713-224-1747
Recent Blog Posts
Trayvon Martin: A Little Florida Law
776.032?Immunity from criminal prosecution and civil action for justifiable use of force.-(1)?A person who uses force as permitted in s. 776.012, s. 776.013, or s. 776.031 is justified in using such force and is immune from criminal prosecution and civil action for the use of such force, unless the person against whom force was used is a law enforcement officer, as defined in s. 943.10(14), who was acting in the performance of his or her official duties and the officer identified himself or herself in accordance with any applicable law or the person using force knew or reasonably should have known that the person was a law enforcement officer. As used in this subsection, the term "criminal prosecution" includes arresting, detaining in custody, and charging or prosecuting the defendant.(2)?A law enforcement agency may use standard procedures for investigating the use of force as described in subsection (1), but the agency may not arrest the person for using force unless it determines that there is probable cause that the force that was used was unlawful.
Trayvon Martin: Strange Bedfellows
Imagine that you are attacked. Someone punches you, knocks you to the ground, and starts banging your head against the ground.
You are in fear for your life. You use deadly force to defend yourself. You call the police.
The police interview you, and you tell them your story. A witness corroborates your story. The police take pictures of your injuries, take your fingerprints, swab your hands for gunshot residue. "We'll be in touch," they tell you. "Don't leave town."
Your attacker's parents call for your arrest, calling it "justice." Their demand is multiplied a thousandfold as the ignorant masses, as well as officials from the NAACP, the Nation of Islam, and the ACLU demand your arrest.
Never mind that someone has offered a $10,000 reward for your kidnapping (calling kidnapping "capture"): when the ACLU calls for your arrest, you have a PR problem. (You might even consider taking rodeo clown / congresswoman Frederica Wilson up on her offer to arrest you for your own safety.)
Harris County DA Leadership Vacuum
There is a leadership vacuum in the Harris County District Attorney's Office.
At the top is the elected DA, Pat Lykos, and her immediate assistants, dictating office policy.
Dictating policy is not leadership.
At the bottom are the new assistant DAs-lawyers, generally 25-30 years old, who have joined the DA's Office in the last three years or who were young prosecutors under Lykos's predecessor, Chuck Rosenthal. They follow policy, and often are unhappy about the policy and their lack of discretion.
Following policy is not leadership.
Between the administration and the junior line prosecutors lies the leadership vacuum. There should be demonstrated leaders; instead, there's lots of anonymous whining and namecalling (see, for example, the comments on Murray Newman's blog).
Whining anonymously is not leadership. Calling the DA names is not leadership.
Lykos is in a primary fight; whoever wins the primary will wind up in a general-election fight, the outcome of which will likely depend on what happens at the top of the ticket. I'd call it a good even-money bet that twelve months from now Lykos won't be DA. That reduces the risks of leadership. Maybe in the next month someone will step up. If Lykos loses the primary, someone will certainly try to position himself as a leader.
Is the Texas Wealth Club a Scam? [Updated 23 March]
Hi,I am sending this to all the defense attorneys in the Houston area. Do you know who David [rest of name redacted] on Main Street is?Well, I made this short video to show you why a lot of people in town think David [redacted] is the #1 defense attorney in Houston.Here is the video: [link]If you are thinking, why should I care who they are, here is why; according to Google there are over 12,000 people each month in Houston are looking for a defense attorney, and they are the 1st company people see.According to Google over 40% of all of the clicks go to them, because their site; [website redacted] is in the #1 spot.If you still don't understand how that effects you just watch the video, it is only a few minutes long, you won't regret it.Thanks,Brett Borah281.241.1196 Cell713.636.5317 Officebrettborah@gmail.com
I am not wasting a few minutes of my life watching your video (if a reader wants to watch it and report back, I'll send him or her the link). But yes, Brett. I know who David is.
Bad Question, Deceptive Video?
Mike Anderson: Is a small amount of cocaine, heroin, of methamphetamine against-is possession of it against the law, as written in Austin?
Pat Lykos: No.
Murray Newman, who published the snippet with no context, says the answer "seems to be in direct contrast to Sec. 481.115 under the Controlled Substances Act."
It is not.
It's not the best answer, perhaps, but it's not wrong, and it may, depending on what got left out of Newman's abruptly ending clip, be the beginning of an entirely correct answer.
What it clearly is, is a terrible question.
Does Section 481.115 of the Texas Health and Safety Code say that possession of any amount of cocaine is against the law? It does not. Is possession of a trace amount of cocaine against the law? Not unless you knowingly possess it.
"Possession" means actual care, custody, control, or management. One might possess a trace amount of cocaine-exercise control over it-without knowing it's there. (One might possess a quite large amount of cocaine without knowing it's there. This is often what the battle is over in a drug case.)
You Don't Always Get What You Pay For
The business of the criminal courts never stops. When Harris County criminal-court judges want to take a day off, if they don't want to come back to a greater mess than they are leaving they have to get someone to sit in for them. If the time off is planned in advance (a vacation, say, or a judicial conference), a sitting judge can schedule fewer cases on the docket, and another elected judge can handle that business along with his own.
Back in the early years of this millennium, when the money flowed more freely from Austin, Harris County judges used visiting judges an average of 44 days a year. It was a sweet gig for the elected judges-an average of two months of vacation per year-and for the visiting judges, who made a little money-about $400 a day-and got a month of retirement credit for each month in which they sat. Then in 2003 the Legislature slashed the visiting-judge budget by two thirds, and judging became a little less fun.
John C. Osborne, Again
I wrote here about Houston lawyer John C. Osborne's travails with the State Bar of Texas. He's still serving a probated suspension until December 2013, but the Commission for Lawyer Discipline nonsuited the first disbarment petition.
Now the Commission has filed a second disbarment petition (PDF) against Osborne, this time alleging that he overdrew his IOLTA account, the account in which he was supposed to be keeping client funds, using it to pay business and personal expenses including his health-insurance premiums, his contact lenses, tires, a tailor, his home mortgage, and home and office expenses.
Osborne is also being sued by a client for selling that client's property out of trust.
You can tell I'm not a big fan of John C. Osborne's. I'm a little surprised that he's still practicing law. Check back in a year.
Five Years
Defending People started five years ago today. In that five years, I've written some 700,000 words in 1,700+ posts and been told 643 times that people don't understand me.
In commemoration of the day, the traditional fish-related video:
Our Criminal-Defense Clinic in Havana
US News and World Report says of my alma mater, University of Houston Law Center:
Students can get hands-on legal experience through the school's clinics, which provide training in immigration law, criminal defense, and more.
UH says:
The Criminal Defense Clinic allows students actually represent defendants under the supervision of a practicing defense attorney. Misdemeanor and felony cases are handled from start to finish, including plea bargains, trials for determining guilt or innocence, and sentencing.
When I was in law school there was a criminal-defense clinic run by my mentor, Jim Skelton. (It was an unambitious effort; I had one case-a theft in Judge Patrenella's County Criminal Court at Law Number 12-which I didn't get to try because the State dismissed it.)
Other than UH's promotional materials (including the brochure (PDF)), though, I have not seen any sign of a UH criminal-defense clinic in more than a decade.
The Harris County GOP and the PD
Harris County Republican Party Executive Committee resolution on the PD's office, "the official Harris County Republican Party position on this issue" as of October 2009, announced by HCRP Chairman Jared Woodfill a few days ago:
RESOLUTION SUPPORTING THE PRESENT HARRIS COUNTY PRIVATIZED INDIGENT DEFENSE SYSTEMWHEREAS, Harris County for years has had a privatized outsourced indigent defense system that is effective and cost efficient; and,WHEREAS, Harris County Republican Judges have done a good job raising standards for appointed attorneys and have allowed defense attorneys to do their jobs with any resource they need; and,WHEREAS, jail overpopulation in Harris County can be solved with common sense economical reforms; and,WHEREAS, switching to a public defender system will increase spending by 300 -500% $40-90 plus million at a time when property taxes are too high;THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that, given the current economic conditions, the Harris County Republican Party Executive Committee supports the present Harris County privatized indigent defense system and opposes a switch to any kind of a public defender program as it is anti-taxpayer, expensive and a solution in search of a problem.Presented by Larry Bush, Chairman, Precinct 0641
Contact Us if You're
Ready for a Better Future
Schedule a consultation today by filling out the form below or calling our office at 713-224-1747. We look forward to representing you.
The use of the Internet or this form for communication with the firm or any individual member of the firm does not establish an attorney-client relationship. Confidential or time-sensitive information should not be sent through this form.
I have read and understand the Disclaimer and Privacy Policy.
From our office in Houston, we represent clients throughout Harris County and across the state of Texas. We assist with criminal cases in Conroe, The Woodlands, Kingwood, Bellaire, Friendswood, Highland Village, West University Place, Cypress, Willis, Austin, Dallas, For Worth, Arlington, San Antonio, Corpus Christi, Beaumont, Tyler, Plano, Spring, New Caney, Porter, Humble, Atascocita, Aldine, Cloverleaf, Pasadena, South Houston, Pearland, Fresno, Missouri City, Sugar Land, Pecan Grove, Richmond, and Katy.
Results listed are not a guarantee or indication of future case results.
917 Franklin Street, Fourth Floor, Houston, TX 77002
713-224-1747
