Author: Mick Mickelsen
In northern Texas a judge has declined to dismiss a capital murder charge against a 17-year-old who is accused of killing his mother and sister even though it’s at odds with an important U.S. Supreme Court decision. Given the key ruling by the nation’s highest court, it’s not surprising that attorneys for Jacob Ryan Evans…
Numerous wrongful convictions have come to light in Texas over recent years but few are more stark than that of Michael Morton. In November, 2011, a grand jury in Travis County, Texas, indicted Mark Norwood on capital murder charges related to the killing of Debra Baker in 1988. Norwood is also awaiting trial on murder…
The recent fatal shooting of a robbery suspect in a home invasion in North Dallas illustrates how deadly force can be used in Texas to protect property. The Dallas Morning News reported a robbery suspect was shot and killed late on January 9, 2012 in a “drug-related home invasion in Far North Dallas.” Police officers…
Criminal Justice reforms due to be considered in Texas this year could help prevent defendants making false confessions to police officers. While it makes no sense to confess to a crime you didn’t commit, criminal defense lawyers often see cases in which people who are arrested are persuaded to confess by heavy handed interview techniques….
2012 was a year of unusual crimes in the Dallas area, as well as the worst year for shootings involving Dallas police officers in a decade. The Dallas Morning News reported on how some crimes in the city made national headlines. “Crimes and trials rattled North Texans, sometimes garnering national attention, all year long. A…
A Texas school bus driver is just the latest in a string of female school employees in Texas to be charged with having sexual contact with a student. Diana Almanza, a 47-year-old bus driver, has been charged with sexual assault of a child, reported KPRC.com Almanza worked for Pearland Independent School District. School officials said…
Security concerns about criminal suspects have been raised in Dallas after a capital murder suspect escaped from Parkland Memorial Hospital. According to a report in the Dallas Morning News, a lone deputy guarding Franklin Davis removed the suspect’s leg and arm restraints so as he could take a shower before his return to jail. The…
When a special documentary series on some of America’s most blatant wrongful convictions and their subsequent exonerations opens next week on BET’s Centric Channel, Texas will be highlighted as having the third highest number of exonerations in the country. As Dallas criminal attorneys, we are saddened at Broden & Mickelsen, LLP, but not surprised by…
The recent arrest of a former coach at a prestigious Texas high school on child pornography charges, highlights the complex nature of these kinds of investigations. Gordon Oehmig, a former wrestling “Coach of the year” at St. Thomas, an all-boys Catholic school in Houston, was accused of having more than 1,500 images and 900 videos,…
Texas inmate Michael Blair ended up on death row for the gruesome murder of a 7-year-old Texas girl. His protestations that he was innocent fell on deaf ears until more than 10 years later genetic tests proved he did not kill the girl. Now he is asking the state of Texas for nearly $1 million…