Criminal Defense

Technically, there are three types of simple assault cases in Texas. Nearly all of them are 22.01(a) Assault with Bodily Injury (ABI) cases. A few are 22.01(b) assaults by threat (ABTs) or 22.01(c) assaults by contact (ABCs). But the latter two are only Class C misdemeanors (no j...

Jail is bad. The food is borderline indigestible, the people are unpleasant, there is no privacy, and there is no freedom. Perhaps worst of all, there are hours upon hours upon hours of idle time. But in some cases, a brief jail sentence may be preferable to an extended period o...

The number of classic bar fight assaults has plummeted more than 60 percent since the early 1990s. But misdemeanor assault is still one of the most commonly-charged offenses in Parker County. Under Texas Penal Code 22.01, it is a Class A misdemeanor (up to one year in jail and a...

The jury system is the foundation of individual rights in criminal cases. This is a right few others enjoy. An estimated 90 percent of the word's jury trials occur in the United States. Rather ironically, that's also roughly the proportion of criminal plea bargains as opposed to ...

Pretrial release is important for a number of reasons. Obviously, people who are incarcerated cannot work, go to school, or spend time with their families. Furthermore, these individuals cannot participate in their own defenses, at least in any meaningful way. Finally, many Tarra...

In Texas, possession of even trace amounts of marijuana is a Class B misdemeanor (6 months in jail and $2,000 fine). Possession of a weapon is a Class A misdemeanor (one year and $4,000 fine). IN some cases, a non-working firearm, a pocketknife, and a hammer could all be "weapons...

Especially in felony cases, community supervision can be quite burdensome. The period of probation may be several years. During this time, there are travel restrictions and reporting requirements. There is also the constant threat of probation revocation. Texas Code of Criminal ...

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 ...

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...

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...