Texas Criminal Defense Blog

The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals on Friday, August 19 granted a stay of execution for 43-year-old Jeffrey Wood, who was involved in a robbery killing 20 years ago. In 1996, 22-year-old Wood sat in a pickup truck outside a gas station as he waited for his friend, Daniel Reneau, to carry out a plan to rob the […]

Santa Clara County Judge Aaron Persky, who faced wide criticism for giving a light sentence to 20-year-old Stanford University swimmer and rapist Brock Turner, recused himself from making a major decision in another sex crime case. In a statement submitted to the court on Monday, August 22, Persky said: “While on vacation earlier this month, my family […]

Edward Nero, a member of the Baltimore Police Department, was recently found not guilty of assault in connection to the arrest and death of Freddie Gray. Gray died as a result of his mortal injuries while in police custody during a ride in Baltimore inside a police van. Dallas, Texas criminal lawyer John Helms said the prosecution […]

Thirty-four-year-old in Fort Worth in Tarrant County, Texas resident and registered sex offender Jayson Neil Sparks has been recaptured and put in jail after taking off from his trial during a break on Friday, August 5. A report from the Fort Worth Star Telegram showed that Sparks was sentenced in absentia on Thursday, August 4 […]

Galveston County Judge Kerry Neves made a public declaration and order on Monday, July 18 that he plans to reject plea deals in cases that involve assaults and threats to police officers. He will only waver, he says, if there is compelling evidence to grant one. By compelling evidence, he means the officers involved in the case must be okay […]

Police Chief James Waters of the Princeton Police Department reported that 20-year-old Wal-Mart employee Nicolas Martinez was arrested and charged with two counts of assault with a deadly weapon. The charges come after a serious stabbing incident, which occurred around 4 p.m. on Wednesday, July 13. Waters identified one of the victims as George Wesley […]

The first-ever Miss Corpus Christina Latina, Caitlin Cifuentes, lost her title this second week of July after pageant participants she was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and driving while intoxicated. Six contestants sued Kayla Alvarez, the pageant’s local director, claiming Alvarez knew of Cifuentes’ record but still allowed her to participate in […]

Thirty-year-old former Dallas Cowboys football special teams player Claude Norman “C. J.” Spillman, Jr. was found guilty of sexual assault by a jury in Tarrant County, Texas in less than two hours on Thursday, June 30. He was sentenced to five years in prison the Friday after the trial. According to Jordan, Spillman invited a woman he […]

The state of Texas has given restitution to 101 men and women who were wrongfully convicted of and wrongfully incarcerated for committing crimes. The total compensation has amounted to $93.6 million over the last 25 years, data from the state comptroller’s office showed. This amount is bound to rise as the wrongfully imprisoned individuals get older and more […]

Dallas gun crime attorney Mark T. Lassiter was tapped by Colorado sports website bsndenver.com about possible charges faced by Aqib Talib of the Denver Broncos. Talib was shot in the right leg on June 5th. The location of the shooting is disputed. The official police report indicates that Talib and two other individuals were assaulted […]