DWI, Drugs, Assault, Probation Revocation, Sexual Offenses, Theft, Juvenile Defense. Felony and Misdemeanor Offenses in State and Federal Court
Driving While Intoxicated, DWI and Your Drivers License Forney, Texas DWI Defense Lawyer.
Sexual Offenses, Drug Offenses, Assault and Violent Crimes, Theft, Truancy/School Related Criminal Charges.
The drug war is working so well we should consider expansion. Forget the salvia debate. Think broader. Why should we limit prohibitionist zealotry to actual drugs? If only we could expand the WOD to ban products named after street drugs.
From the AG’s website
Court prohibits the selling of a drink marketed as street drug alternative in Texas
Your case is set for jury trial. The ADA makes a final plea offer (Offer A) to your defense lawyer.Your defense lawyer informs you that the offer was Offer B (Offer B is Offer A plus more fines, jail time, etc) but that he/she had worked the ADA down to Offer A.
I’ll call this practice fake plea bargaining. I heard a story of an an alleged FPB incident. I lack personal knowledge of this event. All would agree this practice would be unethical. For this post let us examine motivation.
Why would a defense lawyer fake plea bargain? Allow me to speculate.
DMN columnist Tod Roberson supports the drug war because he can’t understand how a legalization/decriminlization system would work. He knows that “tycoons”, “world leaders” and “smart” people support ending Prohibition, but to Tod the “details don’t add up.” Specifically, Tod has 3 concerns he can’t work through- addiction, cartels and wait for it….. the children.
Fortunately for Tod, DMN commenters have a much better grasp on the subject, and they are willing to answer his concerns. It’s one of the better rhetorical smackdowns I’ve seen in a while. So good that I have nothing to add. Go read the column/comments for yourself. The public is moving ahead of old media on this one. Now we just have to wait on the politicians to get it.
DISD Fight Club
Every year thousands of Texans plead guilty for deferred adjudication(DA) probation. A common fallacy among defendants, judges, prosecutors, and even some defense lawyers is that DA cases “won’t be on your record”, i.e. they can be expunged. Not true. In Texas, deferred cases can not be expunged. You can file a motion for non disclosure, but that is a marginal remedy at best. In most cases, a deferred plea will follow you forever.
A related misnomer is that a deferred case won’t have an impact on your future. After all, the nomenclature of deferred cases can propagate misguided optimism. The “no finding of guilt”, “no final conviction”, “case will be dismissed” language leads most to believe that after probation they can move on with their lives.
Nary a week goes by without an email from someone who can’t get a job, or a professional license, because of an old deferred case. Thousands of former defendants who dutifully fulfill their obligations and repay their “debt to society” are perpetually shackled.
St. Patrick’s, Old 97’s, and Greenville
I spent my first St. Patty’s on Greenville. My wife and a few friends attended the Old 97’s concert at Energy Square (a parking lot on Greenville and University.)
Our group missed the parade, arriving at 3pm. We did catch the last of the parade goers leaving for their cars. I only saw one person throw up, and one person arrested. For all the complaints about the Greenville parade it seemed the vast majority was well behaved. There was an overwhelming police presence without much criminal presence. The level of law enforcement boredom approached TSA levels.
I’ve spent many keystrokes railing against the SEO industry. From spam comments to fake link building these companies are heavy on pitch but short on credibility. Let me offer some hope for lawyers looing for internet marketing help.
Last year I decided to sell out and move from my gratis blogger account to a commercial lawyer blawg provider. After some deliberation I chose Justia. I was impressed with their portfolio and the broad range of legal information they provide the public. Justia is not cheap by any means, but it has been a solid investment. I would recommend Justia over any other SEO company for a few reasons.
1. They have never embarrassed me. No spam bots plaguing my colleagues blogs or splogs with spam links etc. I do have a strange presence on some “dog lawyer” website that Justia owns.. But I love dogs, and I’m a lawyer, so no problem.
You are a criminal defendant. There is a witness in your case. Your defense lawyer want to subpoena relevant instant messages, emails, or other communications sent by the witness through MySpace to prepare for trial.
Time for a quiz-
According to MySpace’s legal compliance officer, Scott McFarland, which of the following can subpoena records from MySpace.com?
Recently, I was appointed to a misdemeanor pot case in Kaufman. Yet another reason you should support HB 902, so you can quit paying me to fight this nonsense. The appointment sheet listed the charge as possession of marijuana under 2 ounces; a class B misdemeanor and that bail was set at $100,000.
Convinced this was a typo, I called the jail to confirm. It’s true. This defendant has no holds, no blue warrants, no probation revocation, no other charges and the magistrate set a $100,000 bail for a joint.
One of two things is at play here. Either the defendant royally pissed off the magistrate, or he has some prior criminal history. The former is a fairly rare circumstance. As to the latter. Does arrest for non violent meaningless victimless “crime” + criminal history= trapped in jail with a ridiculously high bond. Is that an equation for justice?
Over 60,000 thousand Texans were arrested last year for marijuana possession. How should we punish our fellow Texans for the “crime” of pot possession?
Support House Bill 902-
Currently possession of any usable amount of marijuana is at least a class b misdemeanor (2 ounces or less), the same level of offense as DWI. 902 would make possession of less than one ounce of pot a class c misdemeanor, basically a traffic ticket. Even if you disagree with the legalization of marijuana, you should support 902.
Here is a shocking video from MPP. The field drug tests used by police around the country are wildly inaccurate leading to false arrests. I can’t say I was shocked by these results.
An open records request I filed last year found over 500 cases over a two year period in Dallas county in which a suspected was arrested for drug possession and lab tests proved the substance was not drugs. Undoubtedly, these cheap field tests were used in some of these cases.
Here is an idea. How about a presumption that a substance is not drugs until proven in a quality controlled run by real scientists (not cops) using real equipment? Or maybe a presumption that a suspect is innocent? Nah, those measures would “send the wrong message” to kids. Onward Prohibition!
Dallas Criminal Defense Lawyer Blog