DWI SUPPRESSION ISSUE
My client was prosecuted for DWI. The officer stopped him for, essentially, making a block in the 121 area while it was under construction. The trial court refused to suppress the stop.
Result: Reversed by the Fort Worth Court of Appeals [You can read the court’s
opinion here]
DENIAL OF CONFRONTATION
My client was charged with aggravated kidnapping. The victim of the kidnapping had a life threatening illness and the prosecutors wanted to take his deposition (virtually unheard of in criminal cases). The trial court allowed it but on the day of the deposition, my client had been removed from Denton County and was unavailable to be present during the deposition.
Result: Reversed conviction [You can read the opinion here] (unfortunately, the client had two other charges arising out of the same set of events that were not reversed)
APPEAL OF SUPPRESSION OF ILLEGALLY OBTAINED EVIDENCE
My client was charged with organized crime and money laundering in Henderson County. The police had implemented a sting operation of
sorts using two individuals that had been told never to return to my client’s
property. I was successful in the trial court in suppressing the evidence
obtained due to the illegal conduct of the police. The prosecutor appealed that
suppression.
Result: Suppression of the evidence was upheld. [You can
read the opinion here]
AGGRAVATED ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY WEAPON
This case was originally tried by myself and two other attorneys. The prosecution believed the client was the shooter in a really large murder-for-hire scheme. The client had been indicted for three charges arising out of the scheme: aggravated robbery, conspiracy to commit capital murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. They elected to go forward on the
aggravated assault case. We objected early and often to their attempts to try
our client for the conspiracy charge in the aggravated assault matter. The case
was flooded with documents and testimony that we objected to. The jury found our client guilty and sentenced him to 60 years. On appeal, we asserted several
points of error, but, ultimately, the court agreed with us that the voluminous
evidence with no connection to our client was harmful. This, so far as we are
aware, is one of the only cases reversed for flagrant 403 violations.
Result: Reversed conviction, remanded for new trial. [You can read the opinion here] (On retrial of this matter, our client was found not guilty in under two hours.)
