Motions to Suppress

A Motion to Suppress is where a criminal defendant challenges the legality of a search, seizure, arrest and/or attainment of evidence they allege to have been obtained by law enforcement illegally. If the defendant wins their motion, the evidence is excluded at trial. Depending on the facts of any specific case, the suppression of evidence may mean the State's evidence at trial will be insufficient to sustain a conviction -- or it may only eliminate the jury considering damaging evidence during the trial.

Texas Code of Criminal Procedure 38.23 says in relevant part, "No evidence obtained by an officer or other person in violation of any provisions of the Constitution or laws of the State of Texas, or of the Constitution or laws of the United States of America, shall be admitted in evidence against the accused on the trial of any criminal case."

This provision stems from the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and it's prohibition against unreasonable search and seizures. Search and seizure law and determining what is or is not a valid or legal arrest, search and/or seizure is a highly complex and highly complicated area of the law.

In Texas, there is actually a legal presumption that if a search is warrant-less, that the search is invalid. The prosecution can over-come this burden with clear and convincing evidence that the search was valid during a hearing before the Judge.

Motions to suppress are common ways of defending criminal cases. Again, if evidence is attained illegally and it is excluded, the prosecution may lose it's only evidence as to certain elements of the case. Where this is the case, they lose as a matter of law. This isn't always the case, though, where the prosecution has other ways of proving a crime independent of the illegally attained evidence.

Jeremy F. Rosenthal, Esq.

(972) 562-7549

*Jeremy F. Rosenthal is an attorney licensed in the State of Texas. Nothing in this article is intended to be legal advice. For specific legal advice about your own situation you should contact an attorney.

www.thecollincountylawyer.com