TexasCHLforum.com

Today I spoke with a man who is a native Texan from elsewhere, but lived in Dalhart for some years.

I understand that 1 man's opinion/outlook/experiences can be unique to that one man. They may not
not even be accurate, but here goes:

He told me that Dalhart PD (not the DPS troopers in the area) plays games with the law and
the people they pull over. I didn't get a lot of detail, but he said that Dalhart PD will pull someone
over, appear to let them go, lay low for a few weeks, then charge the person with something.

Since the person may not know they are now facing some kind of legal action, a warrant is sworn
out for their arrest, putting them in much more serious trouble.

Dallas PD was pulling people over for say, speeding, and the ticket they gave the driver only had
speeding on it. But the Dallas officers were then adding 1 or more violations to the DPD copy.
So the driver sends in the speeding fine, assuming that they have taken care of bidness, but
then there's a warrant for their arrest due to not paying the fine for the charges added after they
were released from the site of their violation. Chief Kunkel (sp?) put a stop to that.

My question to the forum: Is it legal for police to stop you for a vehicle violation, but not write up
all violations during the stop? If Dalhart PD is doing this, would this be a defense to prosecution?
Could this be considered "official oppression" or similarly worded evildoing?

SIA

The statute of limitations is 2 years on class c traffic violations. That means if an officer observes a violation, they can write you a citation for it up to two years after the fact. As far as notification goes, the municipal cout, or JP court should send a notification to your home of record. If they do not recieve a response, it will go to warrant.

I'm not advocating this practice, and the way you describe it make it seem dirty. It is certainly legal to file a charge after the fact though

KRM45:

Two years statute of limitations on traffic offenses? Wow - who woulda thunk it?

SIA

This is why you save all copies of your violation notices for however long the statute of limitations is.

This happened to a friend of my fathers, who was a disbarred lawyer. He had a field day in court (NJ) and settled out of court for a sizable amount he was legally required not to disclose. (There were 7 digits in it, no decimal point, he said)

Oh, to answer your question: Its not legal to manipulate the original citation after the fact, its perfectly legal to charge someone for something else after the fact. NOtification must be sent, and thats why its a really good idea to keep your address on your DL current.

They will send you a letter stating that if you don't pay or show up they will issue a warrant and then send another letter when they do issue the warrant. They will not send it certified but only to your last known address and call it good.