Family and Criminal Law Blog

Interacting with law enforcement can be intimidating. While it is important to remain respectful and as compliant as is reasonable, it is also important in interactions with law enforcement to know your rights. You see, the power of law enforcement officials is not without limits. Some of those limits come in the form of an individual’s constitutionally protected rights. The Fourth Amendment of the U.
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Divorce can be a difficult thing to go through for so many different reasons. The uncertainty of the process in and of itself can be a great source of anxiety. This can be especially true for those divorcing with children. Child custody is, of course, a big issue in divorce proceedings and goes to the very core of a person’s life and family. Should divorcing spouses be unable to reach an agreement regarding child custody arrangements, it will be up to the court to determine such an arrangement and it will be guided in this determination by the best interests of the child standard.
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Did you know that, according to the Texas District & County Attorneys Association, approximately 98% of criminal cases end in plea bargains? Plea bargains have come to play a vital role in the criminal justice system as the lack of resources, like prosecuting and defense attorneys, along with judges, juries, and other court resources, are not sufficient to process the flood of cases with a full blown criminal trial. Due to the courts and jails both being overloaded and overcrowded, prosecutors will often engage in negotiating a plea bargain with a defendant. This means they will try to reach an agreement that the defendant will plead guilty in exchange for something else, such as a lesser charge or lighter sentence.

What to Negotiate While Plea Bargaining

Plea bargaining can help a criminal defendant avoid the stress of a trial as well as negotiate for a lighter sentence. On the other side of things, plea bargaining allows the prosecutor to spare the court the time and expense of a trial when dockets are already clogged.
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Often, a woman who changed her name when she got married will want to revert her last name back to her maiden name after a divorce is finalized. This is not always the case, of course, there are many women who choose to keep their married last name after divorce. The choice is completely personal and everyone has their reasons for either changing or not changing their last name after a divorce.
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You made it through the holidays! Congratulations! Hopefully you managed to make some memories along the way too. Navigating the holidays while co-parenting after divorce is no small feat and you should definitely make a point to pause and give yourself credit where credit is due. That being said, as a co-parent, you know that the hurdles to jump seem to be ever present. How you manage yourself, your relationship with your co-parents, and your relationship with your children can be just as important after the holidays as it is during the holidays. Here, we will review some of the common mistakes co-parents make after the holidays in the hopes that it helps you avoid them as best as possible.
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The insanity defense gets a lot of attention for the role it has played in past high profile legal cases as well as for how often it gets featured in movies and television legal dramas. The truth of the matter is, however, that the insanity defense is not often raised and even less often successfully raised. In fact, various statistical analyses show that just about one percent of all U.S. felony cases involve the use of the insanity defense.
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Divorce can be the best option for a couple when things are just not working out. This is the truth and everyone involved can be better off when the two spouses go their own ways. Divorce, however, is a complex legal proceeding that has significant implications for all involved.
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Successfully co-parenting after a divorce can seem like a constant struggle. Working with your former spouse can be an exercise in overcoming past differences, swallowing pride, and trying to compromise with someone who may have a competing personality to your own. Thankfully, modern technology is here to help.
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Texas divorces are filled with important issues that must be resolved in order for the divorce to be finalized. Possibly one of the most contentious issues incident to divorce involves the division of the marital assets. This is understandable considering the idea of your property being divided between you and your soon to be former spouse can feel highly personal, not to mention the fact that this division can have significant impacts on your financial situation for years to come.
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The credibility of a witness can have a big impact on the weight the witness testimony is given. For witnesses with solid credibility, testimony will likely be compelling and given significant weight. For those witnesses with questionable credibility, testimony is likely to be met with skepticism at the very least. Defenses attorneys know this and how impeaching, or attacking, the credibility of prosecution witnesses can play a critical role in the case in its entirety.

Impeaching Witness Credibility

A defense attorney will attempt to impeach prosecution witnesses in order to demonstrate to the jury that the testimony of such witnesses should not be believed or taken at face value.

In the U.S. criminal justice system, defendants are considered innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. This is the highest threshold in the U.S.