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So you’ve caught a felony case in Texas and you are worried about going to prison. I’ve represented enough felony defendants to know that certain factors can make it more likely you aren’t walking out of court on paper.

You’ve been to prison before

Yeah, it’s kind of hard to spin that to the prosecutor “Hey, I know my guy has already been down before, but THIS time, THIS felony is different. We are totally going to kick ass on probation. Let’s do this! Where do we pee?”

Poor communication is one of the main complaints we hear when clients retain our firm after hiring another lawyer. When you are facing a criminal charge you are obviously under a lot of pressure, and you need answers. It’s probably your first time in the system, so you don’t know what to expect. Or you are a seasoned criminal defendant, and you have seen this movie before so you want to make sure certain things are done in your case.

Either way, those issues can only be remedied by talking to your defense lawyer. So why isn’t your defense lawyer talking to you? Let me count the ways.

1. They don’t have enough time because they have too many cases.

Each year there are over 3,500 traffic fatalities in Texas. Some of these accidents result in criminal charges. For example, intoxication manslaughter is a case where you have a DWI accident that caused a person’s death. But what if no one is drinking? When can dangerous driving that caused a fatality become a felony in Texas?

That offense is known as criminally negligent homicide. What is criminally negligent homicide (CNH) in Texas?

TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 6.03(d) (West 2011).

First let me say that I’m sorry you have a warrant, or that you are researching about warrants for a loved one. I know that sucks and you are stressed about what will happen. Hopefully, this guide will help. If you don’t want to read this while thing the short answer is- just call me and we’ll figure it out.

First I need to figure out what the warrant is for, and if a bond amount is set. Some warrants come with pre-set bond amounts, some don’t.

Example 1- You miss a court date on your marijuana possession case. The judge revokes your earlier bond and sets a new bond amount of $5,000.

Well that was interesting. A DPS lab worker recently pled the 5th during a DWI trial in Collin County. This DPS lab tech, Chris Youngkin, is well-known in Kaufman and Dallas county. He runs blood lab tests in DWI cases and testifies in court as to the results.

What happened?

There was a DWI trial in Collin County and the State called Mr. Youngkin to testify about a blood test. The defense lawyer questioned Mr. Youngkin about some prior conflicting testimony and Mr. Youngkin invoked his right to not incriminate himself.

So you have found yourself needing to pass a drug test, but you aren’t quite sure how that will turn out. What to do? A lot of you are working to beat the piss test, and that’s not the focus on this post. This is about what happens if you get caught trying to fake test results.

What’s the law in Texas on cheating a drug test?

To the health and safety code!

If you are reading this you probably facing a marijuana case in Rockwall. You aren’t in Dallas anymore Dorothy, when you crossed that county line you actually go back in time 30 years to a time when pot cases mattered. Which means instead of an easy memo agreement (2-month dismissal) you are looking at the possibility of real probation for a bullshit pot case.

What’s that mean? Let’s get started.

First of all possession of any usable quantity of weed (enough to take a hit on basically) is a class B misdemeanor (up to 6 months in jail!). It’s not a traffic ticket, it’s a real crime, the kind you can go to jail on. Which is one reason you need to start voting, this is ridiculous, other states have repealed their idiotic pot laws and Texas won’t until we get better politicians in office, so vote.

Medicine kind of sucks these days, for all the magic of life saving pills and procedures nothing can make you broke faster than the medical industry. As a lawyer we have multiple ethics rules covering what fees we can charge, and how they have to be reasonable and fair and nice etc. You know who doesn’t give a shit about billing ethics? Hospitals. They hide their prices, bill at insane rates, send bill collectors after people who are sick and can’t pay etc. Yet doctors are heroes in the world, and lawyers are the assholes. But I digress.

Here’s a scenario- you are pulled over for DWI, you assert your constitutional right to not give blood, the police ignore that and get a warrant from Judge Rubberstamp. The warrant comes with an order requiring the nurses to comply and help the police (so much for limited government, we’ve drafted nurses into law enforcement). Later, the suspect gets a bill for a few hundred bucks. That’s been happening more often lately, and it’s a chance to reflect on this intersection of law and medicine.

A few things-

One of the most common questions I get from potential clients is “the officer didn’t read me my rights, does that matter?” Often it doesn’t, and the reason is the police only have to read Mirandize you when you are under arrest or subject to custodial interrogation. That is, the longer the cops can go without arresting you, the longer they can question you (which is another reason to never talk to cops, ask for a lawyer). This issue of when an arrest occurs is litigated often, so let’s look at the law in Texas.

From the Code of Criminal Procedure-

Art. 15.22. WHEN A PERSON IS ARRESTED. A person is arrested when he has been actually placed under restraint or taken into custody by an officer or person executing a warrant of arrest, or by an officer or person arresting without a warrant.

By now you know that you should never consent to a search of your car. But what if you actually have a joint in the console (terrible hiding place by the way), or you are a mule and worried the popo will find the package? Same advice, just say no to a search.

A few pieces of advice.

1. Get through the traffic investigation quickly. Once the police finish their traffic investigation they need another reason to hold you. That is, they need probable cause or reasonable suspicion of some other crime to keep your ass on the side of the road. Now how long does it take to investigate a speeding offense? A few minutes tops, but the law also gives the cops time to run your license and see if you have any warrants. Then they can decide to give you a ticket or citation, or not. That is when they need another reason if they want to keep you. So have your license and insurance handy. Make sure everyone in the car is warrant-free (and preferably criminal history free), and has a similar story on where you are going and what you are doing. Also, make sure the damn car doesn’t smell like weed. Seriously people, rookie mistake.