Winning
Matters
A Premier Litigation Firm
Explore the Blog
Prosecutors dropping child porn cases rather than reveal tool
If law enforcement had a tool that could catch people as they downloaded child pornography, wouldn’t you want to know? Transparency is one of the values of our criminal justice system. It has to be. The Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees criminal...
Texas has the highest prison rate in the nation. Can we reduce it?
America’s mass incarceration problem is taking a huge toll on individuals, families, communities and taxpayers across the nation. Texas is at the center of the problem because it incarcerates more people than any other state: 163,703 in 2016. Since about 1980, we have...
Police have no way to tell the difference between hemp and weed
Last year, the federal government legalized the possession and distribution of hemp. The plant, a relative of marijuana, contains virtually no THC, the psychoactive component of cannabis. Yet it looks similar and smells the same -- and drug dogs will alert on both....
Report: Federal white collar crime prosecutions at all-time low
Justice Department data collected and analyzed by Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse indicate something surprising: federal prosecutions for white collar crime are down 35.7 percent over five years ago. While not all so-called white...
SCOTUS: Do supervised release violations require jury trials?
Supervised release in the federal system is roughly comparable to parole in a state system, with one big difference. In parole, the defendant is being offered a benefit. If they comply with the terms of their parole, they get to serve part of their sentence in the...
Nearly 11 million arrests each year, 80% for drugs, minor crimes
In 2016, there were 10,662,252 people arrested in the United States. That’s one person arrested every three seconds. Yet until now, it has been virtually impossible to find out who is being arrested and for what. It’s not because the information is not being...
Police, courts, stenographers often misunderstand Black English
When Warren D. was accused of sexual assault, he asked the police, “Why don’t you just give me a lawyer, dog?” He was asking for an attorney during questioning, his constitutional right. Whether through a true misunderstanding or a pretended one, the police decided he...
How to protect your rights when you are pulled over by police
When you are pulled over by a police officer, it is easy to be nervous, anxious or intimidated even if you have done nothing wrong. It is important to understand your rights so you can take immediate action to protect them. Here are four things you can say to police...
Is the federal government investigating you?
Do you suspect you are under investigation by federal law enforcement agents? Often the federal government conducts investigations long before making an arrest. The investigation process costs time and money and law enforcement expects an investigation to lead to...
Constructive possession: Liability for items that aren’t yours
Law enforcement does not always catch alleged offenders will illegal property, such as drugs or weapons, on their person. To charge someone with possession in cases where the alleged offender does not have physical possession of an illegal item, police rely on the...
Practice Areas
