Houston Criminal Defense Lawyer
Board Certified in Criminal Law and Criminal Appellate Law
A criminal charge is a fight. The state investigated, charged, and will prosecute. Your lawyer’s job is to force the state to prove every element—beyond a reasonable doubt—or find the weakness that ends the case before it gets that far.
Mark Bennett has practiced criminal defense in Houston for more than thirty years. He is board certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in both Criminal Law and Criminal Appellate Law. Fewer than fifty criminal-defense lawyers in Texas hold both certifications. Jennifer Bennett has practiced criminal defense for more than twenty-five years. Our cases range from misdemeanor theft to capital murder.
We don’t just practice criminal law, we make it: in seven recent cases before the Court of Criminal Appeals—Texas’s high court for criminal matters—we won on seven different legal issues.
State Criminal Cases
A criminal charge does not have to end in conviction. The state’s case has to be proved—each element, to twelve jurors, beyond a reasonable doubt. We look for the weakness in the state’s case: the officer who did not have reasonable suspicion for the stop, the search that violated the Fourth Amendment, the witness whose story does not hold up, the charge that does not fit the facts.
Texas criminal cases we handle include:
“A criminal’s lawyers are seldom artists enough to turn the beautiful terribleness of the deed to the advantage of him who did it.”
Friedrich Nietzsche
Federal Criminal Cases
Federal charges are a different matter. Federal prosecutors investigate longer, charge more carefully, and convict more often. Federal sentences run under the Sentencing Guidelines and are served day-for-day—there is no parole. The difference between a prepared defense and an unprepared one is measured in years.
We have represented clients in federal court at the trial and appellate levels. We know how federal cases are built—the grand jury subpoena, the target letter, the proffer, the cooperation agreement—and we know when and how to respond at each stage.
Federal cases we handle include:
Federal prosecutions frequently cross state and national lines. We practice in federal courts throughout Texas.
