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Charge: Driving While Intoxicated (collision)
Result: Dismissed; Client received backtime sentence on obstruction of a public passageway
This case that occurred during the biker rally in downtown Austin. The police report accused of trying to run over a biker while the biker was violently pounding the side of his car and roof trying to get him to stop. The biker then alleged that our client looked at him and kept backing up to run over him. To further complicate matters, the client was talking about these “white trash mother*******” and was rather obnoxious and combative during the police investigation.
We spent a lot of time preparing this case for trial because we believed that although our client was acting rudely, he was clearly not intoxicated. Rather, there was a dispute about the cause of the collision, and that the beating on top of the car and the very aggressive nature of the biker is what initiated the problem – not our client’s behavior. Because the police were being completely dismissive of his own safety concerns (e.g. being beaten by a biker) our client was incredibly frustrated and reacted accordingly. We prepared the case for jury trial. On the morning of trial, the State agreed to dismiss the DWI case after being able to distinguish the client’s frustration from the appearance of intoxication.
Charge: Felony Assault on Peace Officer; Criminal Trespass
Result: Felony and all Charges Dropped
Client was a man who suffered from severe brain damage and epileptic seizures and who had previously been found to be legally incompetent by a civil court and had an appointed guardian. Our client had just had a seizure in his front yard and had accidentally walked into the house of his neighbor, a 70-year old woman. Once inside her house, our client had gone into a post-catatonic state on her couch and would not leave when asked. Because the neighbor was scared, she called the cops hoping they could come and help our client to his house. Once the cops arrived, they started yelling orders at our client to leave and because of his post-catatonic state, he was unable to hear and thus, could not comply. Instead of helping our client in his post-catatonic state, the cops began to try to physically remove our client from the couch. In doing so, our client began to flail his arms and legs which caused contact with the cops. The cops then began to use their tazers on our client which only exacerbated the situation. When we got the case, we immediately contacted our client’s legal guardian and began to get information on his medical records and medical conditions. We set up an appointment with the prosecutors office and appeared at this meeting with our client’s legal guardian. While there, we explained the situation and presented evidence of our client’s mental illness. Ultimately, we were able to convince the prosecutors to dismiss all charges.
Charge: Assault (Juvenile)
Result: Case dismissed
Client was accused of assaulting another student at school. What started off as a simple assault during a game of tackle soccer turned into a more serious assault as the client had allegedly punched another boy. The teachers complained that client did not apologize for tackling the other boy, and when confronted, client said “I’m not going to apologize; I’d do it again.” As a result, child is referred to the SRO and formal assault charges are filed.
The significant problem with the case was that the other boy’s family was irate about the assault and were adamant about this case being charged as an assault against their son rather than just a playground scuffle, their son being a clear victim in their eyes. In this case, the parents of the victim and the teachers alleged that the physical interaction extended beyond the game. It took numerous conversations, counseling, and victim outreach to explore the differences between assaultive, criminal behavior and boys being boys. This case was resolved with the DA agreeing to dismiss the case if our client issued an apology and did some community service. We were able to take care of the case outside of the juvenile court system.
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