RESULTS: CRIMINAL CASES

Assault Family Violence

My client and a woman were in a car, arguing.  Some unknown person called the police because they were arguing.   My client allegedly slapped the woman.  The police showed up and arrested my client for assault dating violence. 

My investigation showed that my client and the woman were not in a dating relationship, that in fact the woman was married to someone else and had been living with her husband in their home for years.   That ended the “dating violence” part of the accusation. 

My investigation also showed that any contact between my client and the woman was accidental.

Assault Family Violence

My client gave her daughter the freedom to drive her car, but with the freedom came the responsibility to not let other people drive the car, and not to allow one boy in particular into the car.  My client’s daughter not only allowed the boy into the car, she let him drive the car.   My client saw this happen and was not pleased, and let her daughter and the boy know it.  Her daughter promised not to let it happen again. 

Result: case dismissed.
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Assault Family Violence

My client was not thinking too clearly one day.  He was worried about an acquaintance and so went by her apartment to see if she was all right.  No answer.  He feared that she was inside her apartment, incapacitated and unable to answer the door, so he got a drill out of his car, hopped the fence enclosing his acquaintance’s apartment patio, and began to try to enter the apartment. 

Now, the woman’s boyfriend was not pleased with any of this at all, as you might imagine.  He grabbed a Japanese sword (not a ceremonial sword, but a genuine razor sharp Samurai sword made from cold rolled steel) and went after my client.  Quickly realizing that his acquaintance had someone to look after her, my client took his drill and ran for his life to his car.   He jumped in his car, backed out of his parking spot, and took off.  But not before the boyfriend’s sword put a slice into the metal trunk of the car. 

Now, I said a minute ago that my client was not thinking too clearly, but his heart was in the right place.  If you don’t agree, listen to this.  My client returned about an hour later, wanting to apologize.  In my client’s culture, it’s appropriate to offer money along with an apology, and that’s what my client did. 

Well, the woman’s boyfriend wasn’t too familiar with my client’s culture’s protocol for apologies.  He just grabbed the sword and went after my client again.  This time my client didn’t quite out run the boyfriend.  The boyfriend chased my client to his car.  My client jumped in the car, but hadn’t yet closed the driver’s door.  When he saw the boyfriend running up, he displayed a semi-automatic handgun, but did not point it at anyone.  The boyfriend, recognizing the “never bring a sword to a gunfight” rule, backed off and called 911. 

The grand jury indicted my client for an aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. 

The prosecutor and I talked about the case.  Initially the offer was for a felony probation.  On my client’s behalf, I declined, because my client complied with the law regarding self-defense.  Specifically, Texas Penal Code section 9.32 says that a person is justified in using deadly force against another … when and to the degree the person reasonably believes that deadly force is immediately necessary to protect himself against the other person’s use or attempted use of unlawful deadly force.   The boyfriend was using unlawful deadly force because the 2^nd time my client went near his apartment he was trying to put cash on the ground and leave.  My client wasn’t armed at that point.  My client only displayed the handgun when the boyfriend came running up, deadly weapon in hand.

With my client’s authority, I offered to resolve the case with a plea to the crime he did commit, namely the criminal trespass he committed when he hopped the fence at the apartment.   And that is how it all worked out.

Assault Family Violence

This case proves that confusion is often best resolved by talking, not by arresting, first. My client and her husband were not getting along one day. They were both pretty upset, so her husband went up into the restroom they shared to take a shower and calm down. Meanwhile, my client's mother was trying to place a foreign phone call, and dialed "91118657..." You get the idea. Her phone call never went through, or rather it went through to 911. But because she spoke no English, she could not explain that this was all a misunderstanding. APD came to the door looking for a domestic violence call and they looked for one until they thought they found one. Namely, the police were at the bathroom in which my client was taking a shower. Finally, he let them in and they decided he looked assaulted enough, so they arrested his wife.

Result: case dismissed.
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Assault With Bodily Injury

This case turned into a bit of a brawl between the State and the Defense. My client was a former employee of the Austin PD who had been accused of assaulting another person inside the main headquarters of APD. My investigation of the facts showed good grounds to argue that my client was being selectively prosecuted.

Result: case dismissed.
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Assault Family Violence

My client was accused of assaulting his companion. My investigation showed that my client's companion was bipolar and was frequently not truthful; also, to put the case in context, my investigation showed that my client had just learned that his companion had had an affair.

Result: case dismissed.
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Assault Family Violence

My client's girlfriend claimed that my client had kicked her. My investigation showed that my client's girlfriend had no visible injuries, and that she admitted that she only called the police because she was mad at my client.

Result: case dismissed.
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Assault Family Violence

My client was charged with assault three times for a single assault, arising out of a single criminal "transaction" and "episode." Bottom line: the State can't turn a single assault into three separate assaults.

Result: Client kept his license and the criminal case against him was dismissed.
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Assault Family Violence

My client's boyfriend reported my client for allegedly biting him on his leg during a fight. What he failed to mention to the police was that he was trying to take my client's dog; my client was permitted to prevent the consequences of theft.

Result: case dismissed.
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Assault Family Violence
Class A Misdemeanor

Police arrested my client after a relative accused him of assault. My investigation – which included 11 witness statements – showed that the accuser was mentally ill, an habitual liar, and that my client was innocent. This case was not reduced and refiled. It was dismissed outright.

Result: case dismissed.
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Assault Family Violence
Class A Misdemeanor

Police report said my client punched out her roommate for no reason. Police did no investigation other than to talk to the alleged victim. Prosecutor got medical records showing that the victim had two black eyes and a broken nose.

My investigation showed – through 5 witnesses' sworn statements – that the alleged victim had assaulted my client when my client refused to let the "victim" drive while intoxicated and then later assaulted my client when my client tried to take her clothes and leave the apartment.

If you look closely at the Dismissal Form, you'll see an "x" next to a sentence that says "Other: Deferred Prosecution." Deferred Prosecution basically means the case is dismissed, so long as the Defendant takes a class or performs some community service. Result: case dismissed. Click here to see enlarged image.

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Assault Family Violence

Police report accused my client of assaulting her boyfriend by biting him. My investigation showed that the boyfriend was much bigger than my client (boyfriend was approximately 6'4" and 280 lbs.). Also, my investigation showed that my client bit the boyfriend in self-defense because the boyfriend was choking my client.

Case was set for trial, but prosecutor dismissed when he saw he could not prove his case. If you look closely at the Dismissal Form, you'll see an "x" next to a sentence that says "Other: pending further investigation." That means if the prosecutor later figures out how to prove the case, he can refile it. That rarely happens. Result: case dismissed. Click here to see enlarged image.

Result: case dismissed.
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Assault with bodily injury

My client was charged with having punched and kicked his significant other. The police interviewed my client and he unfortunately confessed, and his confession was somewhat similar to his significant other's statement to the police.

Result: charge dismissed.
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Assault with injury

My client was charged with having punched a friend's neighbor in the face several times. My investigation showed that my client only punched the neighbor after the neighbor had threatened his friend some 6 times before, and the last time my client's friend was threatened with immediate injury.

Result: case dismissed.
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Assault Family Violence
Class A Misdemeanor

Client had already gotten a deferred prosecution and dismissal, then made a mistake by not following through on the agreement. The County Attorney filed the charges against him again.

Result: case dismissed.
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Assault Family Violence

Client and his spouse were arguing. Client realized that he was getting angry, so he said he needed to leave to cool off, and then drove off in his truck. Spouse became afraid that Client was leaving and not coming back. Spouse panicked and called 911. Police came and pressured Spouse into signing an Assault Victim Statement which said things that weren't true. I tenaciously went after evidence that proved that Spouse had denied that she had been injured at all from the beginning.

Result: case dismissed.
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Assault Family Violence

Client and alleged victim were arguing. Alleged victim told police that client approached her with a knife and told her to leave. Alleged victim told police she had called them to get the situation calmed down. I interviewed the alleged victim, who told me that the police told her that they could not do anything to help her unless she said that client had caused her pain. Client was arrested and put in jail. Without the alleged victim's approval, the police applied for an Emergency Protective Order, barring my client from entering client's home.

Result: case dismissed.
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Assault Family Violence

Witnesses told the police that my client grabbed his significant other in a "hug" which broke and bruised her ribs. After that, the witnesses said, he threw her up against a wall and then pinned her at her throat. I prepared the case for trial.

Result: case dismissed.
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Assault Family Violence

My client's sister told the police that my client kicked her and hit her. My investigation showed that the sister did not know what caused her injuries. The sister admitted that she was clumsy and bruised easily.

Result: case dismissed.
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Assault Family Violence

Client's ex-boyfriend told police that he had gone to her apartment to talk to her. He said that when he arrived, she started to swear at him and that when he got up to leave, that she started punching him. My investigation showed that the ex-boyfriend had a strong financial motive to say these things.

Result: Dismissed.
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Assault Family Violence

Client had argument with his wife. The argument became heated, so my client decided to leave the house for a bit to cool down. He got in his truck and left for a while. Client's wife became even more upset, thinking that her husband had permanently left her. She called the police and made a false report that my client had assaulted her. I took statements from my client's wife, her three children, and my client's brother and cousins. Predictably, the statements differed on minor points, but everyone was clear that no assault took place.

Result: case dismissed.
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Aggravated Assault With a Deadly Weapon

Police charged my client with aggravated assault. My investigation showed that my client was a nine month pregnant woman who was attacked from the rear by a crack whore. Her fear for her life, as well as that of her unborn child, brought her to pull a knife from her purse and defend herself.

Result: case dismissed.
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Aggravated Assault With a Deadly Weapon

Alleged victim walked into hospital with knife wound. He was incoherent at first, but eventually explained that he had been helping my client move, that they argued over her paying for his gasoline, and that she walked up to him and slashed his forearm. Police detective went to the convenience store and watched video of my client approaching the alleged victim and making a slashing motion. He failed to get a copy of the video, however. I discovered that the alleged victim’s criminal history included many convictions for possession of cocaine and a few convictions and several arrests for violent crimes.

Result: case dismissed.
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2nd Degree Felony burglary of a home

Police investigation showed only that someone had pawned a stolen item using my client's Texas Driver's License. My investigation proved that my client's Driver License was stolen more than a month before the burglary occurred and that someone else probably used the stolen Driver License to pawn items stolen during the burglary.

Result: case dismissed.
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Burglary of a Habitation with Intent to Commit Aggravated Assault
1st Degree Felony

Client kicked in the door of an acquaintance's home in the middle of the night, then fired shots at the acquaintance. The acquaintance had his wife call 911, then grabbed a pistol and shot my client once in the leg. The police captured my client just outside the acquaintance's home.

Result: case dismissed.
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Driving While License Suspended

My client was driving while her license was suspended. I persuaded her to get her license cleared up and pay her insurance for 6 months in advance.

Result: case dismissed.
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Driving While License Suspended

About 2 weeks before he was arrested for driving while license suspended, my client had renewed his license at DPS with no problems. When my client was pulled over, however, the police told him that his license was invalid for failure to pay a ticket. I proved that the police computer showed that my client's license was suspended in error.

Result: case dismissed.
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Driving While License Suspended

Client's license had been suspended because of problems with tickets. Client was pulled over for traffic offense and was asked for his license. Client gave his license to the police officer, who went to his patrol unit to see if the license was still valid. It was not. Client was arrested.

Result: case dismissed.
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False Report to a Police Officer

Police accused my client of lying to the police about having been hit on the head, based on what the hotel manager and other "witnesses" said. I showed the prosecutor that my client's report was consistent with what the hotel manager saw and that the other "witnesses" were unreliable drug addicts.

Result: case dismissed.
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Fictitious Inspection Sticker

My client was charged with having a fictitious inspection sticker on his windshield. The reason he got a ticket for this in the first place was that an officer had parked himself at the corner of 7th and Chicon, where a lot of honest, hard-working people work and live, but unfortunately there are also a fair number of drug dealers, too. So, the officer had himself parked there, looking for basically any reason to stop anybody, because he figured he could get to the search soon enough. Along came my client, whose inspection sticker didn't look quite right. The officer stopped him, smelled marijuana, and they were off to the races. Unfortunately for the officer, the amount of marijuana found was so small that even the narcotics unit didn't want to fool with it. No charges were filed on that. My client just went and got his car inspected and we proved that.

Result: case dismissed.
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Misuse of Public Property by a Public Official

Client worked in a governmental agency and was accused of misusing governmental property for private gain. I showed the prosecutor that the alleged misuse of governmental property was really nothing more than fine-tuning the property so it could operate efficiently.

Result: the grand jury no-billed (failed to indict) my client and the case was dismissed.
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Hindering Apprehension

This case was a blatant abuse by the Manor Police Department. My client had been riding his motorcycle with an acquaintance. Manor PD got behind them and turned on their emergency lights. My client pulled over and got his ticket, but his acquaintance did not. The Manor officer became pretty upset with my client that his acquaintance didn't pull over, but what could my client do? He, after all, was the one who pulled over. They asked my client about the acquaintance's name, and my client only knew the first name. The police became more upset and threatened to arrest him if he did not find out the acquaintance's full name and contact information and report it. It was a Sunday and my client knew he wouldn't see his acquaintance until the next day. To his surprise, somewhat later that day, he saw his acquaintance lying face down in a ditch, apparently injured from a motorcycle wreck. So my client and his wife picked him up and took him to a hospital. Do you see a crime here? Neither did I. I told the State that my client would not plead to anything, nor agree to any deferred prosecution.

Result: case dismissed.
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Interfering with the Duties of a Public Servant

My client had learned that another young man had tried to "lay hands" on his sister. When my client next saw the other young man, the other young man was already in police custody, but my client had some things to say to him. And he said them. Police officer told my client to back off and stop saying those things to young man who was under arrest. My client was more interested in telling the other young man to leave his sister alone. Ultimately, police took my client to the floor.

Result: case dismissed.
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Interfering with the Duties of a Public Servant

Supposedly, my client had put her hands on the face of a police officer who was trying to arrest her boyfriend. My client was angry as all get-out and wanted a jury trial to get justice. My investigation showed that the defense could present more witnesses than the prosecutors could, including 2 witnesses who had no stake in whether my client was found guilty or not. Also, the policeman's story between his affidavit for a warrant of arrest and his police report differed a lot, not to the State's benefit.

Result: case dismissed.
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Obscenity

My client had worked in an adult bookstore in the 1980s. One day, the police came in, took photos, seized items from the store, asked my client his name and the name of the owner. He was not arrested. He stopped working at the store, finished his degree at the University of Texas, and went on with his life. Twenty years later, my client was about to visit the governor's mansion. But before DPS would let anyone in, they check to see if you have outstanding warrants. Lo and behold, my client did. Trouble was, since it had been 20 years since the offense allegedly happened, the State couldn't find its officer.

Result: case dismissed.
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Tampering With a Witness

The prosecution's witnesses said that my client had offered more than $1,500 to complaining witness (in a different case) to make the other case "go away." My investigation showed that the complaining witness and my client had an ongoing business dispute, and that the complaining witness had sent numerous to my client demanding payment on his alleged debt.

Result: case dismissed.
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Theft of Auto Parts

Police report indicated that my client had confessed to the officer that he committed the crime. I showed that the confession was illegally obtained. If you look closely at the Dismissal Form, you'll see an "x" next to a sentence that says "Other:," and then the rest of the hand writing is not legible. That hand writing says: "pending further investigation." That means if the prosecutor later figures out how to prove the case, he can refile it. That rarely happens.

Result: case dismissed.
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Theft

Client was caught red-handed after leaving a department store with a number of items for which Client had not paid. Store security took Client's picture, took picture of the items, and "scanned" the UPC codes through a store register.

Result: case dismissed.
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Theft

Client was caught at the store with the allegedly stolen goods and no receipt.

Result: case dismissed.
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Unauthorized Use of a Motor Vehicle (Auto Theft)

Police said my client had stolen an acquaintance's car. Police did no investigation other than to take an accident report and the alleged victim's statement. My investigation showed that the "acquaintance" was really a friend who frequently loaned her car to my client, and who had in fact gone out partying with my client on the evening of the alleged auto theft.

Result: auto theft case dismissed.
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Unauthorized Use of a Motor Vehicle (Auto Theft)

The Unauthorized Use of a Motor Vehicle dismissal came around because I read the offense report and saw there was no evidence at all that my client had used or operated the vehicle. The officer only saw my client sitting in the passenger seat, which is not enough proof that he was operating the vehicle.

Result: auto theft case dismissed.
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Unlawful Discharge of a Firearm
Class A Misdemeanor

Police arrested my client after approximately 8 witnesses saw my client fire a pistol. My investigation showed my client noticed a disturbance in his front yard caused by a neighborhood trouble-maker. The trouble-maker was physically threatening my client's grandchildren. My client got a pistol, went outside, and fired a shot.

Result: case dismissed.
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Places Weapons Prohibited

Client went through the metal detector at the airport with an illegal knife in his bag. The Transportation Security Administration agent asked whose bag it was, and he said "mine."

Result: case dismissed.
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Workers' Compensation fraud

They said my client had committed a felony workers’ compensation fraud. Someone had overstated the amount of the loss. With the revised figure, even if true, it wasn’t a felony.

Result: Dismissed.
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Credit Card Abuse

Client visited the home of a wealthy friend of whom client felt jealous. While friend went to refill client's iced tea, client went through friend's wallet and stole several credit cards, then went on a shopping spree. Client was caught on video camera in several area stores purchasing items with the stolen credit cards.

Result: Case Dismissed.
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