Category: Criminal Charges
No-knock raids by police are a controversial and dangerous practice, nowhere more so than in Texas where police and homeowners have been killed in recent years. In January, two people in Houston were shot dead in a disastrous no-knock drug raid by police. A few weeks later, Houston Police Chief Art Acevedo announced he intends…
Texas set up a new jail system a quarter of a century ago intended to keep low-level drug offenders out of the state’s overcrowded prisons. Lawmakers sought to give inmates convicted of non-violent drug offenses less time behind bars than in state prisons. Instead, they would receive rehabilitative services on probation and be supervised to…
Some people make mistakes when they are young. In Texas, a serious mistake as a teen can mean decades behind bars. The criminal justice system has a reputation for being tough on young offenders and has treated those 17 or older as adults. A new bill filed in the Texas House by Rep. Joe Moody,…
A person facing drug or intoxication charges should understand how a stay in rehab could affect their case. Most people have the common misconception that a stay in rehab can reduce their charges or if convicted, reduce their sentence, but your attorney will tell you that this is not necessarily true. Your criminal defense lawyer…
It’s rare for a child as young as 12 to be charged with a serious offense but in Texas, a boy is facing a possible sentence of 40 years in prison over the fatal shooting of a boxer. The 12-year-old was charged with capital murder over the shooting death of a 24-year-old professional boxer in…
Read our latest Blog on this: 5 Myths and Misconceptions About Federal Appeals Explained by Dallas Federal Appellate Attorney Mick Mickelsen The 14 courts of appeals serve as the intermediate appellate jurisdiction for criminal and civil course cases appealed from the county or district courts. Each court of appeals has authority in a certain geographical…
Hate crimes have reached a record high, according to a report from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The report states that hate crimes have surged to record levels in the 10 largest cities in the country, with hate crimes jumping by 12 percent since 2017. In fact, the numbers are the highest they’ve been…
Since GoFundMe was founded in 2010, people have used it to crowdfund for a variety of reasons. In some cases, the site allows people to quickly spread the word about charitable causes, which allows people from across the country to donate money and help someone in need. However, crowdfunding isn’t also motivated by altruism. In…
A law enacted in Texas in 2015 means many drivers who would previously have lost their licenses can now remain on the road as long as an ignition interlock device is fitted to their vehicles. An ignition interlock is connected to your vehicle. The device is like a breathalyzer. It has a preset level for…
Many forensic science methods used for years to convict people of serious crimes have unraveled under closer scrutiny. Bite mark evidence was used to secure scores of convictions before it was debunked as junk science in 2016. In December, the state’s highest criminal court declared a Texas man innocent of two murders he served more…