Salvador Cisneros came to the United States to realize the American dream, and part of his dream might have ranged from fondling breasts in public to joining the mile high club. Having been discovered in the United States without permission to be here, he applied for a “cancellation of removal”…
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…
A 17 year old in Tarrant County was arrested for tweeting a picture of picture of an airsoft rifle aimed at a marked Fort Worth police vehicle and “Should I do it? They Don’t Care For a Black Male Anyways.” Police justified their arrest, despite the rifle being an airsoft,…
And, when your client makes incriminating statements of whatever nature to your competency expert, you have the ability to decide whether presenting that expert is worth bringing up these statements. They are privileged as long as you do not call your expert or disclose his report. You don’t have to…
I only ask for competency evaluations now when I believe there is little chance of my client making an incriminating statement in the evaluation. This is more often than not, but I am a lot more protective now. Why? Because, if you have grounds to request a competency expert, you…
It is always nice to hear when your client says “I am leaving my case in God’s hands” or “I know Jesus will win my case for me.” I never know what to say in response to this, except that Jesus won’t be there to testify, and Biblical figures in…
But, you MUST also speak to client’s relatives to get a better understanding. We lawyers all dread getting repeated phone calls from family members and friends of inmates asking us the same questions over and over. However, you cannot isolate yourself completely from your client’s family and put up the…
Representing the mentally ill is a big part of any true criminal defense practice. Citizens accused of crimes are normally undereducated and under medicated, so to speak. The statistics bear that too many have not finished high school for whatever reason, and many have an underlying mental illness that impairs…
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…