Sammy Wade Carter, 38, was booked at the Wayne McCollum Detention Center in Ellis County, Texas, on Sept. 29, 2026, according to the Ellis County Sheriff's Office booking record. The record lists two charges, worded as the roster words them and with the citation the roster gives for each. Both with a disposition field of "HELD," meaning the booking source shows him held on the charges. It records the arresting agency as the Ellis County Sheriff's Office and the arrest type as "On View."

The charges as listed

  • "POSS W/INT TO PROMOTE CHILD PORNOGRAPHY PC 43.26(G)": the booking record cites Texas Penal Code 43.26(g) and grades the charge a second-degree felony.
  • "POSS MARIJ <2OZ HSC 481.121(B)(1)": the booking record cites Texas Health and Safety Code 481.121(b)(1) and grades the charge a Class B misdemeanor.

What the law covers

The citations above are the ones the booking source published. The descriptions below come from the current text of the Texas statutes on the Texas Legislature's official site and are general legal context. They are not findings about what happened in this case.

Section 43.26 of the Texas Penal Code is titled Possession or Promotion of Child Pornography. Subsection (e) makes it an offense to intentionally or knowingly promote, or to possess with intent to promote, visual material that depicts a child engaging in sexual conduct, where the person knew or should have known the depicted child was under 18 when the image was made. Subsection (g) sets the grade of an offense under subsection (e). The official code currently prints two versions of subsection (g), one passed by each of two 2025 bills, and they grade the base offense differently; the booking record's second-degree felony grade corresponds to one of them. Which version applies is a question for the charging documents and the court, and nothing in the booking record answers it. The charge as booked is an allegation of intent to promote material, not a record of what any material contained.

Section 481.121 of the Texas Health and Safety Code makes it an offense to knowingly or intentionally possess a usable quantity of marihuana except as the chapter authorizes. Under subsection (b)(1), the offense is a Class B misdemeanor when the amount possessed is two ounces or less.

Legal posture

A booking record is the jail's account of an arrest and the charges it lists. It is not a charging document, an indictment, a finding of probable cause by a court, or a conviction. No indictment, court filing or disposition for either charge is recorded in the sources reviewed for this article, and Carter is presumed innocent unless proven guilty in a court of law. Any penalty described in the law applies only upon conviction.

This article will be updated if a court record or agency statement becomes available.