Rats consuming seized marijuana and other narcotics evidence may sound like a scene from a movie, but it’s a real issue impacting Houston. The Houston Police Department (HPD) and Harris County officials are now saying they’re taking steps to address overcrowded property rooms filled with evidence—some dating back decades—that has outlived its relevance.
If you’re currently facing drug charges in the Houston area and are concerned your case may involve compromised evidence, consult an experienced Houston criminal attorney to learn how this development could affect your rights and be crucial to your defense.
Houston police say rats have eaten some of the seized marijuana that has been stored as evidence for years at the police department, contributing to severely overcrowded property rooms. But city and county officials are stepping in to correct the problem by reducing the amount of evidence required to be stored.
“We’ve got 400,000 pounds of marijuana in storage, and the rats are the only ones enjoying it,” Houston Mayor John Whitmire said recently at a press conference held jointly with officials from HPD and the Harris County District Attorney’s Office (HCDAO).
Rats also have invaded packaging containing magic mushrooms, HCDAO general counsel Joshua Reiss informed KHOU 11.
He said the problem is common elsewhere, not just in Houston. “Narcotics evidence rooms and evidence rooms in general that are filled to the brim with old evidence is a national issue,” Reiss said.
According to People magazine, the eaten marijuana signifies only part of the crisis at HPD’s overcrowded evidence rooms, which are located on the upper floor of police headquarters at 1200 Travis downtown.
Evidence includes non-narcotics crimes
HPD’s property rooms also include many other things, from 2,000 backpacks and 4,000 to 5,000 bicycles to kilos of cocaine from cases in the 1990s. In all, Police Chief Noe Diaz said HPD has more than 1.2 million pieces of evidence in its property rooms, and much of it dates back for decades and is no longer relevant or needed.
He said the severe backlog of evidence stems from policies that have forbidden police from disposing of dated evidence even after a case is closed.
That’s about to change.
To handle the problem of voluminous storage of narcotics evidence, Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare said the police department, Harris County Sheriff’s Office and other agencies will be allowed to destroy any narcotics evidence in cleared cases that was obtained before 2015.
In addition, police now will be allowed to destroy evidence upon the execution of a plea bargain agreement between prosecutors and criminal defense lawyers, provided that both sides allow it.
As for the compromised evidence due to the rat infestation, according to KHOU, the DA’s office will notify defendants in 3,600 open drug cases that evidence involving their case may have been compromised by the hungry rodents.
However, it’s believed that evidence for only one active case may have been jeopardized due to the rat problem.
Meanwhile, along with addressing an “acute” and “immediate” problem, “We’re going to start to fix a systemic problem that has hit every one of our property rooms,” Teare said at the press conference.
Some evidence can be destroyed
The problem stems from the fact that “We don’t destroy evidence when it no longer makes any sense to keep it,” Teare said.
Until now, police were not allowed to destroy any evidence seized since 2005, even if the case was closed or dismissed, a person had already been convicted and served a sentence, or there was no known defendant.
“So as of right now we are starting to move that up, and we will be destroying any narcotics evidence that has been obtained prior to 2015,” Teare said.
He added that, “It costs a lot of money to destroy illicit narcotics.” So the DA’s office will help the city with that problem on an administrative level, including identifying and notifying police of closed cases whose evidence now can be destroyed.
“We are committed from the DA’s office to doing our part to fix a problem that is decades in the making,” Teare said.
Citing the “broken system of retaining evidence way beyond the necessary time period,” Whitmire said collaborative new moves involving police and the DA’s office will “free up officers who have been supervising the evidence in the property rooms” to be “back out on the streets” contributing to public safety.
How the Fourth Amendment Affects Evidence in Drug Charges
Learn how the Fourth Amendment can be used to exclude evidence that was obtained by law officers illegally.
Texas marijuana laws remain strict
Though 24 states permit recreational marijuana use, Texas is not one of them, and Texas marijuana laws and penalties remain strict.
Possessing even just two ounces or less of marijuana is a Class B misdemeanor in Texas, for which punishments can include:
- A fine of up to $2,000
- A jail term of up to 180 days
- A fine and confinement
- Automatic suspension of a driver’s license.
Punishments can be worse for larger amounts of marijuana possession, along with factors that indicate that there was the intent to sell or distribute marijuana. Punishments also are heightened for repeat offenders.
Drug laws also apply on the federal level. In 2021, nearly one-third of all federal crimes that led to sentencing were drug trafficking offenses, which comprised 31.3% of all federal crimes. Indeed, the most common kind of federal crime that leads to sentencing is a drug trafficking crime.
Get a Houston-area drug or marijuana defense attorney
Persons in the Houston area who face a criminal charge involving even a small amount of marijuana are advised to get a skilled defense attorney to protect their legal rights.
The Neal Davis Law Firm has decades of experience safeguarding the legal rights of persons accused of criminal offenses, including drug or marijuana possession. We have fought to get a charge reduced or dismissed before trial or prove the innocence of an accused person in court.
In handling your marijuana case, your Houston drug possession defense attorney from our law firm can explore factors that could mitigate or eliminate an alleged drug offense.
For instance, our drug or marijuana defense strategies can include challenging the search and seizure processes that were involved in your arrest—and may have violated your constitutional rights. We also can challenge whether the drug was clearly in your possession.
It also may be shown that a drug arrest was the result of a lying police informant or improper or inadequate drug testing.
Whether the drug charge facing you is for marijuana or for some other controlled substance, and whether that charge involves possession, distribution, manufacturing, trafficking or conspiracy, you need the best Houston drug crime defense lawyer you can find.
Persons accused of crimes in The Woodlands, Galveston, Sugar Land, Memorial or elsewhere in the Houston area can contact us today at the Neal Davis Law Firm to arrange a private consultation. Then, we can explore your legal rights and legal options.
Don’t delay. Your future—and your freedom—may depend on it.
