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Support & Rehabilitation Options After A Criminal Trial Quite often, when we are preparing for criminal trial, we may have the client do some counseling, or go through some type of treatment. That may not have anything to do with whether they are found guilty at trial, but it can sometimes be very helpful if a person is found guilty to help them with a better result. They might receive a lesser sentence or probation when the prosecution is trying to get jail time. In addition, steps like that are used to help us get the case dismissed. Quite often, [...]

Key Differences Between Jury & Bench Trials A client always has the right to a criminal trial by jury. It is six jurors in a misdemeanor case, and twelve in a felony case in Texas. The right to jury can be waived, and in some cases where we feel confident that the judge is a fair judge on most issues that are particularly important to our client in a case, we may recommend that the client waive a jury. The government also has a right to a jury trial, and they have to agree to waive the jury in that [...]

License Suspension & Reinstatement After A DWI What's the punishment for the first DWI offense in TX? The punishment for driving while intoxicated in Texas depends on your age, your blood alcohol level, the literal impact of the accident if you were in one, and the number of times you've been arrested for DWI. In general, the first offense results in suspension of your driver's license for a minimum of 90 days. If you refuse a chemical test to determine your blood alcohol level, it will be suspended for an additional 180 days unless you're acquitted of DWI. A blood [...]

Consequences Of Refusing A Blood Or Breath Test If they refused the breath or blood test, then that refusal can be used as evidence at trial. The prosecutor likes to say, “That person refused the breath or blood test because they know they are guilty”, well that is not true. You have a right to refuse the test. We can successfully fight that argument at trial. The other thing that can happen is that they can go ahead and accuse the person of driving while intoxicated and prosecute them all the way through the trial, but the fact of the [...]

Costs & Financial Considerations Of Going To Trial It is taken into account whenever the client first engages our services, if they can afford to go to trial, because what we typically do is we charge a flat fee. That takes care of the case all the way through resolution. If the client agrees to pay, this takes care of the case all the way through to jury trial if that is the best way to handle it. Therefore, it is not that the jury trial costs you more. The consideration is what is likely to happen at a jury [...]

Key Facts To Know Before A Jury Trial The first and most important thing they should know is the exact level of offense they are charged with, and what the possible punishment range is going to be. For example, a Class a misdemeanor, the possible punishment is up to a year in jail, and up to a $4000 fine. Therefore, the first thing the client needs to understand is the name of the offense, the level of the offense, and the possible punishment range. Then the next thing they need to understand is what the likelihood of conviction is. Do [...]

Exploring Self-Defense & Other Legal Defense Strategies Self-defense is a defense to any assault type charge. If a person is defending themselves or even a third person, then they can be entitled to self-defense or defense of a third person. If a person uses force against another, even though they caused bodily injury, but they believed that force is immediately necessary to protect themselves or someone else from the other person’s immediate use or threatened use of force, then it can be justified under the self-defense or defense of the third person concept. They can also be justified in using [...]

We handle a lot of drug cases from possession of marijuana to more serious cases involving possession or even delivery of controlled substances such as meth, heroin or cocaine. We also handle a great deal of assault cases from just minor assaults, assaults on family members all the way up to aggravated assaults with deadly weapons. We have even handled a few murder cases over the last few years. We handle a great deal of theft cases from just minor shoplifting all the way up to major theft of cars and embezzlement. We also handle weapons cases and there are [...]

Common misconceptions would include thinking that they have to go to jail, that there is no way to get the case dismissed, or that there is some magical way to get the case dismissed. Sometimes people believe that because they were not read their rights that that must be a get-out-of-jail free card or an automatic dismissal, and that may or may not be the case. It is not quite like TV, where the police officer might want to get the case thrown out so he purposely does not read the person their rights. If the person has been arrested [...]