In a drug-possession case, the State has to prove that you knowingly possessed-that you knowingly exercised care, custody, control, or management-over the drugs. That means that they have to prove that you did something with the drugs (or helped someone else do so) while knowing that they were drugs. Five basic defenses apply in possession cases in Texas: The State can't prove they were drugs. The

We see a lot of Houston criminal-defense lawyers advertising about the number of cases they have gotten dismissed.This is not a good thing.Don't get me wrong: It's a great thing to get cases dismissed. That's always the objective. We love getting cases dismissed. Especially the hard cases!But choosing a lawyer based on the number of dismissals he gets is not a good thing. Easy cases get dismissed.

An unfortunate trend in lawyer advertising is the "live chat" box on the website. This'd be great if it connected the potential client with a lawyer or paralegal or someone who could actually understand the problem and assist the client, but it seldom is. Instead, it's a glorified answering service. Here, for example, is what you get when you click on the live chat on one

I heard a complaint recently from someone who had hired a lawyer for a criminal case in Harris County after the lawyer a) texted her out of the blue on the cellphone; and b) promised to get her case dismissed within six months. The unsolicited text message was a violation of various rules and laws (see the TCDLA Voice for the Defense article here), and the

I won't pick on anyone in particular, but about two thirds of criminal-defense lawyers' websites are utter nonsense, if you know anything about criminal defense. But these folks are marketing themselves to people who don't know anything about criminal defense. It benefits them to keep the clients ignorant. I'd rather have clients who understand the system and what we, together, are up against. So let's pick on

Mark here. I've been writing online about criminal-defense issues for nearly two decades, at my Defending People WordPress blog, and in my Substack newsletter of the same name (if you subscribe, fees go to my 501(c)(3) nonprofit, the First Amendment Funding Organization). I wrote well over a million words on those two sites. If you wanted to understand how I think, you could go back and

How about this badge, which you may see this on other lawyers' websites?: It may even be accompanied by the claim that the lawyer is a "Top 100 lawyer in Houston" or a "Top 100 lawyer in Texas" or even "one of the top 100 lawyers in the U.S.A." The badge is nonsense, and the claim that it signifies "one of the top 100 lawyers in"

After almost 16 years of intermittent blogging, I'm moving along to a different platform, which I think will better suit both my talents and the times. Please visit https://defendingpeople.substack.com and subscribe to my newsletter. Thanks to you all.

Interesting voir dire question on Twitter, from a Gideon's Promise (it's a terrific program; if you have some charity dollars to direct, please consider sending them yeaward) alumna: Just want your thoughts: During a Voir Dire in a very conservative area, would you use the Trump impeachment process in any way? Just was a thought myself and instead of fleshing it out for myself, I’m calling on

I think I have discovered a bug in how DPS administers the sex-offender registry in dealing with people who have ten-year sex-offender registration offenses and prison sentences. If you went to prison for a ten-year-registration offense, and have been out of prison (regardless of parole status) for more than nine years, I'd like to hear from you. We may be able to do something on your behalf.