Ring Camera Proves Alibi Defense in Tarrant County Aggravated Assault/Deadly Weapon

Michael Lowe’s client was accused with Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon in Tarrant County. The father of her child was the complaining witness. Late last year, Mr. Lowe’s client was assaulted by the complaining witness. He was arrested and charged with Assault/Family Violence in Tarrant County. The child’s father continued to have contact with Mr. Lowe’s client despite an Emergency Protective Order and a bond condition stay away order. Both of these court orders prohibited him from contacting her or being around her or her residence.

While his case was pending in Tarrant County, he harassed and threatened to trap and unlawfully restrain Mr. Lowe’s client in her own home. The Ex took her car keys and phone away from her. Because she couldn’t call the police, she left her home on foot and walked to her cousin’s home seeking safety and refuge. Her cousin’s home was about 1 mile away. When Mr. Lowe’s client got to her cousin’s home, the client rang her cousin’s door bell to see if she was home. Just a month earlier, her cousin installed a Ring doorbell and activated the Ring app to monitor her home. The Ring device recorded the movement at the door which clearly showed the time Mr. Lowe’s client arrived at the residence about a mile away from the client home (where the Ex was). The Ring video footage clearly demonstrated the exact time the client arrived by foot. In addition, the Ring app logged all activity to/from the house for the entire day. You can see the redacted log here:

While Mr. Lowe client was at her cousin’s home, her Ex called 911 from her home. When the police arrived, the Ex falsely reported that he had been assaulted 20 minutes before their arrival. He claimed that the client assaulted him with a knife. Without conducting a complete investigation, the police arrested the client and charged her with Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon (knife).

Shortly after the arrest, the client hired Mr. Lowe. Mr. Lowe conducted a thorough investigation of his own. He obtain all of the police records including the 911 recording. Mr. Lowe was able to conclusively establish the exact time of the alleged Assault. Mr. Lowe then interviewed additional witness and was able to recover the Ring App data along with all video recordings made on the date of the alleged Aggravated Assault with which his client was charged. Mr. Lowe was able to conclusively demonstrate that his client was not able to have assault the Ex as he falsely described to the police. Mr. Lowe then made contact with the Tarrant County District Attorney assigned to his client’s case and submitted a grand jury packet which included all of the Ring videos and app data. In addition, Mr. Lowe was able to provide witness statements corroborating the data provided. In the end, the Tarrant County District Attorney’s Office concluded that it was “factually impossible” for Mr. Lowe’s client to have committed the crime for which she was charged.

The case was “No Billed” by the Tarrant County Grand Jury shortly thereafter. Mr. Lowe’s client will be eligible to have a “no probable cause expunction” pursuant to Article 55.01 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure. Ordinarily, one must wait for the statute of limitations to expire before that person can apply for expunction of records. But there’s an exception for those who are charged without probable cause. A Grand Jury “No Bill” is a finding of no probable cause.