Unfortunately, it is not difficult to get charged with resisting arrest in Texas. All that needs to happen is for a police officer to claim that you used physical force to prevent an arrest, detention, or stop and charges could be brought. Worse yet, the arrest itself could be unlawful but the charges can still stand.
You might think that police bodycam can clear you, but the angles are not often the best, experts can be brought in to claim that an instinctive reaction or one wrong move could be construed as resisting arrest, and it’s even not unheard of for the footage to go ‘missing’. In practice, it often boils down to a he said, she said situation, when it is your word against that of a police officer.
All else being equal, who is more likely to be believed? The odds are stacked against you. For this reason, resisting arrest in Texas can be used as an intimidation tactic and people who were being arrested for minor offenses could face much more serious charges if resisting arrest is added.
So, what solutions do you have? You need to level the playing field. You need an experienced resisting arrest attorney on your side. At M|C Criminal Law, we worked for the Public Prosecutor’s office before we became criminal defense attorneys. We have intimate knowledge of resisting arrest laws in Texas and the tactics that could be used against you. Our resisting arrest attorneys can safeguard your freedom.
Texas Penal Code §38.03 titles the offense of resisting arrest as “Resisting arrest, search, or transportation” and defines it as “A person commits an offense if he intentionally prevents or obstructs a person he knows is a peace officer or a person acting in a peace officer’s presence and at his direction from effecting an arrest, search, or transportation of the actor or another by using force against the peace officer or another.”
This offense has two key elements that the prosecution needs to prove for you to be convicted of resisting arrest in Texas:
Depending on the circumstances of your case, our resisting arrest attorneys may dispute these elements to use a basis for defense. Additionally, you should know that evading arrest and resisting arrest are two different offenses; evading arrest is defined in Tex. Penal Code §38.04 and encompasses fleeing from a peace officer who is lawfully attempting to arrest or detain a person.
In practice, charges of evading and resisting arrest are often brought together and we provide criminal defense for both.
If you are being unlawfully arrested, you may believe that it is your right to resist the arrest. This is a common, and somewhat natural, misconception. However, resisting an unlawful arrest is not a basis for defense in Texas. You can be prosecuted and convicted for resisting arrest regardless of the lawfulness of the arrest itself.
On the other hand, the degree of force used by the police officer to affect the arrest is grounds for defense. Tex. Penal Code §9.31 which deals with self-defense justifies the use of physical force to resist an arrest:
“(1) if, before the actor offers any resistance, the peace officer (or person acting at his direction) uses or attempts to use greater force than necessary to make the arrest or search; and
(2) when and to the degree the actor reasonably believes the force is immediately necessary to protect himself against the peace officer’s (or other person’s) use or attempted use of greater force than necessary.”
Thus, self-defense is another option our resisting arrest attorneys may use to defend you against these charges.
At M|C Criminal Law, we have defended clients against many resisting arrest charges. Whether it is by disputing the claims of the police officers, making it clear that the charge is retaliatory in nature, gathering evidence to prove your innocence, demonstrating that not all elements of the crime were present, or showing that you were using self-defense, we know the best route to take.
Our resisting arrest attorneys will create a defense strategy that has the highest chance of success in your unique situation. Contact us as soon as possible so that we can start preparing a defense and, ideally, get the charges dismissed before they ever reach court.
