Client Arrested by Texas State Troopers in Randall County, Texas for Possession of Cocaine, and Tampering with Evidence
Oct 03, 2018
OUTCOME: Case Dismissed
Client was arrested for DWI, and transported to jail by the Texas State Trooper. Trooper later found Cocaine in his car and charged the client with Possession of Cocaine and Tampering with Evidence. ...The State dismissed on the eve of trial, after they realized that there were no fingerprints on the baggie, and the video did not show client doing anything out of the ordinary. It should be noted that this client was facing a 1st Degree Penalty range because of a prior felony conviction, and it would not have been heard of for the client to have received around 10 years in the Penn if a jury did find him guilty.
Criminal defense
Client Arrested by Texas State Troopers in Oldham County, Texas for Felony Intoxication Assault
Dec 01, 2017
OUTCOME: Case Dismissed
Client and his two friends were on the way back from a Colorado Cannibus vacation on a remote FM road in rural Texas when client over-corrected on a turn and crashed in the bar ditch. One of his frien...ds had to be life-flighted to a local Amarillo Hospital for head injuries. (His friend was treated, and suffered no permanent injuries).
Blood was taken from the client which showed 134 nanograms per milliliter of THC.
It should be noted that 134 nanograms per milliliter does not indicate "intoxication," in and of itself.
The case was set for trial and the DA eventually dismissed due to insufficient evidence of intoxication.
Criminal defense
Client Arrested by Texas State Troopers in Wheeler County, Texas for Possession of Meth
Sep 07, 2017
OUTCOME: Case Dismissed
The State requested the dismissal "in the interest of justice."
Criminal defense
Client Arrested by Amarillo Police for Driving While Intoxicated with BAC > 0.15
Jun 07, 2017
OUTCOME: Not Guilty
Client was given a field sobriety test and voluntarily gave a blood test which showed a BAC of 0.195. Chris Hesse successfully cross-examined the State's Forensic Scientist and arresting officer.
Criminal defense
Clients accused by Texas State State Troopers and the District Attorney of Carson County, Texas of Homicide
Mar 23, 2017
OUTCOME: Grand Jury No-Bills
Texas Municipal Police Officer clients conduct a traffic stop on two suspects on the highway, and they discover approximately 27 pounds of weed. The two clients transport the suspects back to the sta...tion for processing. Little did the clients know, but one of the suspects was being investigated for a homicide in Sacramento, California. The one suspect managed to get at a pistol in the car at the station, and a gunfight ensued. The Grand Jury looking into the incident decided that the officers were justified in the shooting.
Criminal defense
Juvenile Client arrested by Canyon Police for Assault with a Deadly Weapon
Nov 10, 2016
OUTCOME: Case Dismissed
Juvenile client gets into argument with his grandmother, mother and sister when he arrives home concerning whether he stole some items. The argument gets heated and the grandmother and sister decide t...o take the Juvenile's door off it's hinges because they believe the Juvenile has no more right to privacy. The Juvenile went to get scissors to cut out some cardboard to place over a hole in the door so he could put the door back up later. While walking past his sister with the scissors, his sister pushed him out of the way and the two got in a tussle which ended up on the ground. The sister's finger was cut while on the ground (not from the scissors). The cops were called by the grandmother and the sister told the cops that the Juvenile threatened her with the scissors. The Juvenile was arrested and booked.
It was brought to the attention of the DA's Office that the scissors were not taken into evidence and that the mother contradicted the sister's story about the Juvenile threatening the sister with scissors. Additionally, evidence came out that the sister was the "initial aggressor" in that she initiated the physical fight. The DA's office was given concrete assurances that this kind of tussle would not occur again. The case was dismissed based, in part, on sketchy evidence and the assurances that this kind of family fight would not occur again.
Criminal defense
Client Arrested by Fort Bend Sheriff's Department for Burglary of a Habitation with Intent to Commit Sex Assault Therein
May 24, 2016
OUTCOME: Case Dismissed
Roy Malpass and I won a Daubert Hearing today in the 240th.
As you may already know, Mr. Malpass has been recognized by the CCA in Tillman v. State, 354 S.W.3d 425 (Tex. Crim. App. 2011), and Blasde...ll v. State, 470 S.W. 3d 59 (Tex. Crim. App. 2015), as an Expert in the soft science of eyewitness identification. The Daubert standard for the soft sciences are governed by Nenno v. State, 970 S.W. 2d 549 (Tex. Crim. App. 1998).
I was court appointed to represent a client accused of Burglary of a Habitation with the Intent to Commit Sex Assault Therein in the 240th in November of 2012. I finally managed to get funding sometime in 2014 for an Eyewitness Identification Expert in 2014. Judge Culver was reluctant to fund Dr. Malpass.
In February of 2015 I went to trial with Dr. Malpass as my Expert. The Visiting Judge was Lee Duggan. Despite absolutely no physical evidence linking my Defendant to the crime, old Duggan allowed an unproven Attempted Sexual Assault to be introduced into the Guilt/Innocence stage of the trial and an adjudicated Public Lewdness out of Harris County. The prosecutors claimed that I had opened the door to the unproven other crimes, wrongs, or acts, in that I had stated in opening statements that "it wasn't my guy (identity)." I argued to the Judge that I was arguing an element of the crime was negated, not that I had opened the door. The Judge allowed the extraneous crimes in anyway.
The Jury hung after a two week trial, and old Duggan held me in Contempt for following along a line of questioning he did not approve of. I was booked into jail for Contempt and bonded out. Attorney Butch Bradt is defending me on the Contempt charge and that issue is currently up on appeal with the 1st COA.
In the meantime, the parent Judge, Judge Culver, Sua Sponte, removed me from the case, because he felt like it. I had offended his Visiting Judge, Lee Duggan. Again, Butch Bradt defended me and and drafted a mandamus to the COA. The COA denied the Mandamus and refused to reinstate me. Then on appeal to the CCA, Judge Culver reinstated me, rendering the Mandamus to the CCA moot. Judge Culver has since passed away.
Judge Culver was replaced by a Judge that was originally from the DA's office, and I then asked that Judge to recuse himself. That Judge recuse himself and Judge Jim Shoemake stepped in.
I held a Daubert Hearing in front of Judge Shoemake last week. Roy and I challenged the State's Photo Array and Forensic Sketch Artist. The Photo Array was given after a Forensic Hypnosis session.
Today, The Honorable Judge Jim Shoemake tossed out the Photo Array and Sketch. The State, represented by the notorious Chris Delozier, immediately dismissed the case against my client. My client is now a free man after being jailed for over 3 and 1/2 years without being able to bond out.
I want to thank Butch Bradt for believing in me and getting me reinstated in the case, as well as defending me against Judge Lee Duggan in the Contempt allegation. Butch Bradt has inspired me to be a warrior. I also want to thank Dr. Roy Malpass for being there for me and the client, and testifying in an incredibly adversarial setting. Finally, just Judges are rare, but I want to publicly thank Judge Jim Shoemake for being fair.
Criminal defense
Client Accused by Sugar Land Police of Evading Arrest
May 06, 2016
OUTCOME: Case Dismissed
My client was a passenger in a friend's car and was at a gas station when another car pulled up and confronted my client about smoking at the gas pumps. There were harsh words exchanged and the guys w...ho warned my client started to follow my client and they called the cops on my client, stating to the cops that my client's car was driving recklessly. My client arrived at the party he was supposed to attend and just as he was getting out of the car, he noticed a cop driving towards the party. The client ran and jumped the fence because he thought the party was going to get busted. Turns out, the cop was approaching to find out about reckless driving call. The prosecutor dismissed the Evading on Foot charge on the eve of trial because the cop was not trying to actively stop my client. The cop did not have his lights on or did not tell my client to stop.
Criminal defense
Client Summoned by the Amarillo Municipal Court after being investigated by Amarillo Police for Theft.
Apr 06, 2016
OUTCOME: Reduced to Misdemeanor Disorderly Conduct by Making an Unreasonable Noise in a Private Residence--No Conviction.
My elderly client was accused of stealing groceries out of the local United Supermarket. The client paid for her groceries that were bagged, but forgot to have scanned those groceries that were in a p...ersonal store grocery bag. She was questioned by store employees and an Amarillo Police Officer and let go. Later, she was summoned to Court. I gathered several Social Security documents detailing my client's mental health issues, to include memory loss, problems with decision making, lack of concentration, and problems managing personal affairs, to name a few among many health issues. My client's primary physician also provided an Affidavit detailing significant memory loss and decision-making. On the eve of trial, the prosecutor offered my client a plea bargain in which she was allowed to plead No-Contest to making an unreasonable noise in a private residence--No Conviction. The moral of the story is that we were able to prove that she wasn't a thief.
Criminal defense
Client Summoned by the Amarillo Municipal Court After Being Investigated by Amarillo Police for Assault on a Family Member
Feb 18, 2016
OUTCOME: Case Dismissed
My client, a family man, was called by his daughter's aunt who complained to him that the school found lice in his daughter's hair and that he was not being a good parent and that she was going to call... CPS. When my client got home, he asked his daughter why she would tell her aunt about the lice. My client's wife got in between him and his two daughters and told him to leave her alone. My client's one daughter, the one who did not speak to the aunt, told my client to stop "yelling." She then hit my client in the face because "she was scared." My client then grabbed his daughter by the hair and pulled her down to the ground to get her to stop. She said she would stop hitting my client. He let her off the ground and left to cool off. The cops were called and when they arrived, both daughters told the cops that my client was "banging (her) head against a wall." This was a complete lie and was told to get revenge back on their Dad. My client's wife made no such mention of "banging (her) head against the wall" but the cops believed the young girls. My client was summoned to Amarillo Municipal Court to face an Assault on a Family Member charge. Both girls changed their stories at least twice. Photographs of the one girl who's head was supposedly "banged against the wall" showed her smirking and having no apparent injuries whatsoever. The prosecutor saw the writing on the wall and dismissed the case. This is a perfect example of children trying to use the cops to get back at their parents.
