The American criminal justice system provides that a person accused of a crime is innocent until proven guilty. Unfortunately, this doesn’t always matter. In some cases, people are convicted of a crime they didn’t commit. In fact, some people have served time on death row, only to later be exonerated. According to the Innocence Project, DNA testing has led to the exoneration of 364 people in the United States, including 20 people who were sentenced to death prior to their exoneration. On average, the individuals exonerated through the use of DNA testing served 14 years in prison before … [Read more...]
Criminal Appeals In Dallas, Texas: What Winning Arguments Can An Appeals Lawyer Make?
You or a loved one has been convicted of a crime in Dallas, Texas, and received a prison sentence. Now, what do you do? Unless the defendant has given up the right to appeal as part of a plea bargain, a criminal defendant in Texas has the right to appeal to the court of appeals for the region serving the county where the trial court was located. For example, cases from Collin, Dallas, Grayson, Hunt, Kaufman, and Rockwall Counties are appealed to the Fifth Court of Appeals in Dallas. In my experience as a criminal defense attorney, most people do not understand what a criminal appeal … [Read more...]
Child Abuse! Calling Parents to Check Facts!
Texas law has specific crimes for causing injury to a child, which is defined as someone age 14 or under according to Texas Penal Code, Section 22.04. The injury can be either bodily injury, serious bodily injury, or causing a serious mental impairment or injury. The law in this area is complicated, and the consequences can be severe, so anyone who is charged with causing injury to a child in Texas should consult with an experienced lawyer like criminal defense attorney John Helms as soon as possible. The crime of causing injury to a child can come up in many different situations. The … [Read more...]
Explaining The Sentencing of Paul Manafort
As a criminal defense attorney in Dallas, Attorney John Helms offers his unique perspective of the Paul Manafort sentencing on March 7th, 2019 and the implications of the sentence length. I am very troubled by the sentencing of Paul Manafort yesterday. According to the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, he should have received a sentence of at least 19 years. The 47-month sentence he received was roughly an 80 percent downward departure from the Sentencing Guidelines—a breathtaking departure for someone who did not plead guilty and who did not substantially assist the government by … [Read more...]
Report Says Facial Recognition Software Has a Racial Bias
The idea of facial recognition software may sound like something out of a futuristic movie, but police departments are already using it. The software is especially popular in China, where police departments around the country use facial recognition tech powered by artificial intelligence to do everything from displaying the faces of people caught jaywalking to predicting which individuals are likely to commit crimes in the future. In fact, China currently has the most advanced facial recognition capability in the world. According to one report, police in Guangzhou, a city northwest of Hong … [Read more...]
Criminal Trials: How Much Is Race A Factor In Jury Selection
I read with interest a recent opinion piece in the New York Times called, “Yes, Jury Selection Is As Racist As You Think. Now We Have Proof,” by Professor Ronald Wright of Wake Forest University Law School. The premise of the article is that African-Americans are removed from criminal jury panels at a greater rate than whites because they are more often the subject of “strikes,” also known as “peremptory challenges. These allow prosecutors and defense lawyers to “strike” potential jurors from being on the final jury for any reason except for race, gender, and other Constitutionally-protected … [Read more...]
Dallas County Jury Finds John Helms’ Client Not Guilty of Indecency With A Child
Married father of three found not guilty of indecency with a child after a trial in Dallas. He was represented by Dallas criminal defense lawyer John Helms. A Dallas County jury found a married father of three young children not guilty of indecency with a child. The defendant, represented by Dallas criminal defense lawyer John Helms, was accused of touching the genitals of an underage relative when she was 11 and 12 years old. Mr. Helms' client could have been sentenced to prison for two to twenty years if he was found guilty. The jury took less than two hours to decide the case on June … [Read more...]
Dallas Criminal Lawyer On What Evidence The Defense Gets To See Before Trial
In criminal cases, in state or federal court, the government has to turn over evidence before trial. Usually, it consists of police reports and the documents and physical evidence (like photographs, videotapes, objects, phone records, and test results) that the government plans to introduce as evidence in court at trial. In federal court, you usually get an investigating agent’s memos of interviews with witnesses during the investigation, says Dallas criminal lawyer John Helms. Criminal defense lawyers show these materials to the client, and the lawyer and defendant go over them. The … [Read more...]
