Kudos to the people of Maryland for finally putting an end to state sanctioned homicide. All life is precious, including the lives of those who may not “deserve” to keep living. But, an interesting thing happened on the way to humanity. What is Maryland to do with its “inventory” of…
And since I practice in Sherman I have to mention the favorite statute of a great murder prosecutor, Grayson County’s own Kerye Ashmore. Texas Penal Code section 6.04(b), the law of “transferred intent”, states that “A person is nevertheless criminally responsible for causing a result if the only difference between…
As for the law of parties, Texas Penal Code 7.02 outlines Texas criminal responsibility: “(a) A person is criminally responsible for an offense committed by the conduct of another if: (1) acting with the kind of culpability required for the offense, he causes or aids an innocent or nonresponsible person…
The third definition is the Texas codification of the traditional common law concept of “felony murder.” It is unclear why the second and third definition were needed, as they are very similar and intending to cause serious bodily injury is usually felony aggravated assault. The legislature must have wanted to…
Texas Penal Code 6.03 provides us with handy definitions of the intentional and knowing mental states: “(a) A person acts intentionally, or with intent, with respect to the nature of his conduct or to a result of his conduct when it is his conscious objective or desire to engage in…
Criminal news in Texas seems to revolve around murder. Once a week we pick up the newspaper and someone has shot or stabbed somebody for something. Murder as an offense tends to be “complicated” legally because of the many defenses, beginning with the required mental states and running the gauntlet…
In 1991, thirteen years after his original conviction and death sentence, the Supreme Court reversed his conviction due to illegal psychiatric testimony. Although a blatant violation of the right to remain silent and the right to counsel, the prosecution arranged for Mr. Cook to be interviewed by a State psychiatrist…
The case of State of Texas v. Kerry Max Cook, the twenty year series of trials and appeals in which the State of Texas through the Smith County District Attorney’s Office (Tyler, TX), continually lied, knowingly presented perjured evidence, and did everything evil that rogue prosecutors are able to do,…
“Is your commitment to life as deep as your commitment to the truth?” This is the question I was forced to ask myself this past week as I worked through an exercise at the 2011 Death Penalty Seminar at Gerry Spence’s Trial Lawyers College. Truth and life seem to be…
You have the right to counsel of your choice. If you can afford it, you need to hire the best attorney for your case that you can. Under current economic conditions, many cannot afford the attorney they need and must petition the court for counsel. If indigent by standards set…