Category Archives: InDepth Articles
Texas Drug Crimes: Criminal Defense Overview
Drug arrests in the State of Texas can be based upon either federal or state drug laws. These are crimes defined within two completely separate jurisdictions needing distinctly different defense strategies. From a criminal defense perspective, the outcome can be very different for someone arrested for state drug crimes compared to those who are charged…
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ICE Holds, Bail Bonds, and Getting Freed from Jail in Texas
Arrests are not the same as being charged with a crime. For instance, a police officer (or sheriff’s deputy or state trooper) can pull someone over here in Texas and place them under arrest. Here is when the Miranda rights must be given to the accused, which include explaining that the person has a right…
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Sex Crimes in Texas: Criminal Defense Overview
Allegations of sex crimes under either state or federal law can destroy lives, even before charges are filed. A single sex crime conviction can follow someone for the rest of their days. The need for a vigorous and aggressive criminal defense cannot be underestimated. What is a Sex Crime? It’s not that easy to define…
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New Texas Sex Crimes: The Online Prostitution Laws Effective September 1, 2019
Texas Penal Code Amended to Address Human Sex Trafficking Over the Internet Human trafficking laws exist at both the federal and state levels; anyone arrested on these charges faces serious felony time if convicted. However, the reality has been that federal prosecutions have been fiercer and with more bite than those charges at the state…
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Loss Amounts in Federal Sentences: Calculating Economic and Financial Losses in Federal Felonies
Federal Sentencing Guideline 2B1.1 explains how to calculate monetary loss in a variety of crimes, such as tax evasion, structuring, wire fraud, money laundering, and mortgage fraud. Financial crimes prosecuted by the federal government usually involve a lot of money that builds into a large economic loss for its victims. Criminal creativity being what it…
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Photographs as Sex Crimes: Changes to the Texas Revenge Porn Law (Texas Penal Code §21.16)
Do Revenge Porn Laws Violate the First Amendment? Sexual Photograph Crimes and Free Speech Today, smart phones have made it so easy to take photographs or make videos that the temptation to capture images of a sexual nature is often overpowering for some people. These images can then be readily stored – and shared –…
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In Texas, We Need Laws That Force Police and Prosecutors to Do the Right Thing: the Criminal Defense Reality
BuzzFeed, working with Injustice Watch, recently published an article entitled “Good Day for a Choke Hold.” Written by Emily Hoerner and Rick Tulsky, the piece invites readers with the caption, “[a] review of the Facebook accounts of thousands of officers around the US — the largest database of its kind — found officers endorsing violence…
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Human Trafficking in Texas: Criminal Defense Perspective Part 2 of 2
In Texas, arrests are made by both state and federal law enforcement asserting violation of various crimes involving the human trafficking of individuals, with many of these cases alleging the sex trafficking of minors (those under the age of 18 years). For more on the various crimes involved in the trafficking of humans in Texas,…
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Criminal Defense Take on 2019 Expunction Policy Reforms by Dallas County District Attorney John Creuzot
Across the country, district attorneys are building what is becoming known as their own criminal justice reform movement. Given that the top prosecutor in his or her respective jurisdiction gets to make the call in what cases get prosecuted – and what sentences are sought in those cases – there’s a tremendous amount of power…
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Human Trafficking in Texas: Criminal Defense Perspective Part 1 of 2
Trafficking Crimes in Texas Trafficking is a criminal law term used for both drug crimes and sex crimes. Here, we will be excluding drug trafficking and the defense of those charged with trafficking drugs in Texas. Our focus is on the crimes involved in human trafficking laws: what they provide, and related crimes that are…
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10 Questions to Ask Before you Hire a Dallas Criminal Defense Lawyer
Top 5 Mistakes in Defending a Texas Criminal Case
