I was licensed on May 5, 1995 and immediately started my practice. Today I celebrated my fifteenth anniversary by getting a client's family-violence assault case dismissed. I was going to write a "things I've learned in 15 years of criminal defense" post, but Miami criminal-defense lawyer Brian Tannebaum, whose fifteenth was last week, beat me to it.

Here's Texas's criminal trespass statute. In relevant part, a person commits an offense if the person enters or remains on or in property of another without effective consent and the person received notice to depart but failed to do so. "Effective consent" includes consent by a person legally authorized to act for the owner. And here's a typical Harris County criminal trespass information It alleges that Defendant

The Anonymous Prosecutor did a really nice job in jury selection. Next up: D.You’re probably all wondering what you got yourself into today. There’s a tension in this courtroom; I’m going to try my best to explain to you what’s going on. There’s more to it than just a class B trespass case.I appreciate AP, the courtroom, the judge, living in a country where we have rights

Anonymous Prosecutor’s voir dire cont’d. Talk about some of the laws: Burden is on the state, on SM’s shoulders and mine. D does not have to do a darn thing. Not a thing. One of our most important rights: right to a jury trial. Let’s say I got a traffic ticket for speeding, and am really really mad. I walk over to the deputy and hit him

Jury panel is filing in. 20 people. Mostly white, mostly women (12). Judge Mike Fields does the “good morning . . . good morning” thing. It’s stupid when a prosecutor does it, and it’s stupid when a judge does it. The State has the “property of” problem here: State and court will try to apply statutory “ownership” law from theft cases to criminal trespass case. A lawyer

Jury selection is about to begin in Harris County Criminal Court at Law Number 14. Pro se defendant is charged with criminal trespass at Planned Parenthood. He allegedly entered the building without permission, remained after being told to leave, and blew a shofar. Defendant, who is not Jewish, is wearing a tallit. A Jewish lawyer—not one of the lawyers on the case—objected, and Judge Fields ruled that

If you know me well, you might think that I would find no pleasure in a law-and-order federal judge smiting a college student for contempt, bringing her court in short-shorts and chains (Mary Flood, Houston Chronicle). You might think that any pleasure I took from such an event would be alloyed with guilt. You would be wrong. Judge David Hittner does not suffer fools gladly. In 1998

Seen on Avvo:I am a resident physician in Houston, TX. A charge of indecent exposure has been brought against me by a complaining witness- no other witnesses or evidence involved. I had a warrant for my arrest, for which I went it for booking and was released on bail. Pretrial hearing is set for next month. I don't know what to expect. My attorney believes I might

Rick Casey thinks we Texas criminal-defense lawyers are “coddled” (Paul Kennedy) because the Texas Supreme Court declared in 1995 in Peeler v. Hughes and Luce that, unless a criminal defendant is acquitted, his criminal acts are—as a matter of law—the sole proximate cause of his conviction and punishment.Andrew Winters commented from New Hampshire:

Last week Houston judge Susan Brown jailed a woman for thanking God for her husband's acquittal (Rick Casey, Chronicle). “It wasn't an angry thing,” she said of the wife's outburst. “Every black preacher teaches us to thank the Lord.” Um, okay, that justifies 36 hours in jail? [Update: According to criminal-defense lawyer Vivian King, who is running as a Democrat for the bench that Brown holds at