DNA evidence can provide valuable information about a crime, including information about who may have been involved in the crime. DNA evidence has the potential to help authorities identify potential suspects more accurately than they would be able to identify them by relying exclusively on other types of evidence. A Texas law passed last year aims to increase the amount of DNA evidence available to investigators by requiring individuals who are arrested for certain felonies to provide DNA samples.

The Krystal Jean Baker Act became law last June. The law is named for a young woman who was abducted, sexually assaulted, and killed in 1996. Although authorities collected DNA evidence around the time of Krystal’s death, they were not able to solve the case. In 2010, a man named Kevin Smith was arrested for a drug-related offense in Louisiana. At the time of his arrest, his DNA was sampled and entered into the national database. That sample linked Smith to the Baker case, and Kevin Smith pled guilty to the murder.

Some of the felony offenses that now require arrestees to provide a DNA sample under the Krystal Jean Baker Act are human trafficking, robbery, sexual assault, prostitution, capital murder, kidnapping, and aggravated assault. The law differs from some DNA sample regulations in that a defendant need only be arrested before they are required to provide a DNA sample via cheek swabs when they are booked into jail. No conviction is required.

When DNA samples are collected according to the Act, they are entered into a national database called CODIS, the Combined DNA Index System. Since the law was passed, it has enabled authorities to resolve cases that had gone cold. There are numerous reports of cases in Texas and elsewhere that have been resolved since the passage of the Krystal Jean Baker Act. For example, a recent arrest for sexual assault led to the offender’s DNA being linked to a 2019 sexual assault that had not yet been solved. A September 2019 arrest for theft led to the resolution of a homicide that happened in 2011. One arrest made in connection with a recent sexual assault led to the resolution of two other sexual assault cases.

Defendants who are facing charges for crimes they did not commit stand to benefit from the Krystal Jean Baker Act. Often, people focus on DNA evidence as a way to identify guilty parties. It is crucial that we also view DNA evidence as a way to avoid incriminating the wrong people. Many people who commit crimes are repeat offenders. As arrests for recent crimes garner additional DNA samples for the CODIS database, authorities have more opportunities to connect the correct person with each offense.

If you have been charged with a crime, your freedom is at stake. Fortunately, you do not have to defend your freedom on your own. A Texas criminal defense attorney is a powerful ally who can help you protect what is most important to you. To learn more about how a Texas Criminal Defense Attorney can help you, call Attorney Alex Tyra today. Call us today, at (903) 753-7499, or fill out a convenient online contact form on our website.

Texas crime labs recently partnered with Sam Houston University to develop a lab test to analyze the THC content of plant material or oil. The test is an important step forward following the legalization of hemp in Texas. The test enables authorities to determine whether a sample of oil or plant material is legal hemp, with a THC content of 0.3%, or illegal marijuana, with a THC content above 0.3%. However, the test has come too late for some defendants. Some individuals have already been penalized wrongfully for hemp use, sale, or possession after being arrested on suspicion of possessing, using, or selling marijuana. While the TCH test is helpful, it is not instantaneous, like the breathalyzer tests often used to screen drivers suspected of driving drunk. Defendants in hemp and marijuana cases face the possibility of detention while their substance sample is analyzed.

One man has already paid a steep price for possessing and transporting hemp. On December 6, as Aneudy Gonzalez was driving a rental truck full of hemp from California to New York, he was pulled over outside of Amarillo, Texas. The officer who made the traffic stop arrested Gonzalez and sent him to prison on federal drug charges. During the traffic stop, Gonzalez told the officer that he was a contract driver transporting hemp from California to New York. He also showed the officer a lab report that indicated that the THC content of his cargo was within the legal limit. The officer who arrested Gonzalez claims that he relied on his training and experience in determining that he believed the plant material in the truck was marijuana.

Gonzalez spent a month in jail, facing federal drug trafficking charges that could have kept him behind prison bars and away from his family for the rest of his life. During the month he was incarcerated, Aneudy Gonzalez missed out on celebrating Christmas with family, including his children. Fortunately, Gonzalez was released from jail earlier this month, after test results from the Federal Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) crime lab in Dallas confirmed that the 3,350 pounds of plant material he was hauling in the rental truck is legal hemp. Federal prosecutors have requested that the charges against Gonzalez be dismissed. The truck and its cargo of hemp are to be returned. Attorneys for Gonzalez plan to pursue a civil lawsuit in connection with his arrest and incarceration.

The state of Texas has legalized hemp. The state also claims that it does not want to interfere with the interstate commerce of hemp. Unfortunately, the officers who are responsible for enforcing criminal penalties for marijuana sale, use, and possession sometimes mistakenly arrest and charge individuals who are in possession of hemp. A Texas Criminal Defense Attorney can help you set the record straight in your hemp case. To learn more about how a Texas criminal defense attorney can help you, call Attorney Alex Tyra today. Call us today, at (903) 753-7499, or fill out a convenient online contact form on our website.

 

 

 

 

Some things are worth repeating. A DWI arrest is not one of them. It seems as though not much time passes in between news reports regarding repeat DWI offenders, so it’s time for us to repeat a message that we have discussed multiple times before. One DWI arrest can cost you many of the things that art important to you, and each subsequent DWI arrest and conviction will cost you even more of your freedom, your money, and your time, among other things.

Last month, a jury in Austin, Texas, convicted sixty-four-year-old Irby Allison of felony DWI. The charge was filed in connection with Allison’s DWI arrest in October of 2017. Irby Allison chose to have the jury decide on his punishment. After less than a half-hour of deliberating the issue of his penalty, they sentenced him to twelve years of imprisonment. Twelve years is a lengthy period of time for any person to spend in jail. At his current age of sixty-four, Irby Allison will likely spend most, if not all, of the remainder of his life behind bars.

A twelve-year sentence is not something that every DWI offender is likely to face. The evidence presented to the jury during the sentencing phase of Allison’s trial gave the jurors important information about him that weighed heavily on their decision. The prosecution showed the jurors evidence of Allison’s three previous standard DWI convictions. They also presented evidence regarding his 2007 conviction for intoxication assault and intoxication manslaughter following a DWI wreck that killed one person and seriously injured another. Irby Allison’s arrest in October of 2017 was his fifth DWI offense, and that’s why the jury did not hesitate to issue a lengthy sentence for him.

Unfortunately, a fifth-offense DWI is not unheard of in Texas. A Texas man in his mid-thirties killed two women in a crash that resulted in his sixth DWI offense. Jonathan Moore’s five previous DWI convictions resulted in a total of only two months spent behind bars because almost all of his sentences had been reduced.

In Texas, first and second offense DWIs are misdemeanors. After that, each time that driver is arrested again for DWI, they face felony charges. While there are numerous reports of individuals like Jonathan Moore receiving probation after they have been convicted of DWI three or more times, some felony DWI offenders pay a far higher price. For example, a judge sentenced Donald Middleton to life in prison following his ninth DWI conviction. Middleton is not eligible for parole for thirty years.

One out of every twenty inmates in Texas prisons is a repeat DWI offender. Whether you are charged with your first DWI or a subsequent offense, a lot is at stake, including your freedom. DWI convictions carry severe consequences, especially for third and subsequent offenses. A Texas DWI defense attorney can help you protect your liberty, your family, your freedom, and other things that are important to you. Call Texas Criminal Defense Attorney Alex Tyra today, at (903) 753-7499.

 

It’s the holiday season, and with all of the celebrating going on, it can be easy to forget that law enforcement agencies increase their patrols at this time of year. Thanksgiving often produces more drunk driving arrests than other notorious party days like St. Patrick’s Day and even Super Bowl Sunday. As you know, not every driver who is arrested for and charged with DWI is guilty. If you are arrested for DWI this holiday season, remember that connecting with a Texas DWI attorney is the best way to protect the things that are most important to you. Your Texas DWI defense attorney knows how to examine the circumstances of your DWI arrest and develop a strong defense strategy for you.

One element of a strong DWI defense is knowing how to challenge the evidence that the State plans to present in your case. If your DWI defense attorney can show the court that one or more pieces of evidence that the State intends to present in your DWI case are inaccurate or otherwise not valid, the court may prohibit the use of that evidence in the State’s case against you. Evidentiary challenges have the potential to weaken the State’s case against a defendant, sometimes even to the extent that the State finds itself with so little evidence that it must dismiss its case.

Many drivers arrested for DWI submit to breath testing either during the traffic stop that leads to their arrest or after the arrest. If you are facing DWI charges and breath testing occurred at some point during your traffic stop or after your arrest, your defense attorney may be able to challenge the validity of the results of those tests. Even better, their challenge may be successful, and the test results might be thrown out. A recent article by the New York Times reports that tens of thousands of DWI cases across America have been tossed out of court because the test results were shown to be inaccurate.

For years, alcohol breath test results have been viewed as “truths” by juries in Texas and across America. Many DWI defendants were unaware that they could question the test results, but that is changing. Some DWI defendants, with the aid of their attorneys, challenged the validity of their breath test results. Some of those who challenged their test results prevailed. Their victories paved the way for an increased public demand for research into the accuracy of breath testing devices and the validity of the results produced by those devices. Study after study has shown how vulnerable the sensitive machines used for breath testing are to user error, calibration error, and other types of failures that are attributable to the users of the devices or the devices themselves.

Breath testing for blood alcohol content is a process that is prone to errors. If you were arrested for DWI and you submitted to breath testing during your traffic stop or after your arrest, it is critical that you contact a Texas DWI defense attorney right away. Your Texas DWI defense attorney can examine the circumstances of your traffic stop and DWI arrest and build a solid defense strategy on your behalf. Call Texas Criminal Defense Attorney Alex Tyra today, at (903) 753-7499.