Criminal Defense

For individuals facing charges or convictions for Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) in Texas, the court may impose...

If you've been charged with criminal mischief in Texas, you may not fully understand the seriousness of the...

If you're pulled over in Texas and a police officer asks to search your car, you might wonder: Do they need a warrant...

Let’s start this off at the beginning. I live a boring life.  I have never done anything wrong.  Ever.  When I say...

Most people think of alcohol or illegal drugs when they hear about a DWI (Driving While Intoxicated), but in Texas—and...

A defendant charged with a crime often has a tough choice to make: accept a plea deal with a negotiated punishment or...

On August 10th the 9th Court of Appeals released several opinions and other rulings, one of which was not a memorandum opinion. GIPSON v. TEXAS – Reversed and Remanded At issue in this case was the 252nd District Court’s revocation of the Appellant’s probation. The Appellant had plead “True” to one of three allegations that he violated the terms of condition of probation. For reasons that are unimportant to us, the other two allegations were not pursued at the revocation hearing. The Appellant pleaded “True” to not paying the court-assessed fees. The prosecution did not put on any evidence, and the trial court revoked Appellant’s community supervision, assessing a prison sentence of 8 years, solely on the pleadings. For those not well-versed in the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, Article 42.12 is the (rather lengthy) portion of the code detailing the ins and outs of probation and deferred adjudication. The court in Beaumont cites the pertinent part, section 21(c), and goes through a bit of legislative history detailing a recent change. In brief, that section calls for trial courts hearing a revocation matter which has at issue only proof or the admission of non-payment of “compensation paid to appointed counsel, […]