SUCCESS STORIES – Page 2

The following stories are straight out of our case files, but for confidentiality, we do not list attorney or client names.

The 20 – 14 CASE: A twenty-year-old man was charged with Sexual Assault of a 14-year-old girl. His Attorney promptly called us to investigate the case. Our investigation revealed that the “man” was still a high school student and met the girl at school. Emails and phone records proved he had tried to avoid her, but she had pursued him, partly due to her home situation. Information revealed that she had been sexually active from age 12. On the night of the “incident”, she made an outcry to him for help, “please come get me and take me away from …”.

He relented and the rest was history after the police found them in his mother’s car, only a block from the girl’s house.

When “the Rest of the Story” was provided to the District Attorney and presented to the Grand Jury, the young man was No Billed.

INNOCENT MAN FREED AFTER SIX-MONTHS IN JAIL: Several men were charged with murder in a gang killing. All had court appointed attorneys. Our attorney asked us to assist and investigate the case. During the course of our investigation, we discovered that one of the Defendants was not in the same gang and lived on the opposite side of town.

He had been identified by his street name, and later, by a witness ID in a photo spread. We had identified the correct subject with the same street name. When we interviewed the witness, we took two photo spreads, one with the “wrong” man and one with the “right” man. The witness identified the right man in our photo spread. When we showed the photo spread with the man in jail in it, the witness stated, “I just picked out the man who looked most like the shooter!”

Good News – an innocent man was released. Bad News – the man released was not our client. Our investigation confirmed that our client had been properly charged, but also that there were special circumstances that might affect sentencing.

STOLEN HYDRAULIC JACK RECOVERED:  A local rental company called us after the police had quit working on the recovery of their equipment. They had rented some hydraulic equipment to a foundation repair company with a questionable background. When the contractors skipped town, they took the rented equipment with them. We located relatives of the suspect who gave us information on where to find him. He had moved his operation from Houston to Dallas. In less than ten days, we recovered the missing equipment.

Eagle Scout Cleared on Possession of Marijuana Charges:  A seventeen-year-old Eagle Scout was arrested on the school grounds after he and a friend had been on the roof of the school around 9:30 pm, after dark.

The school custodian called the ISD Security to respond after hearing "kids on the roof".  When security arrived, they found our client on the ground, hiding behind portable buildings. When questioned, our client was less than cooperative, not giving up who was with him or what they were doing.

Nothing was broken, stolen or out of place. One officer discovered car keys upon searching the boy, clicked the remote and found his parents vehicle in the parking lot. They searched the vehicle, found some marijuana, and called the Constable who arrested our client and filed charges for Possession of Marijuana.

That's when we were called.  Our investigation soon revealed that the marijuana belonged to our client's friend and that there were several discrepancies between the actual search conducted, the official reports, and what the custodian and our client told us. When the attorney pointed these out to the Prosecutor, all charges were dropped.


Girl and Uncle Falsely Arrested for Robbery:   A sixteen-year-old girl had been "dating" a forty-year-old man. He took her to eat, shopping, and to the movies, with the parents knowledge  On the night of the arrest, she wanted to go home. It was after midnight and he was driving drunk when his truck broke down.

She called her uncle to come and get her. When he arrived, the man didn't want to girl to leave and a fight erupted. The police drove up and the intoxicated man complained that the girl he had picked up hitchhiking and the man were trying to rob him.  The police arrested the teenaged girl and her uncle, and allowed the drunk to go with the wrecker driver who towed his truck.

Some time later we were contacted.  Our investigation revealed that the forty-year-old "boyfriend" had been having sex with the girl and with one of her older female friends. We obtained motel records of one of their meetings.  Interviews with family and friends showed that the man liked dating teenage girls, giving them money and gifts. We videotaped a meeting with him where he acknowledged knowing the girl and recanted the robbery story.

As a result of our investigation, the Juvenile Court dropped charges against the girl. We filed a report with Juvenile Sex Crimes on her behalf, but as of 5-1-07, the man has not been arrested.

The Prosecutor for the uncle did not want to simply drop charges. Our client had already been in jail for 90-days and pled guilty to a lesser charge to get released for time served. The defense attorney could have beat the charges with the evidence we uncovered, and the statements from witnesses we documented, but the man had given up hope and made a deal to get out of jail ASAP.