The judicial process is sometimes slow and sometimes complicated, but justice can prevail in the end. After a hard-fought jury trial, Dontrelon Thomas was found guilty of armed robbery and faced a possible prison sentence of 10-99 years. During the…
My wife was recently talking to a Lafayette man who was robbed at gunpoint late at night in New Orleans. He later learned that the gun the robbers had used was only a BB gun. He wondered if using a…
For even extremely serious criminal charges such as murder, it is sometimes possible to have the charges dismissed before going to trial if there is sufficient evidence to support the defendant’s innocence. Once a bill of information or grand jury…
When a jury for a criminal trial cannot agree to a verdict, a mistrial is declared. Mistrials can be advantageous for a criminal defendant because the State may decide not to retry the case and the charge will be dismissed…
I recently had someone come to see me about a family member who had been charged as a “principal” to first degree murder. He did not understand why his relative had been charged since the person had not actually participated…
As a Louisiana criminal defense attorney, I frequently have clients who are trying to decide if they should accept a plea agreement or go to trial. A key element of the decision making process is the possible sentence exposure –…
I recently heard about a substantial personal injury verdict in Jackson, Mississippi against the owner of an apartment complex for a premises liability claim. The details have been not made publicly available, but it appears that the apartment complex owner…
Under the Mississippi Code of Criminal Proceedings, there is a category of charges called “crimes against the person.” These crimes involve violence or the threat of violence to a person, abduction, confinement or intimidation. In this post, I will be…
Updated 8/1/2014: In my 20 years as a Louisiana criminal defense attorney and public defender, I have handled all types of criminal charges. One of the first questions I hear from clients is -- what is my prison sentence if I’m…
As part of an effective criminal defense strategy, an experienced defense lawyer will try to get your charges amended to a lesser charge. In many cases, your attorney is thinking of your possible jail time exposure if your case goes…