Has anybody had problems with officers executing a search warrant where a no-knock warrant was not issued by the magistrate, and the officers performed a no-knock entry into a residence. The reasonable suspicion articulated in our case is two prior arrests at location with several people inside the residence. No evidence of fear of safety and no evidence of disposing of evidence prior to entry. (All occupants were asleep at entry)

It comes up from time to time, usually as a swearing match between the suspects inside (who claim they never heard a thing) and the police outside (who say they were yelling at the top of their lungs).

Some places to start for research might be
Stokes v. State, 978 S.W.2d 674 (Tex.App.-Eastland,1998) and the Wilson v. Arkansas and Richards v. Wisconsin Supreme Court decisions.

Additionally, I read a summary of the knock and announce requirements and the application of the exclusionary rule in the Texas Prosecutor Magazine within the last three months. You might dig through and see if you can find that.

Hope this helps.

Robert DuBoise
Assistant District Attorney
Parker County, Texas

rduboise@sbcglobal.net

The Prosecutor article Robert mentions is actually an excerpt from a TDCAA book, "Warrants Manual for Arrest, Search & Seizure," written by Ted Wilson and Tom Bridges. These two are the gurus of warrants law (drafting and executing), and they've also done a great job teaching for TDCAA. Pardon the blatant plug, but the book really is an invaluable reference for warrants questions just like this one. You can see more information about it in the "publications" portion of this website.