I checked the ever-so-handy 2003-2005 Leg Update handbook but cannot find the citation for the obscured lisence plate. Help?

TEX. TRANSP. CODE sec 502.409

Just a heads up regarding that statute - see US v. Granado, No.01-51007, 5th Cir Spe 12, 2002. No probable cause to stop.

I don't think the court in Granado meant that a driver operating a vehicle registered in Texas can't be stopped for violating the statute on obscured LPs. The court stated that if the vehicle had been licensed in Texas, the officer would have had RS to stop. However, before he even reached the driver, the officer realized the vehicle was licensed in Mexico, so it wasn't subject to the Texas statute. The officer went ahead and proceeded with the traffic stop anyway. According to the court, he had no right to do that once he realized that the driver had not committed any offense, basically because his reasonable suspicion to detain the driver had evaporated. At least that's how I read the case. JMO

Janette Ansolabehere

I thought that was the way it read also but other attorneys in the office felt otherwise. The question is what is meant by obscure - in our case the plate frame only covered the very edge of the top of the letters TEXAS - how far does the statute go. Also Vernon's notes that License plate frame that blocks name of state but not letters or numbers of plate does not violate the Texas statute, citing Granado. How are the police on the street to know exactly what has to be covered up in order to fit within the statute? If a person can logically make out the word texas but it the very tip of the letters are covered does it comply with the statute?

Two ways to violate the statute "interfer with the readability of the letters or numbers ..or the name of the State" or "alter or obscure letters, numbers, color or other original design feature of the plate"

Interfer with the readabilty seems to be broader than obscure. If the officer says, "Well I could tell it was Texas, but I had to put down my donut and stare real hard." would that not now be sufficient evidence?

Granado came out in 2002, before the Section 502.409 was amended during the 2003 session which resulted in the great "frame" debate. Obscuring "Texas" should put the operator in violation of 502.409. Texas has what seems like a zillion license plate designs and now small groups can get their own specially designed plates! How is an officer supposed to recognize all of them by sight? Thus the need to be being able to read the "Texas."

Also regarding Granado, the court's language is a bit confusing, but in my opinion (and it's just my opinion) a careful reading shows that the court's reasoning that the officer lacked RS was based on the fact that the vehicle had a Mexico LP and therefore there was no violation of Texas law. It is clearly implicit in the court's wording that if the vehicle had been licensed in Texas, the obscured plate would be a violation and therefore RS would have existed.

Janette

My reading of Granado is that the officer originally stopped the vehicle for lack of front license plate but once he determined that the vehicle was registered in Mexico not Texas the objective reason to continue the stop ceased. Therefore, the only justification for continuing the stop was the license plate was obscured in violation of Texas law. Then the court goes on to reason whether the license plate violated Texas law and concludes that it did not. In their reasoning when applying 502.409 to the facts of the case the court makes no reference to the fact that it was a Mexican plate. However, as you stated this was prior to the change in wording in the 2003 legislature and a license plate frame may fit under new wording. Therefore, Granado is certainly distinguishable. However, there needs to be clarification because obscuring the very edge of the letters seems to stretch the legislative intent to the maximum. If you stretch it even further, since the statute includes the color, anything that covers any part of the plate could be illegal. Was the legislative intent to make license plate frames illegal because they will almost always cover some part of the plate?

[This message was edited by pkdyer on 07-28-04 at .]