Dallas Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog

January 31, 2021

Prior Convictions At Trial- Can the State used my past against me? 609

Prior Offenses At Trial- Texas Rule of Evidence 609

Defendants who have a lengthy criminal history often think the State can’t use their past convictions against them at trial. They are kind of right. We generally don’t allow the State to argue that since you’ve been a criminal in the past, you are guilty of what you are charged with now. But in many circumstances, the State can use prior convictions against you in trial. The State must follow certain rules to talk about your prior convictions at trial. One of those rules is Texas Rule of Evidence 609, but there are others (38.37CCP for example). Let’s look at 609 today.

Texas Rule of Evidence 609

January 21, 2021

Ineffective Assistance of Counsel- Probation Revocation Hearings

by Robert Guest

It’s hard to second guess a defense lawyer’s work on a case, and it’s something we are asked to do often. When someone takes has a trial or enters an open plea to the court (pleading guilty with no agreed sentence) and gets a result they don’t want they usually pivot to see if their lawyer was defective. A bad result can frame the whole attorney-client experience in hindsight. It’s one reason that setting expectations and letting clients manage their own risks is so important. The risk of pleading guilty or not, having a trial or not, is always the clients’ risk to take or not. As criminal defense lawyers, we can advise clients on what their options are, but we never choose for them.

What about pleading true to a probation revocation?

Pleading true to allegations in a motion to revoke without a plea bargain leaves a defendant open any sentence in the range of punishment if on deferred, or up the maximum number of years in the sentence if the plea is straight probation (straight probation means you are convicted).

January 17, 2021

Kaufman County Marijuana Possession

by Robert Guest

Most of the country is moving past the days of arresting everyone for marijuana possession. Many states have robust medical marijuana programs, and some states have even legalized recreational marijuana. Texas is not one of those states. We have some of the most punitive, and embarrassingly stupid marijuana laws in the country. Possession of any usable amount of marijuana is a Class B misdemeanor, with a penalty of up to 6 months in jail. That’s for leafy weed. Remember when I said our state’s marijuana laws are stupid? Possession of any edible or vape pen is always a felony. Which is mind-bogglingly inane.

So what can you expect if you are caught with marijuana in Kaufman County?

First of all, our DA’s office still prosecutes these cases like they matter. So if you think the District Attorney won’t care enough to file your case or take you to court you are mistaken. If you are arrested for possession of marijuana in Kaufman County you are going to jail, and then going to court.

January 17, 2021

Kaufman County Criminal Courts COVID Update

by Robert Guest

COVID has wrecked what was a predictably oppressive criminal justice system in Kaufman County. In the days before COVID, we could pretty accurately predict how long it would take for your case to get filed and then how long it would take before you had to set it for trial or pre-trial. Since the first court shutdown in March, that’s all gone by the wayside. It’s not easy to predict how long it will take for a case to get filed since agencies are working on different schedules now, and the usual time frame to get a case filed can be shorter for some cases. Since prosecutors aren’t in trial, they can be in the office more handling intake. It can be longer for other cases to get filed, such as cases that need lab testing or many witness interviews.

We are still setting cases for trial in Kaufman County, but since March 2020, there are have been only 3 criminal trials in Kaufman County. Kaufman County has four courts that hear criminal cases in Kaufman County. They used to average 1-2 trials a month each. Now they average zero a month.

So what’s happening to all those criminal cases? Many are getting reset indefinitely. The plea offers haven’t gotten much better, so defendants who don’t want to take a deal are just waiting to see if things improve. If you are looking at pen time, most people would rather wait and see what happens anyway.

January 14, 2021

Texas Online Harassment Law Might Be Unconstitutional

by Robert Guest

The internet age has brought about new ways for humans to treat each other poorly. Anyone who has dared to post a comment online has probably been insulted, called terrible things, or otherwise tormented. Before the cell phone, you had to actually see a person or call their landline to be awful towards them. Nowadays, you’ve got dozens of apps that can give you instant access to someone. Cyberbullying is also a problem, and that’s probably what led to the creation of the Online Harassment law in Texas.

What is Online Harassment?

We start with the general harassment provision in the Penal Code, which is 42.07, and go down to subsection (a)(7).

January 4, 2021

Kaufman County Attorney Bonds

by Robert Guest

We get asked a lot about attorney bonds in Kaufman County. First, let’s talk about-

What is an attorney bond?

You know how someone is stuck in jail and they have to post a bond to get out? Well, they have a few choices. Let’s say Bill is in the Kaufman County jail on a $5,000 bond for possession of meth. Bill can pay $5,000 cash (a cash bond), hire a bond company (bail bondsman) and pay them a % (varies), or get an attorney to post bond (and usually hire them on the case as well).

December 28, 2020

Defending Family Violence Charges With A Pending Divorce

by Robert Guest

What happens if you are facing a criminal charge for assault family violence, while you are getting divorced? Our law firm handles both criminal defense, and family law matters. We have seen cases in which one party, let’s say the Husband, is charged with family violence against his Wife, and a divorce is pending.

The first issue that’s going to come up is usually a protective order. If Husband was arrested for assault family violence, then often the judge (magistrate) who sets his bond will issue an emergency order of protection. This order will often forbid the defendant (in our case, Husband) from many things including returning to the residence, threatening the Victim (complaining witness), or possessing a firearm. If you are getting divorced this will essentially ban a defendant from accessing the marital residence.

If you have been arrested and are facing a divorce with a protective order you will want to see understand what options you have to challenge the protective order and to challenge a finding of family violence being entered.

December 24, 2020

My Defense Lawyer Won’t Call Me Back- What Do I Do?

by Robert Guest

We talk to a lot of people who have a defense lawyer and are looking to switch. One of the most common reasons defendants want to change attorneys is a lack of communication. These defendants are frustrated that they hired an attorney but can not get an update, or a callback, or any information regarding their case. Their stress and anxiety are only made worse the more serious the charge. No one who is facing prison time wants to pay a lawyer thousands of dollars only to be ignored.

What’s going on? Why won’t your lawyer call you back?

The first reason is they may not have time. A lot of defense lawyers are solo and work alone. However many cases their law practice has, there is only one lawyer to work on all of them. Being a lawyer is stressful, and if you are the only lawyer you might handle stress by focusing only on the most serious problems that have an immediate deadline. So if your case is not set for trial (I’m writing this during COVID so there aren’t any trials, but still, I’m assuming that trials will hopefully resume someday), then it might not be a priority for your defense lawyer.

December 23, 2020

Can I be deported for a Texas drug possession case?

by Robert Guest

If you are facing a charge of drug possession in Texas and you are not a citizen of the United States, you should be aware of the laws regarding deportation for drug convictions.

What is the law on deportation for drug convictions?

Under federal law, an alien convicted of a drug offense, other than possession of a relatively small amount of marijuana, is deportable. See 8 U.S.C.A. § 1227(a)(2)(B)(i). Placement on deferred adjudication in Texas is considered a conviction for purposes of federal immigration law. See Moosa v. I.N.S., 171 F.3d 994, 1005–06 (5th Cir. 1999); Guerrero, 400 S.W.3d at 588 & n.52; see also 8 U.S.C.A. § 1101(a)(48)(A).

December 8, 2020

Salto de fianza

by Robert Guest

Salto de fianza

Salto de fianza es el nombre corto para un delito penal de Texas llamado “salto de fianza y falta de comparecencia”. Si no asistió a una cita en la corte, especialmente si el caso es un delito grave, es posible que se le acuse de fianza. Primero, algunas aclaraciones, si se pierde una cita en la corte, se emitirá una orden judicial y su fianza se perderá. Ese es un tema diferente al de la fianza. La fianza es un caso criminal completamente nuevo que se puede presentar en su contra junto con la orden del caso original por el que iba a la corte.

¿Cuál es la ley sobre el salto de fianzas en Texas?