A previous post outlined the five types of criminal charges that involve family violence, or domestic violence. These are: Domestic assault Aggravated domestic assault Continuous violence against the family Child abuse Stalking In this post we will discuss the potentia...
Have you been charged with Possession of Drug Paraphernalia?
In Texas, it’s illegal to buy, sell, grow, or possess marijuana unless you are authorized to do so for medical purposes. That also applies to THC oil and dabs, a concentrated and more potent form of cannabis. What many people don’t know is that i...
Texas Sting Ends in Suicide Before Man Can Be Exonerated for Online Solicitation of Minor
It’s common for sex crime cases involving solicitation of a minor to start with a sting operation, with law enforcement officers going online and pretending to be an underage youth. That’s what happened in 2019 when 41-year-old police detective Darrick Dunn&nbs...
Texas is 4th Worst State for Drunk Driving Accident Deaths
Also Top in Drunk Driving Arrests The auto insurance website BuyAutoInsurance.com just released a report identifying the Top 10 states in the nation with the highest death rates from drunk driving. Unfortunately, the Lone Star State did not fare well. I...
Assault or Hate Crime
The wheels of the criminal justice system turn slowly. That’s certainly what everyone involved in a 2019 fight in downtown Austin must be thinking as the case finally came to a conclusion two years later with plea deals for three of the four men accused of assaulting a gay cou...
Texas DWI “No Refusal” Weekends
In Texas, you have a legal right to refuse to consent to a DWI test – a blood test or a breathalyzer test. Many people think that if they refuse the blood alcohol or breathalyzer test when the officer asks them on the road, and they wait to get tested later, their blood al...
Texas’ New “Constitutional Carry” Law
Gov. Greg Abbott recently signed HB 1927 into law, making it legal on September 1, 2021, for anyone in Texas, aged 21 and over, to legally carry a handgun without getting a state license (unless they are excluded from possessing a firearm by state or federal law). A background check is still requir...
17-Year-Olds in the Texas Criminal Justice System
Texas Family Code defines a child as a person aged 10 to 17. In the Texas criminal justice system, children under age 10 cannot be prosecuted for a crime but they could be provided with services if the state feels that’s needed to help them stay out of the juvenile justice system. 17-yr-...
Facial Recognition Programs Can Lead to Wrongful Arrest
In April 2019, we blogged about how the lack of rules for the collection of people’s images for inclusion and use by facial recognition software. Privacy advocates were raising concerns about the high potential for misuse of this powerful technology. Criminal defense lawyers saw the potential for...
Texas Criminal Defense: The Good and the Bad of Eyewitness Testimony
Prosecutors use eyewitnesses to: Identify suspects, Piece together the events that led up to an incident or a crime, Shed light on motives or the emotional state of the people involved. The testimony of an eyewitness to a crime carries a lot of weight with a jury and a judge. It can be th...