Recent Blog Posts in July 2009

Today, many Houston DWI Defense Attorneys attended a meeting with Roger Bridgwater, the assistant district attorney that is heading up the Pretrial Diversion program in Harris County.  The meeting was very informative.  Some of the highlights of the meeting are as follow:  first, and as a general rule anyone that has been handled by the police before will be ineligible for the program (including dismissals, not guilty verdicts, and PI cases).  Second, anyone with a felony charge will not be eligible (DWI child passenger cases).  Thirdly, the probation department will be supervising the person during the program and finally an ignition interlock with a camera will be required.  A person may be released from their surety bond pending completion of the program.  The length of the pretrial will be from 1-2 years depending on how they score after being tested and evaluated by the probation department.

A draft of the contract that will be required to be executed was handled out at the meeting, I will comment on that in a later post along with the type of people the program aims to help.

First Steve McNair at age 36 and then Arturo Gatti at age 37. Both allegedly killed by women in their early 20s. Two retired sports figures who both had the reputation of being absolute warriors. McNair an MVP who played hurt and almost carried the Tennessee Titans to a Super Bowl victory. Gatti a former junior welterweight champion who fought in some of the best fights of his generation.

Tragic. Both still very young.  Both left behind children. In my practice as a Houston Criminal Defense Attorney I often defend those accused of Family Violence , sometimes called Domestic Violence. The overwhelming majority of these cases involve accusations of a man committing violence against a women. Although women are charged with Assault Family Violence, it is rare.

When police are called out to the scene of a "domestic disturbance" and a women is accusing a man of assault, that man better be ready to go to jail. I am confident that the intentions of  police in these situations and the prosecutors they speak with are to protect and ensure that justice is served. However, mistakes are made. Fortunately in the United States, everyone is presumed to be innocent. It my job as a Houston Criminal Lawyer to convince a prosecutor or jury of this innocence.

Gatti and McNair are examples that women can and do commit family violence.