Texas House freshman Matt Rinaldi has filed a bold and inevitably controversial bill, HB 1168, which creates a defense to charges of resisting arrest, search, and detention if the underlying search or detention was "unlawful."
So resisting arrest would become permissible when a cop unlawfully searched or detained a suspect. See the very simple, straightforward bill language. A far narrower version, but similar in concept, backed by the NRA, passed in Indiana in 2012.
There are Democrats who want to hold cops accountable by authorizing (worthless, redundant) civilian review boards to second guess statutorily hamstrung departmental disciplinary processes. But leave it to a libertarian Republican to suggest that victims of illegal searches and seizures by police should be granted the right of front-line self defense!
Basically, this is a Stand Your Ground law aimed at the cops. And say what you will about the suggestion, it would probably be a greater deterrent to false arrests and Fourth Amdendment violations than Texas judges appear capable of acting post hoc.
Given Rinaldi's lowly freshman status and the fact that he backed the ill-fated Coup-That-Wasn't against the Speaker on opening day, it's hard to imagine legislation this big overcoming the storm of law enforcement opposition that surely awaits it if the Legislature were ever to appear to take it seriously. But his suggestion gets to the core of the debate over police accountability more directly and viscerally than proposals for bodycams or civilian review boards.
If only because the debate should be immensely entertaining, Grits hopes Rinaldi's bill at least gets a hearing, perhaps considered in the context of a range of other approaches to police accountability. If nothing else, this bill sends a message that Texans are serious about putting an end to unaccountable police misconduct.
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12 comments:
Most cops I've known are right wing conservative Republicans so they should support this bill!
Try to resist and you may be able to hold you ground for a brief few moments until the cop calls his SAWT Team buddies as reinforcements. This will result in bodily injury and likely death as the police do as per hubris & policy do not back down to a show of force.
nice. Of course it's old news. USSC has ruled at least 3 or 4 times over the history of our country that you not only have a right but a duty to resist an illegal action by the gov't even if you have to hurt them or worse.
Texas statute can't override a constitutional right (state or federal.)
This is a prescription to get a lot of people hurt. When the legality of a particular stop or search is something that gets litigated and argued about at the highest levels of our courts, that is not something that we should "litigate" on the street. To do so is to invite bodily injury or death. That is not to say just roll over an let the State do its worst to you. But fight in court, don't waive your rights, insist on challenging the stop in a hearing. That's where the fight should be. Not in the middle of the street in the middle of the night.
It would certainly be chilling to illegal searches and seizures if the Trial Courts and Appellate Courts would zealously apply the exclusionary rule for 4th Amendment and CCP 38.23 violations and if there could be a satisfactory way to financially penalize the offenders for cheating. Not either/or. Both.
One faction of the republicans is trying to create laws protecting citizens against tyranny while the other faction is trying to hire thousands more cops to man dozens perhaps hundreds of new checkpoints.
Too few police and you have anarchy, too many police and you have tyranny.
http://www.yourhoustonnews.com/courier/news/checkpoints-more-troopers-in-sweeping-texas-border-bill/article_45b05c1c-6258-56ab-b8e1-1951026fe020.html
Despite appearing to be a goofy go nowhere bill,
I am proud of the rookie (Rinaldi) for taking a stand on behalf of the the public at large.
The bill would get more attention if it were to include language showing the true numbers of false arrests and wrongful convictions. Misdemeanor & Felony.
this and go after our ridiculous PI law..
Kudos to the freshman legislator for taking such a firm stand. It would seem such outcomes could also be strengthened if cops were personally bonded and not having the right to, -is it sovereign immunity?- leave the employing governmental entity on the hook for reckless actions by LEOs. If cops had to face the prospect of personally being held both civilly and criminally liable it seems this would go a long way toward curbing unlawful behavior.
Let's just hope that this is an indication of a new generation of common sense thinkers. Out with the moronic Ted Cruz types and in with the new Rinaldi types with cojones to actually help people. BRAVO!
Matt Rinaldi for PRESIDENT!!!
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