If you or someone you know has a mental illness, you know the fine line that you’re walking when you excuse behaviors that took place when someone was mentally ill. Many people can and do make good decisions in their lives despite mental illnesses, so is it really...
Texas Criminal Law Blog
The reliability of an eyewitness is a myth
People often trust eyewitnesses in criminal trials. Say you've been accused of assault and you claim that you weren't even there. The prosecution produces a witness who claims that they saw you at the scene and that you were the one who committed the assault. In a...
Expert witnesses can help debunk junk science used in court
If you were to take your information from movies and prime time television, you would probably assume that cutting-edge forensic science solves every major criminal case. In reality, forensic science is not nearly as dramatic or reliable as the media would make it...
3 hallmarks of an effective attorney
When you have to defend yourself against charges, it’s important that you have the right team on your side. An effective attorney can make a big difference between facing harsh penalties and having charges dropped or altered in a way that could benefit you. What makes...
Don’t let prosecutorial misconduct negatively affect your case
When you’re facing charges, it’s extremely important that the prosecution and defense teams are both working within the confines of the law. The last thing that you should have to worry about is the prosecutor taking steps to charge you or make claims against you in a...
The basics on ineffective assistance of counsel
If you are on trial accused of committing a crime, the worst outcome you could face is being convicted guilty of the charges against you. You depended on your attorneys to represent your interests, and while most attorneys will meet this duty there are some that will...
Can your mental health issues help your criminal defense?
Most of the time, when people try to defend themselves against a criminal charge, they want to prove that they did not do something. Providing an alibi or challenging state evidence gives defendants a way to show that they did not break the law. However, sometimes,...
4 steps to take when hiring a criminal defense attorney
Getting arrested or learning that you are under investigation may shock and scare you. Although not all arrests or investigations lead to criminal charges, an arraignment and trial could possibly be in your future. Once you know that you face accusations of criminal...
Do bite-mark analysts have to be specially trained?
Interestingly, while those who do bite-mark analysis may have training in forensics or other fields, they don’t necessarily have any proficiency training or testing in bite-mark analysis itself. While it may be simple to see that someone’s body has bite marks present,...
How does the M’Naghten rule impact an insanity defense?
TV and movies suggest that entering an insanity defense is a simple task. If these stories were reliable, you could get rid of criminal charges simply by claiming you did not know what you were doing and getting a psychiatrist to agree. As criminal law has developed...