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Charge: Assault – Family Violence
Result: Not Guilty
Client was charged with assaulting an ex-girlfriend by beating her with a cane and strangling her. Client vehemently denied the charges and asserted that his ex-girlfriend was simply angry at him for having a new girlfriend. Client was on parole for murder and faced life in prison if convicted on a new assault case. The case proceeded to a jury trial and client was found not guilty by the jury after 15 minutes of deliberations.
Charge: Possession of a Controlled Substance, Felony – Enhanced (25 years to life)
Result: Felony dismissed through drug court diversion
Our client was charged with possession of cocaine. Although this would normally be a state jail felony, because our client had two prior felony convictions, he was “habitualized” and was facing 25-life if he was convicted. Because our client had a substance abuse problem, we immediately tried to get him into the SHORT program, which is a drug diversion program in Travis County. The SHORT program initially denied him based on some mental health issues, as well as the fact that our client was homeless. In order to address those issues, we had our client evaluated by a MHMR liaison to see if he needed any medication to stabilize him. We also coordinated with a half-way house and were able to find him placement there. With that information, we then re-approached the SHORT program and wrote a letter on his behalf to re-consider him. The SHORT program did decide to reconsider him and ultimately accepted him into the program.
Charge: Motion to Revoke Probation
Result: Successfully continued on felony DWI probation
Client had numerous previous DWIs and was on felony probation for DWI. She violated probation by drinking alcohol and failing breath test interlock device. Instead of viewing the case as something that would be fought on a legal ground, we looked into ways that we could resolve it on a treatment basis. We were able to find a treatment counselor for our Client and set up a program for the Client to work with the third party counselor. The first condition of her probation was that she should immediately go into an in-patient therapy clinic. We contested this, arguing that the Client would do much better staying at her job and going to this private treatment provider. The Judge decided not to revoke her previous probation, and to allow the client to continue private treatment, which was ultimately successful.
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