Tag: Texas criminal defense lawyer
Just a handful of states have specific laws that address looting. The flooding and devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey will affect Houston and greater Texas for years to come. As people slowly begin to return to their homes and rebuild, prosecutors in Harris County and the surrounding areas have already pursued looting charges against 14…
Many officers aren’t aware Tasers have the potential to kill. Tasers are often touted by police as a lower level of force than handguns, however, a 2017 Reuters report reveals that Tasers have caused over 1,000 deaths in the United States. Although many people use “Taser” and “stun gun” interchangeably, only stun guns require direct…
Is DNA evidence the most foolproof way to determine if someone has committed a crime? If you watch a lot of crime dramas on television, or you’re a fan of detective novels, you might believe that DNA evidence is the most foolproof way to determine if someone has committed a crime. Furthermore, you wouldn’t be…
What constitutes an aggravated crime varies from state to state? Many people hear that a crime is “aggravated” and wonder what that means. What distinguishes a robbery from an “aggravated” robbery, for example? Is one worse than the other? The short answer is that, yes, an aggravated crime is a more serious charge that carries…
It’s important to remember that statutes of limitations vary from state to state. Statutes of limitations put a limit on how long a person can be prosecuted for a crime. These time limits also exist in civil law. For example, the statute of limitations for suing someone over a breach of contract is generally 10…
Texas criminal law makes it clear that a person can be convicted of perjury if they knowingly make a false written statement even when not under oath. Most people have a basic understanding of perjury. They know that it involves lying under oath, and most people picture this happening on the witness stand in a…
Many states have taken steps to ensure juvenile offenders in their courts are not slapped with a life sentence before they even reach adulthood. Should a teenager be sentenced to life in prison? It’s a question that has resonated throughout the criminal justice system in recent years. In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that…
It’s terrifying to think that the nation’s most elite federal law enforcement agency could be so wrong on so many cases over such a staggeringly long period of time. Just a few years ago, the FBI admitted that serious flaws in investigatory practices used by its forensics unit led to nearly every examiner giving inaccurate…
The law comes about one year after a devastating attack on Dallas police officers in which five officers were killed. Beginning September 1, 2017, Texas joins a handful of states that have enacted so-called “Blue Lives Matter” laws, which make attacks on law enforcement officials, including judges, a hate crime. Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed…
There are now three times more people with serious mental illness incarcerated in the United States than in hospitals. Are U.S. prisons criminalizing the mentally ill? That’s what a large number of criminal justice advocacy groups have stated — and their assertions are definitely backed up by the data. According to the Bureau of Justice…