Texas Health and Safety Code 481.160 – Disposition of Excess Quantities
(a) If a controlled substance property or plant is forfeited under this code or under Chapter 59, Code of Criminal Procedure, the law enforcement agency that seized the property or plant or to which the property or plant is forfeited or a criminal justice agency to which the law enforcement agency transferred the property or plant for analysis and storage may summarily destroy the property or plant without a court order, or otherwise dispose of the property or plant in lieu of destruction in accordance with § 481.161, before the disposition of a case arising out of the forfeiture if the agency ensures that:
(1) at least five random and representative samples are taken from the total amount of the property or plant and a sufficient quantity is preserved to provide for discovery by parties entitled to discovery;
(2) photographs are taken that reasonably depict the total amount of the property or plant; and
(3) the gross weight or liquid measure of the property or plant is determined, either by actually weighing or measuring the property or plant or by estimating its weight or measurement after making dimensional measurements of the total amount seized.
(b) If the property consists of a single container of liquid, taking and preserving one representative sample complies with Subsection (a)(1).
Terms Used In Texas Health and Safety Code 481.160
- Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
- Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
- Justice: when applied to a magistrate, means justice of the peace. See Texas Government Code 312.011
- Property: means real and personal property. See Texas Government Code 311.005
- Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
(c) A representative sample, photograph, or record made under this section is admissible in civil or criminal proceedings in the same manner and to the same extent as if the total quantity of the suspected controlled substance property or plant was offered in evidence, regardless of whether the remainder of the property or plant has been destroyed or otherwise disposed of. An inference or presumption of spoliation does not apply to a property or plant destroyed or otherwise disposed of under this section.
(d) If hazardous waste, residuals, contaminated glassware, associated equipment, or by-products from illicit chemical laboratories or similar operations that create a health or environmental hazard or are not capable of being safely stored are forfeited, those items may be disposed of under Subsection (a) or may be seized by and summarily forfeited to a law enforcement agency and destroyed by the law enforcement agency or by a criminal justice agency to which the law enforcement agency transferred the items for analysis and storage without a court order before the disposition of a case arising out of the forfeiture if current environmental protection standards are followed.
(e) A law enforcement agency seizing and destroying or disposing of materials described in Subsection (d) shall ensure that photographs are taken that reasonably depict the total amount of the materials seized and the manner in which the materials were physically arranged or positioned before seizure.
(f) Repealed by Acts 2005, 79th Leg., Ch. 1224, Sec. 19(2), eff. September 1, 2005.