Criminal Defense

The Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution is fifty-four words long.[1] It guarantees, among other things, the right of the accused “to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.” For most of American history, that right meant that a defendant who could afford a lawyer was entitled to bring one to court. It…

The thing about a Bexar County DWI that catches most people off guard is that the criminal case and the driver’s license suspension are two different proceedings. They run on parallel tracks. They have different deadlines. They have different rules. And the deadline for the license proceeding is short, while the deadline for the criminal…

“Federal” and “state” sound like a technical distinction. For a person facing criminal charges in San Antonio, the distinction controls almost everything about the case. The courtroom, the prosecutor, the punishment range, the rules of evidence, the sentencing guidelines, and the timeline are all different. Some cases can only be one or the other. Some…

Most people leaving the Bexar County Jail after a magistrate hearing focus on the bond amount, which is reasonable. The bond amount is what gets them out. The conditions of release that came with the bond are usually skimmed and forgotten. They should not be. This post walks through what bond conditions are in a Bexar County…

The most stressful moment in many Bexar County criminal cases is not the original arrest. It is the day a probation officer files a motion to revoke. The case the client thought was behind them is suddenly in front of them, and the stakes are usually higher than the original case ever was. This post walks through…

People who have never been through a Bexar County misdemeanor case generally assume one of two things. Either it will be over in a few weeks, or it will take years. The reality is in between, and it follows a predictable rhythm if you know what to look for. Here is the realistic timeline for a Bexar…

Two of the most common questions in the post-case phase of a Bexar County criminal matter are about clearing the record. The two questions sound alike. They are different questions with different answers. The Texas tools for clearing a criminal record are expunction and nondisclosure. They sound similar. They are not the same thing. Which one applies…

A simple assault charge in Texas is a Class A misdemeanor, and it carries up to a year in the county jail and a fine of up to four thousand dollars.[1] That is the part most people understand when they hear “assault.” What most people do not understand until they are sitting across a desk…

Most people arrested for a drug offense in Bexar County assume the only path is plea or trial. There is a third path that gets less attention because it is less dramatic, but for the right person and the right case it produces a better outcome than either of the others. That path is Bexar…

Texas criminal cases are governed by a discovery statute that has a name that means almost nothing to anyone outside the system. The statute is Article 39.14 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure[1], and in 2014 the Texas Legislature rewrote it to be one of the most defense-friendly criminal discovery rules in the country.[2]…