Recent HLF Cases No-Billed by the Grand Jury
FELONY THEFT $1500 – $20,000
Case No. 1307012- Joshua W.
GRAND JURY NO BILL August 16, 2011
This was Joshua’s second malicious arrest and prosecution by the same officer who slandered him and tried to destroy his towing business in the first arrest. And also our second Grand Jury No Bill for him in less than 6 months. [See below.] Joshua was the owner of a very successful private towing service with zero complaints filed against him and zero Tow Hearings. He had signed up several businesses on private property tow contracts, as these businesses were experiencing numerous problems (beer bottles, ruts in grass, break-ins, etc.) due to illegal after-hours parking in front of their businesses by patrons of a nearby night club with inadequate parking. The allegations were that Josh’s tows were illegal. We acknowledged a “gray area” in the Code as to whether the area between the roadway and the ditch was legal for towing – but steadfastly argued that the signage and methods were by the book and moreover that private property tow issues have always been civil matters, never criminal. It was astounding that the police agency wanted to escalate this civil matter into a criminal complaint, esp. as none of the owners had even requested the civil tow hearings provided for by law. We compiled an enormous quantity of evidence in support of our position – including photo evidence, service agreements, tow tickets, pertinent sections of the Texas Occupations Code (Towing and Booting Act) and Texas Administrative Code, and a Statutory Analysis of same, for presentation to the Grand Jury. The thrust of our presentation and arguments to the District Attorney’s office was that any issue on the legality of these tows was a civil question. We further argued the highly unethical and even illegal behavior of the arresting officer in slandering Josh’s character and in exercising a personal vendetta against Josh through efforts to destroy Josh’s contracts by direct selling of other towing services to Josh’s former customers.
SEXUAL ASSAULT OF AN ADULT
Case No. 1300842 – Franklin N.
GRAND JURY NO-BILL July 14, 2011
Franklin was dealing with a lying, conniving ex-wife in this case. At the time of the incident, they were still going through a divorce (for a marriage that she had conned him into by pregnancies which always seemed to “miscarry”). Motivated by jealousy over a new woman on the scene, she went to police with an allegation of rape and then to the hospital for the necessary medical forensics testing. Franklin submitted to a DNA sample which was found to match. Moreover, the Prosecutors and Grand Jury had access to a half-hour recorded audio conversation between Franklin and the Complainant in which he admitted to forcing himself on her. We exploited several factors to secure this early No-Bill to prevent an Indictment: Although the tape had incriminating evidence against Franklin, it also held – for the careful listener [which we were] – other statements of Complainant which tended to exculpate Franklin and which we carefully pointed out to the Prosecutors and the Grand Jury; we secured umpteen pages of texts showing a non-hostile relationship in the weeks and days preceding the alleged assault; we obtained and presented many financial records showing Franklin had paid many bills on her behalf even after the alleged assault - and yet she was obviously not afraid to accept his help. Our biggest stumbling block was without a doubt the recorded audio tape of Franklin admitting to using violence. Mr. Haggard carefully and ethically advised Franklin, in writing, as to how exactly to testify before the Grand Jury without perjuring himself or telling any lies. Our persuasive presentation of our evidence and our meticulous preparation of Franklin for this all-important testimony succeeded brilliantly and we obtained our desired outcome – a No-Bill by the Grand Jury.
ACCIDENT INVOLVING INJURY/DEATH
Case No. 1293255- Ismael C.
GRAND JURY NO-BILL April 26, 2011
Ismael went to pick up an unrepaired computer after six months in the “shop” he’d found on Craig’s List - which turned out to be the repairman’s [Complainant] home. When the Complainant asked to be paid for the still-unrepaired computer, Ismael refused and started to back his truck out. While doing so Complainant jumped onto the side rails of Ismael’s truck and assaulted Ismael including grabbing the steering wheel which caused the moving truck to swerve and Complainant to fall and sustain injuries; an EMT arrived at the scene and Complainant was transported to the hospital. It did not occur to Ismael, an honest man, to make a defensive report to police to forestall a lying Complainant. He assumed that the fact that Complainant had attempted to defraud Ismael, had rather assaulted Ismael and had caused his own injuries to himself would prevent him from lying to police and fabricating an entirely different story. WRONG. It did not help matters that Ismael was in the Sheriff’s database due to two prior assault charges. We prepared Ismael for testifying along with a convincing Grand Jury brief which included several meticulous eyewitness Affidavits, phone and other evidence records and BBB records on Complainant’s business – it had an “F” rating – to impeach his credibility.
Mr. Haggard put my worries at each with the legal experience he brought to the table when I was facing a tough District Attorney. ~Ismael C.
FELONY THEFT $1500 – $20,000
Case No. 1294203 – Joshua W.
GRAND JURY NO BILL March 2, 2011
Joshua was the owner of a very successful wrecker service who gave an old friend a break when down on his luck by allowing him to work with him on tow jobs. Unknown to Josh, his co-defendant was going into towed vehicles in the storage lot yard and stealing laptops, ipods, purses etc. while Josh was inside the office filling out paperwork. Problems with the State’s case were that, although Josh ultimately fired his co-defendant, he had given a culpatory statement to police that he knew his co-defendant had been stealing laptops; this, coupled with the fact that Josh’s name was on the tow slips of the burglarized vehicles and that the arresting officer told some critical lies regarding Joshua’s business practices [as well as managing to get Josh's club towing contracts illegally shut down] – all this led to Joshua’s arrest for felony theft which he did not participate in or benefit from in any way. His CHL license as well as his three tow licenses would have been imperiled had he pleaded guilty in return for an adjudicated dismissal. We had recorded evidence including exculpatory recorded phone conversations and text mssages as part of our defense. We compiled a Grand Jury presentation and successfully prepared our client to testify before the Grand Jury.
FELONY CARRYING PROHIBITED WEAPON IN PROHIBITED PLACE – AIRPORT
Case No. 1287689 – Bryan T.
GRAND JURY NO-BILL February 3, 2011
Bryan was going on a business trip to Kansas City and forgot he had his firearm in his laptop bag. He threw his laptop on the x-ray belt in the screening area which is operated by Homeland Security’s T.S.A., whose records, files, reports, videos and policies we subpoenaed as part of our defense. When Bryan, as he stated to police later, “saw her eyes get big“, he knew Homeland Security scanners had revealed his loaded .45 caliber automatic. Bryan is the holder of a CHL license and the weapon is owned by a Class III NFA Firearm Trust – but we were unable to utilize these as defenses – signs are prominently posted outside the TSA screening area and a Trust is not responsible for where a gun is carried. Our task was to prove beyond a reasonable doubt Bryan’s state of mind and lack of intent. Muddying the waters of his reputed innocence was the fact that several unlabeled medications – zanax among them – were also found in his baggage. We turned this to advantage however with a ream of medical records to prove the source of his anxiety – his young daughter’s ongoing cancer treatment at Texas Children’s Hospital which in turn helped us to convince the Grand Jury of his state of mind – distraction in the extreme. We gave the Grand Jurors graphic and all too recent photos of his child’s cancer accompanied by her reams of medical records and a vivid recital of what their lives had been like in the months leading up to the arrest – living in the hospital, marriage counseling due to the stress, staying up all night with a child in pain, trying to make a living. We provided a –
… [B]efore and after of my daughter’s journey through Hell with my wife and I along for the ride. This is a three-month snapshot of what cancer looks like. I appreciate your advice on how to convey how a person can get to the state of mind I was in. She went from winning the war on cancer to relapse… This [the photos] is straight and narrow is what was going through my mind as I was going through TSA security. Thank you for everything.
~ Bryan T.
AGGRAVATED ASSAULT DEADLY WEAPON
Case No. 1260984 – Adam B.
GRAND JURY NO-BILL June 23, 2010
Adam is a consultant who teaches online Webex classes to Fortune 500 businesses. While thus engaged, maintenance personnel from his Westchase residence began loudly sanding his front door. He calmly asked them to work elsewhere until his class was over. Complainants belligerently told Adam to see the management and continued their work even more loudly. Adam couldn’t leave his class waiting to go see management. Further, he felt threatened and displayed his shotgun vertically from within his own residence. A shoving match ensued after which Complainants took photos of the gun with their cell phones. Their statement, written in Spanish, lost something in the ‘translation’ by their jefe. It took a long time for charges to be filed as presumably the DAs coached police on which leading questions to ask to elicit the required responses from Complainants. Trespass was an issue since much of the struggle took place on and just over the threshold of Adam’s home whereas Complainants had no right or need to enter. Adam further felt threatened with bodily injury by Complainants, who were acting aggressively, as corroborated by witness testimony. After briefing the DA’s on all pertinent and disputed legal and fact issues, providing eyewitness and character testimony, – including a compelling letter from the property owners, and photographic and weapon evidence, we got this case before the Grand Jury in record time.
Carl Haggard and his staff defended me expertly, vigorously and professionally to
bring false accusations of Aggravated Assault against me to a 100% positive
resolution. You will not find a law firm more dedicated to clearing your good name.
~ Adam B.
PCS – COCAINE PG 1 < 1 gm State Jail Felony
Case No. 1276490 – Christopher L.
GRAND JURY NO-BILL December 15, 2010
In his initial written statement submitted to us, Christopher wrote, “I know y’all don’t know me but I’m really a good person. I have 5 wonderful children, 3 from a previous marriage and 2 beautiful little girls from my wonderful wife I have now. I pray that we can resolve this without being taken from my family.” We prayed but also worked very hard to help Chris since he had a prior felony drug conviction and a Federal drug conviction for methamphetamine. At the time he hired HLF, Chris had turned his life around and was working a steady job as a boat mechanic which, due to prior injuries, caused him a great deal of pain. We thoroughly documented for the jury with medical records his need for prescribed medications. We also contested the reason for the stop: The officer lied in the Offense Report that he “could not identify the state on the license plate”. (We easily disproved this with photos.) Both Chris and his passenger were arrested for pills inside plastic bags in a metal vial and a cigarette box: Soma, Oxycodone and Adderall [dextroamphetamine] broken into several pieces. Hurdles to overcome were prescriptions for a third party found in the vehicle and the fact that Chris told police they were in Houston for a doctor’s appt. – but there was no appt. since they had “gotten the day wrong”. We prepared Chris on how to best testify to overcome these hurdles and prevailed – despite the fact that the Adderall was not documented with a valid Rx and he had a prior Federal amphetamine case.
FELONY THEFT
Case No. 1231038 – John T.
GRAND JURY NO BILL November 19, 2009
Two co-defendants were caught soon after burglarizing a construction site at midnight. Copper wire cutters and cut copper conduit lay on the ground at the scene and a spool of copper wire was found in one of the co-defendants’ trucks. John, a third co-defendant, was the “chauffeur” in this copper wire theft ring. He was stopped while driving one of the trucks immediately after a two-truck coordinated theft had been carried out when a sharp-eyed Tomball PD officer pulled him over after spotting evidence of the crime. By skillful presentation of the evidence, despite our client’s participation as the chauffeur in the ring, we proved his innocence of complicity in the actual thefts beyond a reasonable doubt and obtained a Grand Jury No Bill for our client. [See convictions in co-defendants cases 1231039, 40 and 41.]
