And from the outset here, I want to clarify that I’m talking about without a warrant- no probable cause at all, just wanna see what you’re up to. So if you’ve got nothing to hide then why would you care? Seriously, it’s not even on the inside, you’ll never even know it was there… If […]

This is actually old news, but I’ve started seeing some of these lately so it’s relevant. Back in September the legislature passed a new law affecting DWI’s, for enhancement purposes. As things were, all regular DWI first offenses were class B misdemeanors, which carried a maximum punishment of 180 days in jail and up to

Aaaaaah, you should get up in the morning and take a deep breath of that FREEDOM that the Supremes just dished out today!! It’s hard to recall the last time that this Court (the same one that says corporations are “people”) ruled unanimously in favor of civil liberty instead of some institution, in this case,

I don’t really have a distinct angle on this story, I just find it fascinating. It has ties to white collar crime, the internet, New Zealand, copyright, the Department of Justice and FBI, the film and music industries, Hong Kong, Kim Kardashian, Bob Bennett, Kanye West, and on and on… but that’s what makes it

For years, I have privately held a theory about how I think people choose a lawyer to represent them in a criminal case or DWI. It’s not flattering, but it is what it is… I think it’s like choosing a dentist. You don’t really want to have to go, but you can’t ignore it, so

Every time I meet with a new client on a DWI case, I am reminded of all the different things I think people should know about DWI, and what they actually know. The State spends a great deal of money to give you the impression that you have no rights or choices when you are

After a long absence from writing, I finally found a current event significant enough to sit down and blog about, and it’s not Obamacare.  Like a lot of other people, for a while I ended up making the best use of my liberal arts degree (Psych/Soc) by waiting tables and bartending.  I was lucky enough

Well it’s been a while, but it took humor to break me out of the blog doldrums I was in.  Cheers to humor, we don’t get enough of that in this business.  Don’t get me wrong, criminal lawyers do have a sense of humor.  But it’s most often kept in the professional circles, much as

Chesapeake (VA) police officer, Barrett Ring, claims that he can come up behind cars, open his vent and smell burnt marijuana coming from the car in front of him. Testimony from preliminary hearing transcript: Public defender Atty Matt Taylor: “Officer Ring, your testimony was that you’re driving down Battlefield Blvd., and you smelled marijuana in

NO TEXTING WHILE DRIVING IN AUSTIN, TX!! This post is coming to you as a public service message if you should be coming into beautiful Austin for our Austin City Limits Music Festival, the Formula One races, South by Southwest, or perhaps a quaint Texas Longhorns football game. Despite what you may see around you,

I confess to being a little bit of a “True Believer” when it comes to criminal defense. My close colleagues and I do our best to humanize our clients, many of whom have done stupid things, and try to make others relate to their human frailty. Everyone is frail, even prosecutors, even police officers, even