Judges and juries in the Austin area will not hear testimony from forensic examiner Dr. Sam Andrews until state officials finish investigating misconduct allegations against him. Before he became Lubbock County's chief medical examiner, Dr. Andrews was an assistant in Travis Cou...
Month: March 2019
The Five Types of Driving Impairment
Lightning strikes, sudden wind gusts, and a few other uncontrollable incidents cause a handful of the car crashes in Tarrant County. But human error causes about 95 percent of these incidents. Many times, that driver error involves one of the five types of driving impairment whi...
Laying the Groundwork for Expungement in Texas
Criminal convictions make life difficult. A criminal record often makes it much harder, or even impossible, to find a good job, obtain money for school, find a good place to live, or pursue certain careers. For many years, Texas has had some very generous second chance laws, and...
Supreme Court Limits ‘Policing for Profit’
In a unanimous decision, the United States Supreme Court declared that state civil forfeitures are subject to Constitutional limitations. Timbs v. Indiana revolved around Tyson Timbs, who allegedly sold heroin worth about $400 to an undercover officer. Immediately after his arre...
Four Sought-After Qualities in a Tarrant County Criminal Defense Attorney
Most public defenders and court-appointed lawyers are capable professionals. In fact, in many cases, these lawyers are at or near the top of the profession. However, a few of these attorneys are kids just out of school or lawyers who happen to be friends with a court coordinator....
Houston Cop Allegedly Falsified Warrant Application
HPD Chief Art Acevedo said a search warrant affidavit, which led to the shooting death of two people, contained "material untruths or lies." Apparently, an unnamed officer exaggerated facts to obtain a search warrant. The department recorded a 911 call in which a woman claimed t...
If I Took the DWI Test and Failed It, Am I Automatically Guilty?
In a nutshell, the answer is "no," but it is very difficult to defend these cases, at least for the most part. During the initial DWI crackdown in the mid-1990s, Texas and most other states adopted per se DWI laws. Before this change, an above-the-limit BAC result was basically ...
Taking on Parker County Drug Cases
The war on drugs had barely started when it took a very bizarre turn. In 1970, Elvis Presley paid a surprise visit to the White House. The singer told President Richard Nixon he would be an excellent undercover marshal because he was intimately familiar with "drug abuse and Commu...
DWIs and Child Endangerment Charges
Collateral DWI consequences, such as loss of driving privileges and increased auto insurance rates, are sometimes worse that the probation, fines, and other direct consequences. That's especially true with regard to Texas Penal Code 49.045 enhancement cases. If the defendant had ...
Top Three Causes of Motorcycle Crashes
Mostly because they have almost no protection against an onrushing car, motorcycle riders are twenty-eight times more likely to die in these crashes. Even if they survive, riders often sustain incredibly serious injuries in these cases. For example, the force of the impact norma...
