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Charge: 18 counts of Burglary of a Habitation
Result: 17 counts dismissed
A group of boys went into what they thought was an abandoned warehouse. It turned out not to be abandoned but was part of a rather large gun shop. As the boys were inside, they had triggered a silent alarm to which the SWAT team responded around 3:00 A.M. Thankfully they were not shot because one of the boys had foolishly run out with one of the guns. Due to the outstanding restraint shown by the police, nobody was hurt.
What happened over the next 24 hours is what made this case so incredibly interesting. The police did not contact our client’s parents as they are supposed to under the Family Code. They also did not do the proper warnings of our client, nor did they take him to a juvenile processing facility. Instead of taking him to Juvenile Court, they deliberately went to a different judge to get him magistrated. They then interrogated him for the next four or five hours without telling his mother, who was frantic by this time, and without knowledge of her child’s whereabouts. She contacted us during the process.
During the course of that interrogation, our Client admitted to about 18 other entries to other buildings.
We spent about 6 weeks doing research, going out to these buildings, and extensively researching the legislative history of the family code about these provisions we believed the police violated. We drafted a lengthy Motion to Suppress all of the statements. While preparing to begin the hearing, the DA conceded that the client’s rights were violated. Client agreed to pay restitution for the damage caused in other acts of criminal mischief and the state agreed to dismiss the other counts.
Charge: Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon, 2nd Degree Felony
Result: Felony dismissed, Plea to lesser misdemeanor
An argument between client and her brother got out of hand and client ended up waving a knife and threatening her brother after the two exchanged words and punches. This was a family squabble that escalated on both sides. The brother was not hurt and did not want to prosecute.
Charge: Sex Offender Registration
Result: Client no longer required to register
Client was required to register as a sex offender after having been adjudicated as a juvenile. Client hired us to get his registration excused prior to the expiration of the 10 years he was required to register. At the time he hired us, client was 21 years old and was about to graduate from the University of Texas. He was married with a baby girl and had a promising future ahead of him in the field of engineering. He had never again been in trouble with the law. However, throughout his high school and college experience, he had difficulty obtaining jobs-even hourly, minimum wage jobs, because of background checks that showed him to be a registered sex offender. Given his field of engineering, many if not all career positions-especially government positions would be closed to him because of this status.
After a hearing before the District judge, we won the motion and client was excused from further registration as a sex offender, and his juvenile record was sealed.
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