30, whatever the time is) is a number developed by the courts to provide specificity and uniformity to law(s) which say something loke the police must wait a "reasonable" time after knocking before forcing entry. Not certain but I think this came from SCOTUS. If so, while not specific to Texas, it would apply to Texas unless Texas has a law that provides for a specific period of delay rather than using language such as "reasonable."

Try this:
http://www.iand.uscourts.gov/iand/decisions.nsf/0/f73a8598552997df86256a32005cf16a?OpenDocument

http://www.iand.uscourts.gov/iand/decisions.nsf/0/db0a5f8b7fa4ff5386256b09006c5f47?OpenDocument

http://www.metnews.com/articles/raba110603.htm

http://www.policetalk.com/search_warrant.html

It shows that there is Federal court precedent involved- However, none are specific to Texas. Sorry.