On June 30, 2016, the Dallas Morning News reported that a Dallas County District Attorney’s Office chief investigator pleaded guilty in federal court to corruption charges. The investigator pleaded guilty to an indictment alleging that he accepted a bribe from a convicted sex offender. The Dallas County District Attorney’s Office prosecuted the man for failing to register as a sex offender. However, the District Attorney’s Office dismissed the case. An investigation by federal authorities revealed the sex offender paid off the District Attorney’s Office chief investigator in 2013 with a bribe disguised as an opportunity to invest in the sex offender’s business.

Prosecutors are sworn to uphold the Constitution and follow the law. A prosecutor’s job is to fight for justice, not merely a conviction. Winning at all costs is not the calling of a prosecutor. One man embroiled in the District Attorney’s Office bribery scandal, who was a First Assistant District Attorney at the time, defended his actions by claiming he was making the appropriate decision on the case by dismissing a case with insufficient evidence. A prosecutor is ethically bound to dismiss a case lacking evidence.  The former First Assistant stated that he dismissed the failure to register charge because there was not enough proof the defendant committed a crime. From that perspective, it appears that the District Attorney’s Office made the correct decision.

Federal authorities are rarely satisfied by convicting relatively low-hanging fruit. They want to prosecute corruption at the highest levels. Some speculate that the upper-echelon of the District Attorney’s Office is the subject of a federal bribery investigation. The federal judge will sentence the chief investigator in October of this year. The delay in sentencing gives federal law enforcement a chance to investigate the case even further to see how high up the chain of command they can go. The federal authorities can ask the chief investigator to cooperate with their investigation. The sentencing judge can take into consideration at sentencing the chief investigator’s cooperation with federal authorities and reduce the man’s sentence.  As the case stands at this time, the investigator faces a five-year federal prison sentence and a $250,000 fine. The former First Assistant District Attorney under scrutiny for dismissing the sex offender’s case denied further wrongdoing in the District Attorney’s Office.

The question of whether the bribery scandal reaches the executive level is interesting. Commentators question several maneuvers made by the District Attorney’s Office with the sex offender’s case. First, the sex offender was found in Las Vegas. Instead of the Sheriff’s Office bringing the man back to Dallas to face charges, the chief investigator brought the sex offender back. People questioned this procedure because the Sheriff’s Office employs trained deputies to rendite, or bring people to Texas from other states to face prosecution. Rendition does not fall within the chief investigator’s job description.  The bribery scheme was apparently hatched during the return flight from Las Vegas to Dallas. Secondly, the First Assistant District Attorney’s involvement with dismissing the case is out of place.  Many other individuals were capable of making the decision to dismiss the case. People interviewed for the Dallas Morning News’ article stated it was unusual for a higher level assistant district attorney, like a First Assistant, to be involved with those decisions but it did happen occasionally.  Further investigation can resolve those questions. It is important to note that the former First Assistant vehemently denied any wrongdoing by him or others in his office.

Longview, Texas Criminal Defense Attorney On Your Side

If you face criminal charges in Texas, you need a tough, experienced Texas Criminal Defense Attorney fighting for you like the attorneys at The Law Office of Alex Tyra, P.C. Call them today at 903-753-7499 to have your questions answered 24/7 or to schedule an appointment.

There is an interesting bit of misinformation that has been making the rounds, and it has resulted in an unusual crime trend. The Texas police report that the number of offenses committed by people carrying imitation weapons is on the rise. One possible reason for the trend makes perfect sense – imitation weapons like bb guns are inexpensive, easy to obtain without any background check, and effective because they are realistic looking enough to intimidate people. There is also another reason that people choose to use imitation weapons to commit crimes. Some people believe that if a weapon used in the commission of a crime is not real, the person who used the weapon during the crime will not be punished as harshly as they would had they been holding or using an actual gun.  That is simply not true, and, as you might imagine, some unsuspecting folks have gotten some rather unpleasant surprises after they committed crimes using imitation weapons.

In Texas, if a person uses an imitation gun while committing a crime and the victim of the crime believes it to be real, the individual who committed the crime can be charged with a first-degree felony. The maximum sentence that could follow a conviction on a charge like that is incarceration for life. Many different types of crimes have been committed by individuals armed with fake guns. From armed robbers to gang members disturbing the peace, the use of imitation weapons appears to have broad appeal.

The severity of the charges that can follow a crime committed with an imitation weapon are just one type of unpleasant surprise that a criminal can encounter when using a fake gun. Many Texans are licensed to carry firearms, and if someone who has a real gun by their side believes that they are about to be shot, or someone else is in danger of being shot, you can pretty much guess what happens next. The same goes for police officers – if an individual is brandishing a gun, an officer does not have any meaningful opportunity to examine it to determine whether it is real before they act to protect their life and the lives of others around them. Many imitation weapons are nearly impossible to distinguish from their authentic counterparts at any distance, and it is even harder to see what a gun looks like when the person holding it is concealed, in a dark area, moving, or waving the gun around.

Some states have banned the sale of realistic imitation weapons, and while Texas may eventually join in the effort, there is no such law here right now In the areas that do have those restrictions, imitation guns must have distinguishing characteristics, such as brightly colored stripes down the barrel.

Texas Criminal Defense Attorney Alex Tyra – Protecting the Rights of all Texans

Whether the gun crime that you are facing charges for involved a real or an imitation weapon, a conviction could have many effects on your life. An experienced Texas criminal defense attorney can help you understand the possible consequences of a conviction, as well as possible strategies for avoiding conviction. If you would like to learn more about how Texas Criminal Defense Attorney Alex Tyra could help you, call our office today, at (903) 753-7499.