Criminal Law Blog
Will You Go to State Jail or Texas Prison? The Importance of Plea Negotiations
This week, Dallas Police Chief David Brown is fighting to keep his job after the news got out that there has been almost a 75% increase in murders in the Dallas area. That’s right: SEVENTY-FIVE PERCENT. The Black Police Association is calling on Chief Brown to resign. The Dallas Police Association admits that the city’s…
Texas Court of Criminal Appeals: Case of First Impression on Texas’ New Junk Science Law
Two years ago, we were optimistic about the efforts being made by many to resolve a huge problem of injustice here: the problem of “junk science.” All too often in this state, and across the country, “junk science” is being used to wrongfully convict innocent people of crime. Some are even sentenced to death based,…
Credit Card Fraud and Theft in Texas: Lots of Credit Cards Here in DFW
Credit Card and Debit Card Fraud in Texas: What’s Involved Here Fraud is a crime under the Texas Penal Code, and it can mean many different things. Basically, “fraud” is considered a criminal act because people (victims, marks) get hurt by it. Fraud will get you arrested in Texas, and it happens when you take…
Synthetic Drug Arrests in Texas: Police Focusing on K2 and Spice in Dallas
Pot gets more people busted in Texas than any other illegal drug. Most drug possession arrests in Texas are for marijuana, and a little under half of those arrests lead to convictions (48.2% in statutory county courts and 42.3% in constitutional county courts), according to a Texas Department of Public Safety study (for more on…
Privacy of Your Smart Phone: Police Search and Seizure and Apple’s Fight Against the FBI
There is a huge privacy fight going on this month up in Washington regarding privacy and your smart phone, as the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) wants access to all the data that is setting encrypted on the iPhone taken by the local police in the aftermath of the San Bernardino shootings. Some may argue…
Prosecutorial Misconduct in Texas Murder Trials: Prosecutors Fighting Against Misconduct Allegations
Prosecutors in Texas doing bad things is a serious problem – and one that is slow to be corrected. We’ve discussed this issue in case after case, coming from all parts of the state, for several years now. For past examples, read our posts including: August 2015: District Attorneys Keep Doing Bad Things: More Texas…
Family Violence in Texas: Crimes Based Upon Domestic Violence – It’s More Than a Fight That Turns Physical
According to the Texas Department of Public Safety, there were 185,817 reports of family violence made to Texas law enforcement in 2014. Most will assume that these numbers reflect fights between men and women, either married couples or romantic relationships, where emotions got high and things turned physical. After all, that’s what everyone is…
Arrested then Assaulted in Texas: Jailers and Guards Caught on Video
The suicide of 28-year-old Sandra Bland got lots of people talking about the goings-on in local jails here in Texas. Ms. Bland died last July in the Waller County Jail, and the autopsy concluded that she committed suicide by hanging. Sandra Bland had said some things that should have warned her jailers that she was…
Grand Jury in Texas: Defending Witnesses and Targets of Grand Jury Investigations
You read about grand juries all the time: just this month, there was national news coverage in the Tamir Rice case, because there was no indictment; the grand jury voted against it. Another example: in the Sandra Bland case, there was an indictment because the grand jury voted for it – after the grand jury…
2016 Texas Gun Laws: Obama Action, Open Carry: Know Your Gun Rights
Prediction: More Gun Arrests in Texas Over New Gun Laws In the first week of the new year, not only did the new Texas Open Carry Law become effective, but President Obama announced his latest executive actions for federal government gun control. Talk to people; read the news media; listen to the news releases from…
