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A ruling in New Mexico that citizens who don’t speak English have the right to serve on juries has put the spotlight on other states with large Hispanic populations such as Texas. The New Mexico Supreme Court is cautioning trial courts and attorneys that citizens who don’t speak English in a heavily Hispanic state, have…
In a case that attracted considerable media interest, a 44-year-old former stripper was recently convicted of attempting to kill her fiancé with the help of her teen son and his friend. Vicky Renee Miller, 44, was found guilty of attempting to kill Paul Key in November 2011. She received the maximum sentence of 20 years…
A teenager who was arrested following the homicide of 6-year-old Alanna Gallagher, has also been accused of shooting a police officer who attempted to arrest him. The recent killing of Alanna Gallagher shocked the Texas community of Saginaw after her body was found wrapped in a tarpaulin on a street corner. Associated Press reported Tyler…
A high profile investigation into the killing of a 6-year-old in Saginaw, Texas, highlights the increasing complexity of evidence gathering in the modern era. The death of Alanna Gallagher has shocked a Texas community. Her body was found earlier this month in the middle of a Saginaw road, naked and wrapped in a tarp. The…
The arrest of a man described by the authorities as a member of the Bloods gang in Galveston, Texas, has once again highlighted the issue of organized crime in the state. According to the Houston Chronicle, Christopher Mason, 38, was described as a “career violent offender” and a gang member. He was arrested on the…
Last Friday we considered the question, Is technology driving jurisprudence? Today we’ll discuss some of these technologies. Perhaps the first such “new” technology that will confront the Court is the pervasive use of surveillance cameras. Such cameras, with ever increasing frequency, are being installed on office buildings, banks, stores, and other private establishments. Because private…
On January 23rd 2012 the Supreme Court decided a seminal case concerning the relationship to new technologies and Fourth Amendment jurisprudence. In United States v. Jones, __ U.S. ___ (2012), the Supreme Court decided whether the warrantless installation of a global positioning system device on the underside of a suspect’s car in order to track…
Texas, with its multi-million dollar oil and gas industry, sees a number of high profile white collar crime investigations every year. According to the U.S Department of Justice, four executives from Provident Royalties, Inc. have been sentenced in connection with a massive oil and gas investment fraud scheme in the Eastern District of Texas. The…
This was the question recently put to members of the Dallas criminal defense bar. When his peers were asked, Clint Broden was selected in four categories as the lawyer other criminal defense lawyers would go to if their son or daughter needed criminal representation. The categories were: If my son/daughter were charged with a FELONY…
Medicaid and Medicare fraud has made headlines recently after Texas Governor Rick Perry signed a series of bills to step up state enforcement and investigations into bad practices in the healthcare field. The legislation is also intended to set up procedural safeguards for health providers accused of wrongdoing. The new laws broaden the definition of…