Being charged with a DWI in Texas is a serious offense, even if nobody is hurt. If you kill another driver or another road user, you are likely to be facing a long time behind bars.Recently, a 44-year old man was arrested and charged with driving while intoxicated after he struck and killed a pedest...

Identity theft in Texas can be a complicated offense that causes years of problems for victims. In one recent report from El Paso, a defendant is accused of living on a false persona for years and even using it when he was arrested by cops for drunk driving.A report on Channel 5 News cited years of...

A Supreme Court ruling in 2017 that changes how Texas determines intellectual disability in Capital Murder cases is set to impact at least 10 Texas death row inmates.In March 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in favor of Texas death row inmate Bobby Moore. The nation’s highest court sent his case...

Prisons in Texas have a reputation for being uncompromising and even deadly places for those housed in them. When Hurricane Harvey hit the state in 2017, Texas inmates suffered serious deprivations, according to reports.A report in The Nation noted inmates in prisons across the state were left in in...

Austin has a police oversight committee. However, the refusal of the police to act on the recommendations of the citizen panel puts the 16-year experiment in jeopardy.The panel described the action police took over a 25-year-old man as an example of “what not to do” on a mental health call.The T...

On Thursday night, 26-year-old Roderick Farris was shot and killed at a home in South Fort Worth.The police came to know about the shooting when an individual stopped a patrol around 8:45 p.m. and sent the cops to a home at New York and Harvey avenues.The brother of Farris, who saw the shooting, tol...

Corruption crimes against politicians make big headlines. However, these kinds of offenses can be tenuous. Recently, prosecutors dropped criminal charges against state Rep. Dawanna Dukes,Travis County prosecutors went as far as saying the felony charges against the Democratic state lawmaker should n...

The worst mass shooting in U.S. history in Las Vegas in 2017 prompted calls for a bump stock ban, with Texas Republicans leading the charge.A report on KHOU noted Texas Republicans in Congress – Sen. John Cornyn and Rep. Bill Flores – expressed an interest in exploring a ban on bump stocks, an a...

Many people do not believe the police lie. This is not the experience of Texas criminal defense lawyers.The police lie more frequently than many people realize. Officers may lead you to believe they have evidence against you that they do not have to tease a confession out of you. They may indicate t...

Drug smuggling in a serious offense whatever the circumstances. Recently, a former Miss USA contestant was charged with smuggling drugs to an inmate in an Ohio prison.Kia Hampton, 28, of Louisville, Kentucky was arrested in May. A report on Fox News noted a grand jury indicted Hampton on a third-deg...

Law enforcement officials are required to obtain a warrant before searching a suspect’s personal belongings under the Fourth Amendment.The warrant must show there was probable to believe the search or seizure will turn up evidence pertinent to a criminal investigation.Some people think this requir...

A diversion program for offenders who commit misdemeanor marijuana offenses went into effect in Harris County in March 2017.The program diverts offenders caught with small amounts of marijuana from jail to a county educational class.The key aspects of the program were set out in Community Impact.Spe...

MS-13 is a violent street gang with roots in Central America. It was recently singled out for targeting by the Trump administration.Trump has described gang members as “true animals” and said the gang is as bad as Al Qaeda.In October, Attorney Gen. Jeff Sessions said the administration is making...

Attorney General Jeff Sessions has announced a new tough approach to drug crimes and urged federal prosecutors to seek the maximum sentence.It’s a high profile and uncompromising stance. But statistics suggest it failed to lead to more convictions in 2017.A report on CBS noted drug prosecutions ac...

Violent crime rose across the United States in 2016 and the spike was even higher in Texas, according to figures from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).Texas outpaced the national increase in murders and other violent crimes in 2016 compared to 2015, according to the latest crime data.Howeve...

Modern technology helps our everyday lives. It can trace our locations and tell us how far we have walked or run. This evidence can also be used in criminal investigations. Recently Fitbit evidence was used in a murder case.A report on CNN noted the horrific attack as described by Richard Dabate to...

Road rage in Fort Worth is a major issue that has been linked to car accidents, shootings and fatal crashes.In September, a suspected road rage linked incident left two police officers injured, reported the Star-Telegram.The accident left one officer hospitalized while another was treated for injuri...

Campus safety in Texas and elsewhere has come under scrutiny in recent years. However, a loophole was exposed by 2018 R-College Station who was shocked to discover there was no law targeting sex offenders in dorm rooms.That changed with new legislation that was implemented in Texas on Sept. 1, 2017....

Hurricane Harvey devastated the Houston area in September leaving thousands of people homeless. While many people pulled together concerns about corruption led federal prosecutors to set up a task force to target hurricane-related fraud.The federal authorities warned the residents of flooded areas i...

It’s not a crime to be homeless in Texas. However, a raft of laws targeted at homeless people means people with no roof over their heads are often criminalized. Some Texas cities rigorously impose laws against the homeless and have made national headlines for their uncompromising approach.A recent...

Our Fort Worth DWI defense lawyers are often asked if evidence from portable breathalyzers can be used in court. Many people believe this evidence is admissible but the answer is no.Police departments in Texas use two different types of devices. We explain on our website that they have been using th...

A man who is accused of the murder of a woman in Fort Worth has also been accused of a Plano killing after a woman disappeared before her body was found in a Dallas lake.Plano Police Department released the details of an arrest affidavit issued for Reginald Kimbro, 23, for the capital murder of 36-y...

The question of whether felony convictions should be allowed if the jury was not unanimous may be tested before the U.S. Supreme Court, which is looking at the issue of non-unanimous jury verdicts.The highest court in the land is considering whether to look at state laws that allow felony conviction...

If you have been hit with a Texas assault charge, it can have long-term impacts on your life.If you are charged with assault, you will face immediate consequences like potential jail time and a fine, depending on the seriousness of the charge. An assault charge can also have less obvious effects on...

When a judge in north Texas handed down the 89th and final conviction to a member of a white supremacist gang in the summer of 2017, it marked the end of a detailed investigation that lasted years.U.S. District Judge Jane J. Boyle sentenced Jeramy Weatherall, 29, of Dallas to a 20-year prison senten...

Our experienced Fort Worth criminal defense lawyers are often asked about the difference between burglary and criminal trespass in Texas.These two offenses are delated but they are distinct property crimes in Texas. The penalties are different.You can commit the offense of criminal trespass if you e...

Juries don’t always reach unanimous verdicts. In a recent case in Texas, a defendant accepted a plea deal and was sentenced to 23 years in prison after a jury was deadlocked.Steven Johns, an Austin murder suspect, accepted a plea agreement and admitted murdering Joseph Lapaso, reported The Statesm...

Drivers dislike sobriety checkpoints but they are not legal in all states. It’s debatable whether drunk driving checkpoints and roadblocks are legal at all. At present, 38 U.S. states permit them while 12 do not.In Texas, a DWI arrest based on evidence obtained from sobriety checkpoints should not...

Interactions between teens and other citizens and police in recent years have led to standoffs and, in some cases, tragedies. Now high schoolers, new drivers and teens will receive training in police interactions.Senate Bill 30 was pitched to Texas lawmakers amid heightened tensions between police a...

A new law in Texas allows some DWI offenders to keep their convictions off the public record. Although the new non disclosure law is seen as a sympathetic law to offenders, it has been backed by the influential pressure group Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD).The new law came into effect on Sept....

An incident that started as a late night house party in Washington DC more than a decade ago has reached the U.S Supreme Court.The case of 21 people who were arrested for trespassing reached the highest court in the land in late 2017.In the case of District of Columbia v. Wesby, the court’s justic...

Federal child pornography offenses carry long jail terms even when an offender has no previous convictions. In 2017, a 39-year-old Burleson man learned he was facing up to 40 years in federal prison after being convicted over obscene photographs.Daryl Glenn Pawlak was accused by federal prosecutors...

When the FBI released its most dangerous cities in the fall of 2017, the rankings came as a surprise to the city of Robstown.The city of more than 11,000 people near Corpus Christie topped the list of violent cities in the Lone Star State, reported KIII News.The Robstown Police Department disputed t...

Child protective services in Texas have been the subject of official criticism for years. Much of it concerned the safety of children in foster care. These fears were reinforced with a foster parent arrest in San Antonio on sex abuse charges.Miguel Briseno, a 58-year-old man from Devine was arrested...

Robert Pruett was executed in Texas in October. The 38-year-old received the death penalty despite little evidence linking him to the crime and concerns over the use of so-called “junk science.”Pruett was sentenced to death after he was convicted of the 1999 murder of Daniel Nagle, a correctiona...

On Friday morning, 2 individuals sustained gunshot wounds from which 1 died; according to the police.The shooting incident happened at a residence in the 3200 block of New York Avenue around 6:23 a.m.Officer Brad Perez said, the male victim died at the spot and the female victim was rushed to the ho...

If you mistreat a pet in Texas you can face animal cruelty charges. That extends to neglect and the dumping of animals.Recently in Dallas, a man was arrested after new cameras purchased to tackle illegal dumping picked up a man who was allegedly dumping a puppy at a notorious site in the city.The ne...

It may seem like an unorthodox defense, but the devil has come up frequently in criminal trials in Texas where defendants have attempted to use Satan to explain away crimes.The phenomenon was highlighted recently in an article in the Houston Chronicle. The writer pointed out blaming Satan for a crim...

For decades, 17-year-old defendants have been treated like adults in the Texas criminal justice system. However, the state is being targeted by raise the age advocates.Recently, New York became the latest state to raise the age of people who are charged and imprisoned as adults. In 2017, juvenile ju...

A mass shooting in Texas last year highlighted the law that spells out why domestic abusers are banned from owning or possessing guns as well as its major loopholes.In November, Devin Patrick Kelley shot and killed 26 people at the First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas.Kelley should not...