Criminal Defense

Texas readers may be interested to learn that prosecutors at a prominent national wiretapping hub in California likely violated federal law when they permitted police eavesdropping in hundreds of drug cases. According to an investigation by USA Today and The Desert...

Texas criminal courts often use sworn testimony from law enforcement officers, witnesses and the defendant as a basis for their verdicts and associated sentences. Those who knowingly mislead the court in an attempt to sway the judge or a jury into making a certain...

Most Texas criminal cases are resolved through plea bargaining rather than going to trial. Though many advocate on behalf of plea bargains because courts would be overwhelmed if all cases went to trial, others believe that they often provide defendants with too easy...

Those who face criminal charges in Texas could potentially avoid spending time in prison even if they are convicted. Because judges have the ability to hand down alternative sentences, defendants may be able to complete their punishments via means like performing...

Individuals charged with second degree murder in Texas are innocent until proven guilty, and have rights to trial by jury and assistance of counsel, among others. If the accused individual is found not guilty at trial, the action is concluded. If the individual is...

Homicide charges are of course quite serious in Texas and around the country. When a claim of self-defense meets essential criteria, a defendant could have murder or manslaughter charges dropped or be acquitted at trial. The general definitions of self-defense must be...

Texas residents are likely aware that parts of laws are sometimes struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court on constitutional grounds. Federal sentencing laws have been widely criticized as unfair and capricious by justice advocates and judges, and a passage in one such...

High-profile murder trials with defendants who invokes insanity defenses may lead some Texas court watchers to believe that such a defense is a common occurrence in criminal cases. In actuality, a defense of not guilty by reason of insanity is asserted in only 1...

On May 26, the Texas House voted to raise the age at which teens would enter the adult legal system. The provision was part of a bill earlier passed by the Senate that proposes keeping juveniles convicted of minor offenses closer to home rather than in faraway...

Some lawyers are expressing concern for Texas defendants who have had their assets, tainted and untainted, frozen by the government. The case of one defendant from Miami is one prominent example; she was the president of two healthcare companies before she was...