TexasCHLforum.com

Caliber wrote:If I remember correctly, as it relates Texas gun laws, your "home" is where you sleep overnight (including a hotel room), your car, or a house boat. If that's so, then he should be able to bring a gun into the hotel room.

Correct or no?

"premises" includes real property and a recreational vehicle that is being used as living quarters, regardless of whether that use is temporary or permanent. In this subsection, "recreational vehicle" means a motor vehicle primarily designed as temporary living quarters or a vehicle that contains temporary living quarters and is designed to be towed by a motor vehicle. The term includes a travel trailer, camping trailer, truck camper, motor home, and horse trailer with living quarters.

dlh wrote:...

This is an interesting article discussing the rights and duties of hotels and their guests, but no mention of the criminal trespass issue:

http://www.dentonlaw.com/newsarticles/t ... t-alagood/

TreyHouston wrote:“Ziemba's bond is set at $100,000.
The DA's office said the bond is high because he was already out on bond when he committed another crime.” Added: will see the judge on Friday, I guess to enter plea?

I heard this at lunch today. His previous “crime” has to do with a weapons charge. From what I understood, this “crime” he is only being charged with trespassing and assault on an police officer.

WHO IS THIS GUY??

Pariah3j wrote:

srothstein wrote:I think we may need to pay very close attention to this case. It may have a side effect we do not like.

The man had rented a room from the hotel and was asked to leave. The police arrested him and did charge him with criminal trespass for refusing to leave. Think about this for a minute.

Several times, we have stated in this forum that a hotel room is like an extension of your residence. You have control of it and can carry guns in there despite a 30.06 sign properly posted on the hotel doors. If the hotel room is an extension of your home (or the equivalent thereof) then this is a true statement.

But if I am asked to leave my own home or residence, I cannot be charged with criminal trespass for declining to leave. To get me out of my home against my will takes an eviction order from a court. This is true if I own the home and failed to pay a mortgage or tax on it, and it is true if I rent an apartment and break the lease in some way (such as having a loud party or not paying my rent).

The suspect in this case was charged with criminal trespass. I could be worried about things for no reason, having missed something somewhere. But I think this case needs to be watched very carefully to make sure we do not lose out on something by a poor decision.

I didn't read the article linked, but my understanding is he was asked to leave the Bar in the Hotel, not his hotel room. That's where the criminal trespass charges come into play from what I was reading, but IANAL so I may be wrong here.

ELB wrote:"Premises" includes real property, and I think a hotel room counts as real property, but is it under the guest's control?

philip964 wrote:

TreyHouston wrote:“Ziemba's bond is set at $100,000.
The DA's office said the bond is high because he was already out on bond when he committed another crime.” Added: will see the judge on Friday, I guess to enter plea?

I heard this at lunch today. His previous “crime” has to do with a weapons charge. From what I understood, this “crime” he is only being charged with trespassing and assault on an police officer.

WHO IS THIS GUY??

For those of you not from Houston the high bond became somewhat of a surprise. One of Houston's problems right now is professional criminals are getting 6,000 dollar bonds for their 30th arrest in two months. They make enough money from robbing and burglarizing that they can make the $600 every two day cash requirement for the bonds. The judges blamed the DA for not alerting them to the problem, the DA blames everyone's "right" to bond out of jail on crimes they haven't been convicted of. The police of course feel they are just a cog in a revolving door and are tired of rearresting the same folks everyday.

I'm figuring the high bond was due to it being a high profile "gun" crime and his lack of preferential status.

srothstein wrote:I think we may need to pay very close attention to this case. It may have a side effect we do not like.

The man had rented a room from the hotel and was asked to leave. The police arrested him and did charge him with criminal trespass for refusing to leave. Think about this for a minute.

Several times, we have stated in this forum that a hotel room is like an extension of your residence. You have control of it and can carry guns in there despite a 30.06 sign properly posted on the hotel doors. If the hotel room is an extension of your home (or the equivalent thereof) then this is a true statement.

But if I am asked to leave my own home or residence, I cannot be charged with criminal trespass for declining to leave. To get me out of my home against my will takes an eviction order from a court. This is true if I own the home and failed to pay a mortgage or tax on it, and it is true if I rent an apartment and break the lease in some way (such as having a loud party or not paying my rent).

The suspect in this case was charged with criminal trespass. I could be worried about things for no reason, having missed something somewhere. But I think this case needs to be watched very carefully to make sure we do not lose out on something by a poor decision.

rotor wrote: They guy brought firearms into a hotel that had a no firearm policy.

SQLGeek wrote:

rotor wrote: They guy brought firearms into a hotel that had a no firearm policy.

The Houston Hyatt is posted with both 30.06 and 30.07.

SQLGeek wrote:I wasn't trying to prove anything. I was simply correcting what I thought at the time was erroneous information. I see now that I misread that part of your post and I apologize for that.

Russell Lawrence Ziemba, who was arrested for kicking a police officer who found a stash of weapons in his downtown Houston hotel room on New Year's Eve, will get his high-capacity guns back after a county grand jury declined to indict him on any felony charges earlier this week.
...
After being arrested and charged with assault of a police officer, the 49-year-old Tomball man’s case was reviewed by a grand jury. On Monday, prosecutors failed to convince grand jurors that there was enough evidence to proceed on a criminal case, effectively dismissing it.
...
“The surveillance video from the Hyatt Regency showed insufficient evidence that Mr. Ziemba kicked the officer when he was being arrested for trespassing,” Easterling said in a brief emailed statement. “Everybody looked at it, homicide looked at it, and there was zero evidence of bad intent. He was just having a good time in a hotel, drinking.”
...
Easterling said Ziemba is now in drug and alcohol treatment with the Veterans Administration. He still faces misdemeanor charges of trespass. Notes in the file indicate that case would be resolved after the grand jury action.

O.F.Fascist wrote:Bump for outcome.

https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texa ... 825784.php

Russell Lawrence Ziemba, who was arrested for kicking a police officer who found a stash of weapons in his downtown Houston hotel room on New Year's Eve, will get his high-capacity guns back after a county grand jury declined to indict him on any felony charges earlier this week.
...
After being arrested and charged with assault of a police officer, the 49-year-old Tomball man’s case was reviewed by a grand jury. On Monday, prosecutors failed to convince grand jurors that there was enough evidence to proceed on a criminal case, effectively dismissing it.
...
“The surveillance video from the Hyatt Regency showed insufficient evidence that Mr. Ziemba kicked the officer when he was being arrested for trespassing,” Easterling said in a brief emailed statement. “Everybody looked at it, homicide looked at it, and there was zero evidence of bad intent. He was just having a good time in a hotel, drinking.”
...
Easterling said Ziemba is now in drug and alcohol treatment with the Veterans Administration. He still faces misdemeanor charges of trespass. Notes in the file indicate that case would be resolved after the grand jury action.

Guy is lucky he had a reasonable Grand Jury. I wonder if the officer exaggerated the assault allegation in an attempt to hit this guy with a felony and strip him of his gun rights.

O.F.Fascist wrote:
Guy is lucky he had a reasonable Grand Jury. I wonder if the officer exaggerated the assault allegation in an attempt to hit this guy with a felony and strip him of his gun rights.

Keith B wrote:

O.F.Fascist wrote:
Guy is lucky he had a reasonable Grand Jury. I wonder if the officer exaggerated the assault allegation in an attempt to hit this guy with a felony and strip him of his gun rights.

I doubt it. He probably did kick at the officer, but the video didn't catch enough of it to prove it was a kick, which means it was probably not much of one to start with.