Dallas Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog

July 18, 2013

How To Clear A Warrant And Avoid Being Booked In To the Dallas County Jail

In Dallas, a lot of things are possible that don’t happen in other counties. One of those things, is that it is possible to clear a warrant without the time wasting bookin process at the county jail. It’s an efficiency move that recognizes how useless it is to waste time making pot defendants sit in the county jail for hours. Good move Dallas County.

How does it work?

First, you need a defense lawyer. That defense lawyer must get a judge to set a bond and approve your book in waiver. If you are charged with murder, this probably won’t happen, if you are charged with the “crime” of possessing pot, then you’ve got a chance.

July 5, 2013

How does LEO feel about your Constitutional rights at a DWI checkpoint?

by Robert Guest

Texas has a lot of terrible laws, but one thing we don’t allow is DWI checkpoints. The Supreme Court has decided that these can be constitutional but the state legislature must approve them. Hopefully ours never will. In case you ever think they are a good idea, here is what we are missing.

June 16, 2013

“This system is all about money isn’t it”- Typical Defense Client

by Robert Guest

A pair of stories highlight how much our criminal justice system has been taken over by unrestrained government greed. When I talk to a defendant about the costs of the average DWI plea, the $450 court costs, the $1,000 fine,$50 a month for community service, the $3,000 surcharge, most are shocked. Then I tell them how court costs are really a regressive tax for all kinds of special projects. The fine is the county’s take, the probation fee is a make-work program for the local government, and the surcharge is the result of politicians taxing the group least likely to complain or organize.

They usually reply “This system is all about money isn’t it”. Yes it is. DWI cases have the fake moral outrage factor. That somehow these defendants are awful people who “chose to break the law”, ignoring the fact that DWI is an opinion crime prosecutoed with make believe bullshit SFSTs and crooked DPS lab workers.

The real theft occurs in ticket cases. Ticket courts are cash cows for city and county government. There is less of the phony pretense of “safety” or “justice” involved. The city needs your money, and they will throw lock you in a cage until you pay. Have you ever wondered why a typical speeding ticket fine is over $200. Was the “danger” you posed to the community $200 bad? Or does the government want to maximize how much it steals from each driver? Ticket fines are a political decision. Judges get pressure from other pols (county commissioners, city officials) to up the take so the city can avoid raising tax rates.

May 25, 2013

Kaufman County Court at Law- New Rules

by Robert Guest

Clients of mine who have experienced the criminal justice system in multiple Texas counties are often surprised by how different the process is in each locality. The Penal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure are the same across the State. However, judges still have a lot of discretion in how they run their docket.

For example, how many resets do you get in a court before you must plea or set the case for trial? What time does docket start? What forms do you need to get a plea done? Does the client have to show up at each hearing?

It’s important for lawyers and defendants to know what they are getting into before they arrive. Recently, Dennis Jones was appointed as Judge in the Kaufman County Court at Law. Judge Jones published a short list of protocols for his court that you should know.

May 23, 2013

Dallas County Bond Schedule

by Robert Guest

Most criminal defendants never planned on getting arrested. But if you are a forward looking recreational drug user or retailer, It may help to know how much bail money you need to set aside when LEO shows up. I’ve attached a copy of the Dallas County recommended bond schedule to help you plan ahead.

bond schedule.docx

May 17, 2013

Texas Parole Eligibility Chart

by Robert Guest

So you’re facing pen time in Texas and you want to know when you are eligible to get out. It’s not as easy to calculate as you would think. Different offenses have different rules for parole eligibility, some allow for early release, some require more time be served. What you need is a chart, and a chart is what I have obtained.

First, credit where it is due, I received this chart from Michael Mowla. It’s his hard work and he deserves all the credit. Thanks for sharing Michael. Click below and download the PDF version of the chart.

Parole Eligibility Chart 2013.pdf

May 16, 2013

Michael Morton Act Becomes Law- No More Closed Files in Texas

by Robert Guest

I used to live in Ellis County and I had a few criminal cases there. Not as many as I had in Kaufman and Dallas, but enough that I quickly learned the Ellis County District Attorney’s had little regard for justice or preventing wrongful convictions. Why? They had a closed file policy.

Here’s how it went. Client would hire me for a DWI or weed case. I’d go to court and ask for a copy of the police report. I’d be told that they could read it to me (no seriously, they would say this), or sometimes even let me read it. But if I wanted a copy then I would have to file a discovery motion and then they would withdraw all plea offers and force my client to trial. So basically they set up a closed file system to bully defendants into pleading guilty without looking at the evidence. It worked sometimes, clients may not want a jury trial and they may not even want a pre trial hearing, they may just want a plea bargain, but it’s hard to negotiate when you don’t know anything about the case. The ADA would usually say something like “well, you can ask your client what happened.” That’s cute, your officer has the ability to stop and take notes, review the video tape, speak to witnesses at the scene. My client is in handcuffs and can’t record anything, so yeah, thanks for the great advice.

I thought this closed file policy was ethically dubious. The prosecutor, by hiding all evidence, was asserting that nothing in their file was exculpatory (Brady material), which they had a duty to disclose. Of course, these ADA’s seemed to think nothing was exculpatory, in a Ken Anderson way. The closed file policy also showed a complete lack of confidence in local law enforcement’s ability to investigate and document suspected criminal activity.

April 16, 2013

Kaufman County District Attorney Swearing In Ceremony- 4/22

by Robert Guest

Judge Wiley will be sworn in as Kaufman County District Attorney on April 22nd at 1pm in the County Court at Law. All are invited to attend.

I began my career in Kaufman County as a prosecutor in Judge Wiley’s court. I learned quickly that Judge Wiley will not suffer an unprepared attorney in her court, be it a prosecutor or defense lawyer. Her high standards made me a better attorney.

Judge Wiley is tough but fair (I’ll go with present tense from here, since Judge Wiley is still on the bench). She is always curious and interested in the cases and defendants before her. She has compassion, in a very tough love kind of way, for the defendants in her court. For example, Judge Wiley created and manages the successful DWI court program. DWI court helps addict-defendants avoid prison and stay sober with a strict regimen of counseling, treatment, drug testing, and weekly court sessions. It’s a lot of extra work for her court, and it shows her level of dedication to rehabilitating defendants.

April 15, 2013

Kaufman County Marijuana Conviction Reversed On Appeal

by Robert Guest

Our State’s highest criminal court recently reversed a marijuana conviction out of Kaufman County Court at Law 2, just in time for 4/20. Whenever I discuss marijuana prohibition I always mention how much court time, prosecutor time, appointed lawyer time, police time and tax dollars we waste we waste prosecuting cannabis cases like this one.

It can take years for a case to move form arrest to appeal, and the whole time you are footing the bill so that the criminal justice system can have something to do (besides prosecute real crime that is). Marijuana prohibition is like an evil version of the WPA. Which reminds me, our lege is in session, so why not call your rep and ask them to support bills like this?

Enough editorializing, on to the case, our case of the day is Abney vs State.

January 17, 2013

Dallas Police Department, Public Choice Theory, and Warrant Rounups

by Robert Guest

Economics is the study of scarcity and choices. That is, the world has a limited amount of stuff, so what are we going to do about it? One of those limited resources is law enforcement. We only have so many police man-hours in any given year, how are we going to allocate this limited resource?

Recently, Dallas has seen a rise in the number of family violence related homicides and DPD is facing pressure to “do something”. Limited resource, plus choice = a new effort to focusing on clearing warrants for those charged with violent offenses.

From DMN-