State of Texas v. Dana Defendant (pseudonym)
Apr 21, 2009OUTCOME: Not Guilty--Jury Verdict
Ms. Defendant was a home health care worker accused of stealing multiple medications from a disabled patient she cared for in his home. The State had a videotaped interview my client gave to the polic ... e prior to my involvement in the case. In that interview she admitted that she had taken the medications and put them in her pocket while cleaning his room, and that she had forgot about them, left his residence with the bottles in her pocket, and then called him one hour after leaving to tell him she'd mistakenly taken his medications. She returned the two bottles to him later that evening, but the victim claimed that there were about 50 pills missing from the two bottles, one bottle of narcotic painkiller, and one bottle of Ambien sleep pills. She also admitted being a former drug addict in 12 step recovery for the last 10 years in that interview (all of which got played to the jury). At trial, I was able to uncover plenty of reasonable doubt based on the interview, but more importantly, demonstrated to the jury that the "victim" was himself addicted to Hydrocodone for the last 20 years, that he and his doctor had multiple arguments about the victim wanting a 3 month supply of pain pills, and the doctor would only write a one month prescription each time. Jury later said after the trial, that the State didn't have a chance after I cross-examined the victim.
