Defending You In Montgomery And Harris Counties
Montgomery County Appellate and Criminal Law Blog
Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure Changes
Police and Prosecutors Will Be Hard Pressed to Win Marijuana Cases Now That Industrial Hemp Is Legal.
It does not appear that Texas crime labs are yet equipped to detect the portion of tetrahydrocannabinol in cannabis. Industrial hemp is now iegal in Texas. Generally, the legal difference between legal hemp and illegal marijuana is the level of THC in the cannabis....
Beaumont Court of Appeals Chief Justice Steve McKeithen Injured in Motorcycle Accident
According to a telephone conversation on the morning of June 25, 2019, with Beaumont Ninth Court of Appeals Clerk Carol Anne Harley, Steve McKeithen, Chief Justice of the Court suffered from broken bones and scrapes in a motorcycle accident and had been hospitalized...
Juneteenth! The Happiest Day in Texas History
President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the freedom of slaves in the states that were in rebellion against the federal government on January 1, 1863. This included, of course, the State of Texas. The war was ongoing, though, and where Union forces did not know of it or...
Commercial Lease Breach Allows Termination and Texas Supremes Want More Detail to Support Attorney Fee Awards
Water seeps up through dialysis clinic's floor. Clinic's repair attempts stop helping. Clinic terminates lease early, moves, and leaves some rent unpaid. Clinic sues the landlord for breach of contract, breach of the implied warranty of suitability for use as a...
Badass Brett Busby Comes to the Supreme Court of Texas
Governor Greg Abbott appointed Houston Fourteenth Court of Appeals Justice Brett Busby in February 2019, and Busby was confirmed by the Texas Senate in March 2019. He had about six years of experience on the Houston bench. He is presently the Chair of the State Bar of...
Finality in Federal District Judgments for Purposes of Appeal: the General Rule
Federal courts of appeals have jurisdiction of final U.S. district court judgments except where a decision may be directly reviewed by the Supreme Court of the United States. SCOTUS said, in Hall v. Hall, No. 16-1150, Mar. 27, 2018, which I have cleaned up: "A final...
Former Justice of the Thirteenth Court of Appeals Greg Perkes Appointed to Chief Justice Dori Contreras’s Old Seat There
Greg Perkes who had been on Texas's Thirteenth Court of Appeals from 2011 to 2016 was appointed Monday to fill the seat of Dori Contreras who had been raised from there by her election as Chief Justice. Justice Perkes will sit with the Edinburg panel- a red spot in...
Counting Days in the State Appellate Courts of the Lone Star State
In Texas state appellate law, you calculate deadlines by counting the first day after a triggering event happens up until the last day of a period that is not a holiday, a Saturday or a Sunday. For example, the deadline to file a notice of appeal of a final criminal...
In Texas, Sometimes the Cops Can Hunt You Down with Your Cell Phone without a Warrant.
The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in a unanimous opinion written by Judge Barbara Hervey held that evidence suppression is not a remedy for a violation of the federal Stored Communications Act or Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Art. 18.21 notwithstanding Texas Code...
