Posted on
September 20, 2010 in
In court, a prosecutor, big black Sharpie in hand, redacts identifying information page-by-page from a copy of an offense report. After he redacts the driver’s license numbers, phone numbers, cops’ payroll numbers, and so forth from a page, he passes it to the defense lawyer, who, reading from the original offense report, is handwriting the redacted information back on his copy.
Life in the criminal courthouse: Some days tragedy, some days farce.
When you are ready for a better future,
contact us.
Schedule a consultation today by filling out the form below or calling our office at 713-224-1747. We look forward to representing you.
From our office in Houston, we represent clients throughout Harris County and across the state of Texas. We assist with criminal cases in Conroe, The Woodlands, Kingwood, Bellaire, Friendswood, Highland Village, West University Place, Cypress, Willis, Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth, Arlington, San Antonio, Corpus Christi, Beaumont, Tyler, Plano, Spring, New Caney, Porter, Humble, Atascocita, Aldine, Cloverleaf, Pasadena, South Houston, Pearland, Fresno, Missouri City, Sugar Land, Pecan Grove, Richmond, and Katy.
Results listed are not a guarantee or indication of future case results.
© 2025 Bennett & Bennett
917 Franklin Street, Fourth Floor, Houston, TX 77002
713-224-1747
We go through the same exercise in D.C. The prosecution blackens out parts of the police report. We run down to the police station and pay $3 to obtain an unredacted copy of the same report.
That’s not a game we play out here. Of course, we have different games, but not that one.
…which is coupled with the questionable, “now look, client, we must contractually agree at the outset that I don’t have to give you THIS portion of YOUR file upon request.”
Here they only really redact in gang cases and violent stuff. But they’re so bad at it. Inevitably, in 200 pages of discovery, they’ll leave a last name or an address somewhere, and that’s all we need.
If you hold it up to the light and squint, you can usually see right through the black magic marker.
Scott,
They usually make a copy of the redacted original so you cannot hold it up to the light and see through it. Nevertheless, I am guilty of this very practice – did it yesterday!