In the 1971 movie Dirty Harry, antihero Harry Callaghan seizes a hunting rifle from a suspected serial killer's apartment. The San Francisco District Attorney, along with an appeals court judge, inform a clearly agitated Dirty Harry that the evidence is inadmissible in court and ...
Month: August 2018
Does the ALR Hearing Matter?
The fines, probation, and other direct consequences of a DWI are bad enough. The collateral consequences, like license suspension and higher insurance rates, can be even worse. There's not much that a lawyer can do about the cost of auto insurance. But there is a lot an attorney ...
The Different Court Levels in Parker County
Texas law divides criminal offenses into misdemeanors and felonies. Texas law also divides the criminal courts in different ways to handle these different cases. There is not much of a difference between county court and district court, but there is a huge difference between Just...
Breaking Down Some Complex Federal Criminal Cases
In the seemingly endless "war against drugs," the number of successful prosecutions is basically the only yardstick of success. So, Texas prosecutors are very aggressive in these cases, at both the state and federal level. Federal and state authorities usually only bring indictm...
Breaking Down the Elements of a DWI
Prosecutors are very aggressive when it comes to DWIs. In some jurisdictions, as many as half the probationers were convicted of misdemeanor DWI. Truth be told, many of these cases are difficult to defend. But that's certainly not always the case, many times, especially during h...
Is Deferred Adjudication Always Better Than Straight Probation?
During the period of probation, these two sentencing alternatives are the same. Both usually mean attending meetings with a probation officer, performing community service, attending drug education or other classes, and paying fines. Both usually have the same set of generic cond...
Will Texas Relax Its Marijuana Possession Laws?
During their summer conventions, both Republicans and Democrats in the Lone Star State approved platforms which would do just that. GOP delegates approved provisions calling for the decriminalization of marijuana and the expansion of medical marijuana. The proposal endorsed redu...
DL Suspension Continues to Draw Scrutiny
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit revived a lawsuit which a Virginia district judge had dismissed due to a technicality. The lawsuit involves the practice of suspending drivers' licenses because of unpaid court fees. Critics say this practice forces people into a ...
Three Ways to Erase a Texas Criminal Record
Punishment for a criminal offense does not end once the cell doors open or the period of probation ends. In fact, sometimes the collateral consequences can be just as bad, or even worse, than the direct consequences. Even a minor criminal conviction often makes it hard to get a g...
Occupational Drivers’ License: What You Need to Know
Most people whose licenses are suspended do nothing about the issue. 75 percent of these individuals simply keep driving. The "ignore a problem and hope it goes away" approach hardly ever works and almost always results in very bitter consequences. In Texas, those consequences i...
