Posted on September 09, 2019 in Uncategorized

On September 3, 2019, a 56-year-old grandfather was killed while changing a flat on the side of a Houston roadway. Now, the man that struck him has been charged with murder.

The accident occurred around 7:20 p.m. on Tuesday, September 3, 2019. Jose Almanza had pulled over to the side of 1100 South Loop West near Highway 88. As he was changing the tire, a Ford F-150 operated by John Richard Vasquez veered off the roadway, striking and killing Almanza. According to the police report, Vasquez lost control of his vehicle as he approached Almanza, causing the truck to swerve out of the lane and into the victim.

Police allege that the defendant smelled of alcohol and that tests at the hospital confirmed Vasquez was intoxicated. Prosecutors have now brought murder charges against Vasquez due to his prior DWI convictions. According to a spokesman for the district attorney:

"This is a habitual offender of DWI and anyone, in my mind, who has more than one conviction for a DWI is a ticking time bomb, that is just a matter of time before they get behind the wheel and take one of the people in our community's lives."

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 Posted on September 09, 2019 in Uncategorized

A Houston man was arrested for driving while intoxicated on August 21, 2019, after witnesses spotted him driving without one of the front tires. The man's problems deepened from there when law enforcement discovered a small child in the car.

Deputies for the Harris County Sheriff's Office arrested 24-year-old Fernando Axel Garcia late in the evening of August 21, 2019. Law enforcement was notified of an Infiniti G35 driving erratically. The report also indicated the vehicle was driving on at least one tireless rim.

Deputies encountered Garcia on the 12100 block of Veterans Memorial. Garcia was pulled over to the side of the road and was standing in front of his vehicle while looking at the destroyed tire. The police report alleges the officers administered a field sobriety test and detected an odor of an intoxicating beverage on Garcia's breath.

Upon arriving on the scene, law enforcement also discovered Garcia's one-year-old child in the back seat of the vehicle. The child was also allegedly not restrained safely. Law enforcement then arrested Garcia for DWI with a passenger under the age of 15. Garcia's child was released into the custody of a family member. The charge Garcia faces is a felony due to the increased penalty for having a child passenger in the car while driving under the influence.

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 Posted on August 08, 2019 in Uncategorized

In January of 2019, a botched Houston drug raid led to the death of both homeowners and the injury of five officers in a chaotic shootout. Now, the officer that procured the warrant under suspicious circumstances faces felony murder charges.

Gerald Goines, the former Houston police officer that obtained the warrant that led to the raid, faces felony murder charges. He is currently free on $300,000 bond after pleading not guilty.

The Charges and Their Consequences

Goines was charged with murder under Texas's felony murder rule. According to Texas Penal Code § 19.02(b)(3), a person can be charged with murder if he:

commits or attempts to commit a felony, other than manslaughter, and in the course of and in furtherance of the commission or attempt, or in immediate flight from the commission or attempt, he commits or attempts to commit an act clearly dangerous to human life that causes the death of an individual.

According to prosecutors, Goines committed a felony by tampering with a warrant application. By lying about the existence of a confidential informant, prosecutors allege Goines created a dangerous situation that led to the death of both homeowners. Goines' former partner was also charged with tampering with a government record after allegedly providing false information after the shooting occurred.

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 Posted on August 08, 2019 in Uncategorized

The law is full of unintended consequences. One of those unintended consequences for Texas lawmakers might lead to a steep drop in low-level marijuana possession cases. That outcome seems to go well beyond what Texas legislators had in mind when they passed House Bill 1325

What is House Bill 1325?

After years of pressure, the Texas legislature began to slowly move towards removing the ban on farming or manufacturing hemp products in the state. The bill also allows for the use of CBD oil that has less than 0.3% THC content. CBD is short for Cannabidiol, a compound extracted from the cannabis plant. While it does not have the intoxicating effect of marijuana, it is credited with a wide array of potential health benefits.

While legislators aired some minor concerns about the impact of House Bill 1325 and the ability to prosecute marijuana users, the bill ultimately passed the Texas Senate unanimously. The original bill was tweaked repeatedly, including allowing state inspectors to test random batches of hemp or CBD to ensure they were not above the 0.3% threshold. However, this new threshold has led to unexpected consequences in many of Texas' largest counties.

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 Posted on August 08, 2019 in Uncategorized

A 17-year old Magnolia, Texas resident was charged on July 16, 2019, for the murder of Houston teenager Ryan Bates. The defendant, William Underwood, came to be known by the police through an alleged Snapchat video Underwood purportedly made at the crime scene. Now, the defendant has pleaded not guilty, arguing self-defense.

The Alleged Crime: Murder in Houston TX

The body of Bates was discovered by Harris County Sheriff's deputies near Highway 6 in the northwestern part of Harris County. Upon arriving, the deputies discovered Bates' body outside of an apartment complex on Park Point Drive. His body was discovered with multiple gunshot wounds.

Nearly a month passed before Underwood was arrested for murder. According to the police, the defendant filmed himself driving by the scene of the crime as officers processed the scene.

An eyewitness also identified Underwood. According to the witness, Underwood attempted to enter multiple parked vehicles armed with a Taser before entering the victim's car shortly before the shooting. The witness informed the police that she saw Underwood tase the victim repeatedly and then heard gunshots.

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 Posted on August 08, 2019 in Uncategorized

Although the recent arrest of three intoxicated pilots in less than a week has generated headlines nationwide, the reality is that incidents related to intoxicated airline pilots are rare. In fact, out of the 117,000 American pilots tested for alcohol from 2010 through 2018, only 99 were above the legal limit according to the Washington Post.

But when a pilot tests above the legal limit, the consequences can be severe.

Just like with a DWI charge, state and federal law set a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limit for pilots. The state of Texas outlaws the operation of any airplane by an intoxicated pilot. According to the statute, intoxication is the lack of normal use of your mental or physical capacities due to the introduction of alcohol, drugs, or a combination of both.

The FAA has more specific guidelines for pilots and alcohol consumption. Federal Aviation Regulation § 91.17 bars a pilot from flying:

• Within 8 hours of having consumed alcohol;

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 Posted on August 08, 2019 in Uncategorized

On Tuesday, July 30, 2019, the Harris County Commissioners Court resolved a class-action lawsuit regarding the constitutionality of the county bail system by approving a historic settlement. The agreement is intended to solve what a federal judge referred to as the "irreparable harm" caused by the system. Houston criminal defense lawyer, Robert Fickman, referred to the antiquated and unlawful bond practice in Harris County as the "plea mill".

The vote formally approved the settlement agreement on behalf of the county, but it must still be approved by the court. Once implemented, the new bail system intends to dramatically lower pretrial incarceration rates for misdemeanor defendants.

Litigation regarding the bond system in Harris County has been ongoing for years. In 2017, a federal judge struck down the system as unconstitutional. In the decision, the judge found that the county violated the United States Constitution by disproportionately jailing indigent residents before trial compared to wealthy residents facing identical charges.

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 Posted on May 05, 2019 in Uncategorized

A private company has announced that it has come up with a way to detect THC, the active and hallucinogenic component in marijuana, on someone's breath. The development could be a game-changer for charges of driving while intoxicated (DWI) that involve marijuana in Houston and beyond. However, if handled poorly, it could also make an already difficult field of law even more challenging and unfair.

Company Claims to Have Developed a "Marijuana Breathalyzer"

The company is Hound Labs. It has claimed to have developed a portable device that tests a DWI suspect's breath for both alcohol and marijuana.

According to its website, the mobile testing device it has created can detect minute amounts of THC on a DWI suspect's breath – all the way down to 1 picogram of THC or a trillionth of a gram. Doing so would provide law enforcement with an "objective" way of determining whether someone is under the influence of marijuana or not.

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 Posted on April 04, 2019 in Uncategorized

Several of our recent blog posts have covered the upcoming U.S. Supreme Court case, State v. Mitchell. The case deals with DWI law and the six exceptions to the warrant requirement and will likely build on the last DWI case that made it to the Supreme Court, Birchfield v. North Dakota, which showcased how implied consent laws have gotten out of hand.

Mitchell provides an excellent opportunity to rein in those implied consent laws and limit how police use consent searches to get around your Fourth Amendment rights.

Implied Consent Laws and Your Rights

Implied consent laws are statutes that attach a string to your right to drive. That string says that, by driving, you consent to a chemical test for your blood alcohol content (BAC) whenever a police officer requests you to perform one.

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 Posted on April 04, 2019 in Uncategorized

A serious car crash in Houston could have been caused by driving while intoxicated (DWI). The case, however, highlights how unfair Texas' laws of intoxication assault and intoxication manslaughter can be.

Child in Serious Condition After Suspected DWI Crash

The crash happened just before midnight on Thursday, April 11.

According to the initial reports, an SUV with two children in the vehicle – one aged 12, the other 3 – slowed down on Highway 249 near Beltway 8. A trailing car with two young women in their 20s slammed into the back of the SUV.

The 12-year-old, who was in the front seat and was not wearing a seatbelt, was rushed to the hospital in serious condition.

Police said that the driver of the trailing vehicle showed signs of intoxication.

Felony Charges of Intoxication Assault and Intoxication Manslaughter

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