A student at Texas’s Santa Fe High School recently brought two of his father’s guns to school and used them to kill eight students and two teachers and to wound twelve other people. Since the shooter was seventeen years old at the time he opened fire on his schoolmates and teachers, under Texas law, his father cannot be held accountable for having made the guns accessible to him. The teen’s father legally owns the guns, so no charges related to illegal gun ownership can be brought either.

The legal definition of “child” in Texas state law as a person who is age sixteen or younger controls the outcome of this situation. Had Dimitrios Pagourtzis been sixteen years old or younger at the time he committed the school shooting, his father could have been prosecuted under Texas’s “negligent storage law.” Texas has a law that enables prosecutors to hold gun owners criminally liable for gun crimes committed by their children. As noted above, since Pagourtzis was not a child when he committed the crime, his father cannot be charged.

Thirteen other states have similar laws to the Texas “negligent storage law.” It is estimated that criminal charges against an adult are brought in approximately half of the reported incidents where children under the age of twelve have obtained a gun and used it to kill themselves or someone else. Data on children in other age groups, particularly teenagers, are not as readily available. Based on the Texas situation described above, it is reasonable to assume that the percentage of times that charges get pressed against adults when teens and kids over the age of twelve commit gun crimes vary according to the language of those laws and the ages of the people to whom they apply.

Whether you reside in a state that has a “negligent storage law” or not, the more significant issue is that gun owners should be locking their guns away safely so that nobody – not children, and not anyone else – can get their hands on them. It is reported that approximately one-third of all households in America contain at least one gun. Safe storage of firearms is a much bigger problem in our nation than many of us may be aware of, as a study recently published in the Journal of Urban Health recently revealed that a little over our and a half million American children live in homes where one or more guns are stored unlocked and loaded.

Texas Criminal Defense Attorney Alex Tyra – Uncompromising Support for Texas Defendants

Have you been charged with a gun-related crime, or with any other type of crime in Texas? Whether you are accused of having committed a felony or something less severe, there is a lot at stake, including your freedom. Protect the things that you value most by seeking the aid of a Texas Criminal Defense Attorney. Your attorney will help you understand the rights that you have, and they can help you resolve your Texas criminal law matter in the best possible way. Call Texas Criminal Defense Attorney Alex Tyra, at (903) 753-7499, or fill out a contact form on our website.

A man who went to prison for nineteen years for a murder that he did not commit continues to work through the process of clearing his name. John Nolley’s most recent step towards victory came earlier this month when the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals overturned his murder conviction. Nolley has been out of prison since the combined efforts of the Innocence Project, and the Conviction Integrity Unity in the Tarrant County district attorney’s office secured his release two years ago.

One of the bases for John Nolley’s murder conviction was jailhouse informant testimony, a form of evidence that proved to be so problematic that the Tarrant County District Attorney’s office, and eventually the entire state of Texas, had to reform the way such testimony is handled. In Nolley’s case, not just one, but two informants gave false testimony which tainted Nolley’s trial so severely that the district attorney’s office agreed that his pleas for relief were valid. The new law will help other defendants avoid wrongful convictions. There is also the possibility of relief for people who are currently in prison who were wrongfully convicted.

Texas’s new law on jailhouse informant testimony was passed last year, with the aim of improving accuracy in the Texas criminal justice system by calling for the more careful handling of testimony given by jailhouse informants. False testimony like the kind that kept John Nolley behind bars for almost twenty years is the most common reason for death row inmates to be exonerated.

One of the dangers of jailhouse informant testimony is that people who are incarcerated have an incentive to lie to potentially obtain a personal benefit. In the interest of catching informants who do try to lie their way to a better deal, the new law requires county and district attorney’s offices to keep records of various types of information about the informants who provide testimony against others. For example, each informant’s criminal history, as well as the details of any benefits informants receive in exchange for their testimony, and records of any previous cases in which they testified must be shared by prosecutors with defense attorneys.

In passing the law requiring transparency and careful handling of jailhouse informant testimony, Texas took a step forward in making its criminal justice system more accurate. Since jailhouse informant testimony is used to secure many convictions across America, it is essential that other states follow Texas’s lead and take a careful account of how that testimony is obtained and used in their own courts so that they can correct problems with their state laws and move in the direction of increased accuracy.

In addition to moving through the process of fully exonerating John Nolley, the district attorney’s office is continuing its investigation into the murder in the hope that the person who did commit the murder will be brought to justice. If John Nolley is exonerated, he will be able to access a state benefits program that compensates the wrongfully accused.

Texas Criminal Defense Attorney Alex Tyra – Strong Advocacy for Texas Defendants

A Texas Criminal Defense Attorney can help you resolve your Texas criminal law matter. Call Texas Criminal Defense Attorney Alex Tyra, at (903) 753-7499, or fill out a contact form on our website.

A criminal conviction can have an extensive impact on your life and your liberty. Unfortunately, many people who get charged with crimes do not realize just how many areas of their life will get affected by their criminal case until they get convicted. One thing that can get affected by a criminal conviction is your voting rights. A recent case illustrates how the impact of a conviction on your voting rights can harm you above and beyond being unable to vote.

Some people commit crimes unknowingly, and that’s just what happened to Crystal Mason. She broke the law by voting in the 2016 election, and she had no idea at the time she cast her vote that it was illegal for her to do so. Unfortunately for Mason, she’s a convicted felon. Mason served three years after she got sentenced for assisting people in filing inflated tax returns, and then she went on supervised release. The election happened during the time she was on supervised release, and Mason did not know that in Texas, a felon’s right to vote cannot get restored until after they have completed their entire sentence, including any release time.

When Crystal Mason went on supervised release, no one told her that she wasn’t supposed to vote until her release got completed. At the voting location, no one stopped Mason from casting her ballot. When Mason’s name wasn’t on the voting rolls, election workers gave her a provisional ballot. As the worker helped her through the voting process, she did not read all the way through the affidavit before declaring, through her signature, that she could legally vote.

Because of an innocent mistake regarding her voting status, Crystal Mason just got sentenced to an additional five years in prison, a sentence that is longer than what she initially got for her original tax crime. That is not a good thing, but it also not the worst case scenario. Fortunately for Crystal Mason, she’s an American citizen and does not have to face deportation in addition to her new prison sentence. That’s what happened to Rosa Marie Ortega, a woman who cast her vote while unaware that although she was a legal resident of the United States and had a green card, she wasn’t a full citizen and had no legal right to vote. Ortega’s mistake resulted in an eight-year prison sentence and possible deportation.

Approximately one out of every forty Texans does not currently have voting rights because of felony convictions. If you have a felony conviction, you can not vote until you have fully completed your parole or release. Once you do that, it is essential that you restore your right to vote. While restoring your right to vote is just one part of the experience of reentering society, it should not get overlooked. Your overall experience of reentry can help you move forward in your life and avoid recidivism.

Texas Criminal Defense Attorney Alex Tyra – Fighting Hard for Texas Defendants

A Texas Criminal Defense Attorney is equipped to help you successfully resolve your Texas criminal law matter. Call Texas Criminal Defense Attorney Alex Tyra, at (903) 753-7499, or fill out a contact form on our website.