Role of Police Reports, Medical Records, and Witness Statements

A How-To Guide to Understanding the Most Common Evidence Used in Texas Assault Cases

If you’ve been accused of assault in Texas, there’s a good chance the State’s entire case is built on three types of evidence: police reports, medical records, and witness statements.

These documents — often collected within hours of the alleged incident — form the foundation of most prosecutions. But they are not always accurate, complete, or objective. In many cases, what’s written in a report or chart becomes more persuasive than what actually happened — unless a skilled attorney near you challenges it.

This guide will walk you through how police reports, medical records, and witness statements are used in assault cases, how prosecutors rely on them, and how your defense attorney can fight back.

Step 1: Police Reports — The Prosecutor’s Starting Point

After an arrest, officers create official incident reports documenting what they observed or were told at the scene. These reports often serve as the primary case narrative for prosecutors.

What’s Included in a Police Report:

• Officer’s account of events
• Summary of statements from the alleged victim, suspect, and witnesses
• Notes on injuries or visible evidence
• Descriptions of behavior (e.g., “agitated,” “intoxicated,” “uncooperative”)
• Initial determination of who was the “primary aggressor”

Police reports often reflect snap judgments, not forensic analysis. Officers write what they believe based on limited information — not what can be proven beyond a reasonable doubt.

How Your Attorney Challenges Police Reports:

• Compare report to body cam footage or other video evidence
• Identify inconsistencies between officer observations and physical evidence
• Highlight bias, errors, or lack of corroboration
• File motions to exclude portions of the report (e.g., hearsay, opinion)

See also: What Evidence Is Used in Assault Investigations?

Step 2: Medical Records — Injury Documentation That Can Strengthen or Weaken the Case

If the alleged victim sought medical attention, prosecutors will often use hospital records, emergency room notes, and doctor evaluations to support the charge — even if there are no visible injuries.

What Prosecutors Look For in Medical Records:

• Documentation of pain, bruising, swelling, lacerations, etc.
• Physician notations (e.g., “patient reports being struck”)
• Correlation between alleged injury and time of incident
• Recommendations for treatment or follow-up care

Problems with Medical Records:

• They often contain subjective, unverified statements from the patient
• Doctors are not witnesses to the assault — they only record what they’re told
• Minor injuries (e.g., redness or soreness) are often used to justify serious charges

Under Texas Penal Code § 22.01(a)(1), “bodily injury” includes pain, so even a complaint of soreness can result in a Class A Assault charge.

How Your Attorney Challenges Medical Records:

• Request full medical file (not just ER summary)
• Use expert witnesses to evaluate whether injuries are consistent with alleged conduct
• Highlight lack of objective findings (e.g., “no bruising noted”)
• Argue that injury could have resulted from accidental or unrelated causes

Step 3: Witness Statements — Helpful or Harmful, But Always Scrutinized

Witness statements are often the most persuasive evidence in assault cases — but also the most unreliable. Many witnesses are:

• Emotionally involved
• Biased toward one party
• Drunk or confused at the time
• Repeating what someone else told them

Types of Witnesses in Assault Cases:

• Alleged victim (usually primary source of the State’s theory)
• Bystanders or neighbors
• Friends or family members
• Officers who observed behavior or statements at the scene

What Prosecutors Use Witness Statements For:

• Establish timeline and sequence of events
• Identify motive or aggression
• Corroborate injury or behavior
• Fill in gaps where physical evidence is weak

How Your Attorney Challenges Witness Statements:

• Cross-examine inconsistencies in prior and in-court statements
• Highlight motive to lie, exaggerate, or protect the alleged victim
• Demonstrate lack of personal knowledge or observational error
• Suppress unreliable hearsay under Texas Rules of Evidence

See: Role of Victim Statements in Assault Cases (optional future cluster topic)

Step 4: How These Three Pieces of Evidence Work Together — or Fall Apart

In most assault cases, prosecutors don’t rely on just one source of evidence. They weave police reports, medical documentation, and witness statements together to try to tell a cohesive story to a judge or jury.

But if any part of that story crumbles under scrutiny, the case weakens significantly.

For example:

• A police report says the victim was hit, but medical records show no injuries
• Medical records note swelling, but no witnesses saw an assault
• Witnesses describe yelling, but no physical contact occurred

Your attorney near you must connect the dots — or expose the gaps.

Why Prosecutors Rely So Heavily on These Documents

These reports and statements form the foundation of plea offers, pretrial decisions, and even trial strategy. They often influence:

• Whether to offer diversion or probation
• Whether to push for felony enhancements
• Whether a case even makes it to trial

That’s why it’s critical to get a criminal defense attorney near you involved before the first court hearing — the sooner your attorney can obtain and review these records, the stronger your defense strategy becomes.

See: What Happens After an Assault Arrest in Texas

How a Lawyer Near You Can Change the Narrative

At Walker Law Office, we don’t accept reports at face value. We know how to challenge every assumption prosecutors make — from the language in the report to the meaning behind medical notations.

Your criminal defense attorney near you can:

• Demand full discovery early
• File motions to suppress flawed or misleading evidence
• Hire experts to counter State evidence
• Negotiate dismissals or charge reductions based on evidentiary weakness
• Expose the limitations of witness credibility

Call Walker Law Office today at (713) 228-2611 or visit https://www.walkerlawhouston.com/contact/ to speak with an experienced criminal defense attorney near you.

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