Warrantless Review of Mobile Phone Texts incident to Arrest OK

Fifth Circuit Senior Justice Patrick E. Higgenbotham, writing for a panel including Justices Jerry Edwin Smith and Jennifer Walker Elrod, affirmed the conviction of a defendant of whom a Secret Service agent had reviewed-- without a warrant--text messages incident to the defendant's arrest.

Some State Administrative Procedure Tolls Federal Habeas Deadline

Fifth Circuit justice Jerry E. Smith, writing for a panel including Justices Jacques Weiner and Jennifer Elrod, remanded trial court dismissals of habeas corpus petitions because Tex. Gov't Code section 501.0081(b)(1)-(2) bars a state habeas petition for at least 180 days after the filing of a required time-credit dispute-resolution request, which, in turn, tolls the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996.