Tag: Criminal Charges

sexual crime

Defendants who are charged with violent or sexual crimes may find it more difficult to bond out of jail pretrial following legislation passed in the Texas legislature earlier this month. A report on Houston Public Media noted House Bill 2 and Senate Bill 6 would prevent a defendant from being released on a personal recognizance…

prisons

Inmates have fought in the courts against excess heat in Texas prisons for years. Now TV host John Oliver has raised the profile of the deadly situation facing inmates. The Last Week Tonight host kicked off a show this month by stating that “heat in prisons is a big problem.” He said more than half…

man being arrested

A federal case in Texas illustrates how the internet has widened the scope of hate crime laws in the United States. A man from Dallas pleaded guilty this month to one hate crime stemming from a scheme that targeted gay men on the dating app Grindr. Daniel Jenkins, 22, pleaded guilty to one hate crime…

Texas is on course to become the latest state to lift gun permitting rules after Republican lawmakers reached a deal this month. The bill will allow people to carry handguns in public without a license or training, clearing the path for Texas to become the latest state to remove penalties for carrying a gun without…

People have a right to protest peacefully under the First Amendment. However, it’s illegal to obstruct the roadway if it prevents the passing of emergency vehicles. This month, the Texas House passed a bill that would increase criminal penalties and require jail time for people who block highways during protests if their action impedes emergency…

Date rape allegations are taken very seriously by authorities, particularly if a drug is used. In Texas, the authorities are investigating allegations of date rape at the Texas Capitol. The TV station KVUE reported a Capitol staffer claimed she was drugged with a date-rape drug by a lobbyist during a meeting in downtown Austin. The…

A defendant’s mental illness makes him or her less morally culpable of a crime and should be taken into consideration as a reason to avoid the death penalty, according to a U.S. Supreme Court ruling. However, states can and do execute defendants who suffer from mental illnesses. Texas is no exception. The Death Penalty Information Center lists…

As criminal defense lawyers, we do everything in our power to keep defendants out of jail. We realize that Texas’s jails and prisons are hazardous places that can harm inmates. This was again illustrated by the tragic death of Marvin Scott III in Collin County. Police arrested Scott, a Black man, in Allen for allegedly…

Hate crimes again made headlines in recent weeks when a gunman killed eight people, including six Asian women, in Atlanta. The Biden administration faces pressure to bring hate crime charges against shooter Robert Aaron Long, 21, over the killings. However, the incident demonstrated flaws in the federal legislation, according to the Washington Post. The hate…

Thousands of prisoners have been exonerated in recent years for wrongful convictions, amounting to almost 25,000 lost years behind bars. Texas leads the nation on exonerations. In 2019, the most recent year figures are available for, Texas had the joint second highest number of exonerations in the country. However, the state leads the table of…