Some people believe that we are where we are and have what we have mainly because of the choices we've made. Others believe that we are where they are and have what we have, ultimately, because of things beyond our control -- nature and nurture for example, or good fortune, or the grace of God. Most people who have led privileged existences are in the first group.

A first-time offender should not go to prison if he couldn't legally have been shot and killed if caught in the act. (This is not, of course, to say that everyone who could have been shot and killed if caught in the act should go to prison.) This principle makes sense to me because it reserves prison as a punishment only for those who present an immediate

A friend who's a great criminal-defense lawyer in Collin County (and a former public defender and, before that, a former prosecutor) read my blog and asked me for permission to "steal" some of my writing for his website. My first reaction was that my ideas aren't my protected property. After all, lawyers copy each other's material all the time. When I write a brief or a motion

When a potential client comes in, charged with his first misdemeanor, and says, "I did what they've accused me of. They've got me. I don't have any defense. I just want to plead guilty and take probation," I will generally tell him something like this: If that's what you want, you should probably hire someone else. I come in to every case looking for a way to

How would you measure the success of the "War on Drugs?" A DEA agent I know who has been fighting this "war" for more than 20 years has an answer: compare the quantity and price of drugs on the street now with the quantity and price of drugs on the street now. By this measure, he says, we're failing: there's more cocaine available no, at lower prices,

In my survey of Houston criminal-defense lawyers' advertising, I've noticed that not many women's websites pop up. Now, I know that Houston has lots of great lawyers who are women, and I wonder why they don't turn up in Google and Yahoo searches. At any rate, here are three: Rosa Eliades Melissa Martin Lisa Benge and Judy ShieldsI know, that's four lawyers. But Lisa and Judy have

For years my advice to people looking for a criminal-defense lawyer has been this: "find someone that you can trust, and then find a way to pay him or her." Since I started saying that publicly, lots of other criminal-defense lawyers have put up websites suggesting that you should trust them for one reason or another. You can't decide to trust someone because he tells you to.

A Houston Police Department homicide detective wrote the following in the report of the investigation of a shooting death: I knew [the accused] had an attorney, but he never invoked his rights and as a thorough investigator I thought I would at least try to talk to [him] and I also knew the booking information needed to be filled out. I went in the room to interview

The closest thing to a thought crime that we have in America today is a federal drug conspiracy. A conspiracy, generally, is an agreement to commit a crime. The crime itself (the "substantive offense") does not have to be committed for the conspiracy to be formed. For most offenses, people cannot be convicted of conspiracy unless one of the conspirators (the people agreeing to commit the crime)

I still see criminal-defense lawyers who used to be prosecutors advertising their time with the DA's office as though it provides a benefit to their clients. Their argument runs something like this: First, it’s better to have someone defending you who knows what attack to expect. Second, former prosecutors generally have more trial experience. Third, former prosecutors will often have more credibility with current prosecutors.Imagine that you