High on the list of things I never gave a bit of thought to before I started working in the office at Sumpter & Gonzalez: the way criminal defense attorneys were portrayed in the media. I wasn’t among the camp who thought they were Bad People Who Get Criminals Off (I believe that’s an official […]
Dal is in a robbery trial right now. The facts are not on his side. The law is not on his side. The client’s own mother is not on his side. But there’s no benefit to pleading guilty. Hence, trial. The prosecutor is irate. During a moment in the trial, he said to Dal, “This […]
Two and a half years ago I responded to a Craigslist ad looking for a document scanner. Apparently, this particular law firm wanted to go paperless and was looking for people to help scan all their paperwork. It was close to Christmas, I was a starving grad student, and I had toyed with the idea […]
There’s a maxim favored by lazy journalists that say three of any incident – even something absurd, like spotting hipsters with potbellies – constitutes a newsworthy trend. And it’s certainly weird, when you see totally unrelated instances of the same thing pop up. I don’t know that I’d be calling the New York Times for […]
I would argue that all crimes committed- however harmful, illogical, misguided, or seemingly senseless- were intended by the people who committed them to serve some kind of good in their lives. The factors and variables that contribute to criminal behavior in any given individual are convoluted to say the least. Law violations can not be explained away […]
I have been in the role as a prosecutor a few times. In law school, I did an internship at the Santa Clara District Attorney’s Office prosecuting felony drug crimes. A few years ago I was hired by the City of Boerne as a special prosecutor to prosecute a criminal defense lawyer who lied under […]
Convicted child killer Raul Meza is fired for the second time in as many months. It’s been 28 years since eight-year-old Kendra Page was raped and murdered in Southeast Austin. The man convicted of the crime, Raul Meza, is currently attempting the transition back into society. It’s what Page’s big sister, Tracy, has been dreading, […]
The State Bar Annual Meeting brought up the need to clarify a few distinctions between lawyers that the general public may not know. Criminal law is a repeat player game based upon relationships of trust, integrity, and reputation. You have to work with the same prosecutors and judges on different cases week after week. We […]
More conference. More distinctions between lawyers. The State Bar conference is comprised mainly of private practice, large firm lawyers. When you hear about starting salaries of $150,000 fresh out of law school, this is what you think of. (However, few of those starting associates are at this conference. It’s hard to do anything else when […]
The general public believes that all lawyers are very wealthy, drive luxury automobiles, and work tirelessly so they can greedily earn more money. Nothing could be further from the truth, especially lawyers that work in the criminal justice system. Criminal justice often involves a confluence of problems relating to substance abuse, mental health, and poverty. […]