I have a good friend who is a veteran. He had a scheduled appointment at a hospital in a Dallas for an EEG. He showed up carrying his backpack which contains some emergency medication should he need it. It slipped his mind that it also contained his carry pistol. He was searched upon entering the hospital and detained briefly upon the discovery of his pistol. He was then allowed to go to his appointment. Later I. The week he was told he has a warrant out and needs to turn himself in. Personally, I feel this is an injustice as it was clearly unintended. This is Dallas so they will let all sorts of drug crimes, burglaries, and sex crimes go unprosecuted but choose to throw the book at this guy. He does not have the finances to retain a lawyer. Does anyone have a recommendation or guidance?

Which hospital? And I find it impossible Dallas got their s--- together that fast to already have a warrant.

Enviroag02 said:

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I feel this is an injustice as it was clearly unintended. This is Dallas so they will let all sorts of drug crimes, burglaries, and sex crimes go unprosecuted but choose to throw the book at this guy

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This made me laugh, but since I have no suggestions for your friend's legal predicament I will show myself out now

Dallas county will drop the charge, but he definitely needs to get representation so he can get a "down and out" processing through the jail. I worked in Dallas County for 20 yrs and filed a few of these charges, especially for hospitals, and not one ever had the charge held unless there was something else going on.

What is a way to contact you?

Robert Simmons, Dallas attorney: Tel: 214-324-4417; he may do it pro bono.

I seem to recall caselaw that criminal trespass with respect to a posted sign violation requires a demand that they immediately leave and police called if they don't. I may be thinking of something else so I'll see if I can find that.

If your buddy can't find someone to take the case on a pro bono basis, he can contact SMU's Legal Clinics, which are staffed by lawyers who supervise and advise law students who will represent him in court, filings, etc.:

https://www.smu.edu/law/clinics/criminal-clinic

Contact: 214-768-2562 or email legalclinics@smu.edu.

Your friend is still a very lucky person. A little anecdote of a spouse of an old friend. He worked for Exxon at the time and traveled from Houston to Qatar I believe (could be UAE) for work. He accidentally packed some shotgun shells in his luggage that got picked up in customs. He was immediately jailed until Exxon lawyers got him out, where he was promptly sent to Sakhalin Island in Russia (north of Japan) to finish his work and avoid any conflicts.

Keep in mind his wife was left alone in a foreign country to get to the embassy and talk with Exxon and help him out. Whole ordeal lasted 3 weeks if I recall.

Hope he gets a good lawyer and charges are dropped.

PDEMDHC said:

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Your friend is still a very lucky person. A little anecdote of a spouse of an old friend. He worked for Exxon at the time and traveled from Houston to Qatar I believe (could be UAE) for work. He accidentally packed some shotgun shells in his luggage that got picked up in customs. He was immediately jailed until Exxon lawyers got him out, where he was promptly sent to Sakhalin Island in Russia (north of Japan) to finish his work and avoid any conflicts.

Keep in mind his wife was left alone in a foreign country to get to the embassy and talk with Exxon and help him out. Whole ordeal lasted 3 weeks if I recall.

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This sounds alarmingly like an incident that happened to my niece and her husband.

Texas A&M Law in FW offers some advocacy for veterans

Also Texas Veterans Legal Assistance Project
https://texvet.org/resources/texas-veterans-legal-assistance-project-vlap