What's that smell? If you answered “Marijuana”, you’re probably a police officer. The majority of Texas possession of marijuana charges stem from a search justified by an officer’s nose, and if you believe their police reports, the state of Texas is populated with officers who are one part bloodhound and one part Dick Tracy.
The vast majority of our clients are angry at the circumstances of their arrest, and an overwhelming number of these arrests came as the result of a routine traffic stop that they characterize as illegal, warrantless, unreasonable, or the result of racial or cultural profiling. The stop was bad, many argue, so the fact that I was in possession of a gun, marijuana, paraphernalia, and conflict diamonds should never have been discovered. We agree, when the stop is bad, and are more than happy to listen to these opinions and evaluate the cases honestly and expertly.
In recent years the Texas Department of Transportation have posted over 3,400 somewhat confusing "Left Lane for Passing Only" signs on the state's roads. For those of us (all of us) who have lied under the unwritten rule that the left lane is the "fast lane", it seems counterintuitive to limit one lane to such a limited purpose. What's more, our clients who have encountered these signs all think the same thing: The rule is nonsensical and any ticket associated with the rule should be dismissed. If only that were the truth.
