Q: My Aunt and Uncle moved my 80 yr old Grandfather in with them. They Refuse to let us speak or see him.
They cut off his cell phone, and will only let him talk to us on speaker phone with them present. My Grandfather has asked to come home and for a lawyers number. Since they wouldn't let us talk to him, my mom and I made the 1 1/2 trip to Santa Fe TX. My Grandfather and my Cousin Amanda that live there let me and mom in. We stayed for about thirty minutes. I believe my Aunt and Uncle came home on Lunch. Cussing screaming call the police. I told the we were literally on out way out when they came. I told them to move their cars from behind us so we could leave. They refused. I even call the cops about it, but the lady said they were already on their way. The cop said because I went on their property, they had the right to keep me there. If that is not right, I want to hire a lawyer to file a complaint or whatever I have to. That would mean, as a woman I could go to a male friends house, and when I was ready to leave, he had a legal right to force me to stay. Thank you so much!
A:
It sounds like an unpleasant situation but I'm not clear if you are asking a question or just venting about the cops. Your hypothetical male friend would not have a right to prevent your "escape" unless you committed a crime.
If your cousin Amanda did not have "apparent authority" to invite you into the home then you and your mother committed the crime of Criminal Trespass of a Habitation by entering. If Amanda did have "apparent authority" then entry was NOT a crime. No matter how you entered, refusing to leave is another way to commit Criminal Trespass. I understand that your cars were blocked in but, in hindsight, you probably should have walked off the property at that point.
The officer was not necessarily wrong about the home owner's legal right to force you to stay. A person can make a citizen's arrest to hold a criminal until law enforcement arrives but they must let you know that is what they are doing by words or by actions unless that can't reasonably be done. The legal authority for a citizen's arrest is in Section 9.51(b) of the Texas Penal Code.
It is also explicitly legal to use force to prevent a person from "escaping" after committing burglary or theft during the nighttime. One of the ways to commit burglary is to enter without consent and commit any level of assault. Assault can be as little as offensive physical contact or an imminent threat to hurt someone so it is possible that in all the screaming you technically committed burglary, which would justify keeping you. Remember, a legal justification like this only requires a reasonable doubt that it might be legitimate... not proof beyond a reasonable doubt.
I am not calling you a burglar or even a trespasser. My only purpose with this response is to attempt to answer your implicit question about how the cop could justify what happened. As a general rule, you can expect local cops to side with local residents over out-of-towners so just keep that in mind when dealing with these people in Santa Fe.
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