Felony Assault Family Member Enhanced
FELONY ASSAULT ON FAMILY MEMBER [2nd Offender]
Case No. 1385993 – Alan C.
GRAND JURY NO BILL Nov. 4, 2013
The State enhanced Alan’s case to a Felony due to his prior Family Violence conviction. The Complainant was Alan’s girlfriend, who had a serious drug and alcohol abuse problem. It was important that we document her moral turpitude for the Court and Grand Jury to impeach her credibility. The incident involved a verbal argument with Alan after she had become intoxicated on her son’s Rx codeine. She told Alan, “You are going to jail”, ran her fingernails down her neck several times, and walked out the door. The police arrived on cue and arrested Alan. Since the Complainant had visible injuries we had to build our defense on heavy character impeachment to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that they were self-inflicted and that she was lying. Several witnesses gave unanimous and shocking testimony such as, for ex., that the Complainant had tried to sell her son, whom Alan was raising as his own, for drug money. We effectively presented enough compelling evidence in this case to convince the Grand Jury of Alan’s innocence.
ASSAULT, BODILY INJURY – FAMILY MEMBER [BOYFRIEND] ENHANCED WITH PRIOR FELONY PCS CONVICTIONS
Case No. 1823488- Dustin W.
DISMISSED ON THE EVE OF TRIAL October 1, 2012
This case was filed against client most likely due to police bias against client’s sexual orientation. Complainant, client’s boyfriend, was on parole for Aggravated Assault at the time of this case. He became intoxicated and assaulted client who, as we proved for the Court by records in admissible form, had recently been forced to seek public shelter due to another assault by Complainant. Both Complainant and client called 911 from 2 different phones and police observed visible injuries on both parties. But once police discovered client was a transgender they began harassing him and ended by siding with Complainant, slanting the Offense Report to minimize client’s injuries and maximize Complainant’s black eye. (To offset this damage, we subpoenaed Harris County jail medical records to document client’s injuries beyond the standard photos.) To complicate matters, Complainant, a violent and lying alcoholic, had made several similar calls to police against our client in the past. In fact, the first officer to make the scene had sided with Complainant, against our client, just 1 week prior in a similar incident. In the subject case, client had left by the time police arrived so Complainant had the upper hand in telling his side of the story first to police: that client punched him in the face – and he had a black eye to prove it. When police caught up with client they recognized him from the week before, made discriminatory comments, and proceeded to arrest him. To mount our defense and as part of our Discovery, we subpoenaed several witnesses and police officer and compiled impeachment evidence of Complainant using his prior criminal acts against client. We filed a 3 in. thick stack of pertinent records with Affidavit in admissible form under TRE 902 Notice, obtained client’s pertinent jail medical records in admissible form [to document client’s injuries sustained at the hands of Complainant but under reported in the O.R.], and other records in admissible form documenting client’s recent prior abuse at the hands of Complainant. As part of our our routine preparation for possible use at Trial we compiled pertinent Facebook entries, obtained detailed statements of both parties to be able to prepare for cross-examination with a fine-toothed comb, and rounded our Trial notebook off with scene and background photos and a substantial personal file on client showing ample evidence of credibility through reference letters, church involvement and community and employment awards. We never bluff. We were quite prepared for this Trial but we won a Dismissal 3 days prior.
FELONY ASSAULT, BODILY INJURY – FAMILY MEMBER
Case No. 1161036 – Leonard L.
DISMISSED WHILE ON FELONY PROBATION FOR PRIOR FELONY DOMESTIC VIOLENCE
Leonard was on felony probation for domestic violence when was charged with his third family violence case. He and his wife got into an argument during which he accidentally injured her. Leonard had struggled for years with substance abuse and it was his intoxication at the time of this incident which led to the confrontation. All concerned felt he needed treatment for his underlying addictions; his wife had military insurance that would cover outpatient treatment. We further enlisted the aid of Leonard’s pastor who agreed to serve as mentor during his outpatient program. Mr. Haggard was able to get the charges dismissed and his felony probation reinstated with some amendments to his conditions.