The short answer is no: Texas law no longer requires most people to have a license in order to carry a handgun. HB1927 passed on September 1, 2021 and made it legal to carry a handgun in a holster without a permit. You may carry the gun both openly, or you may carry it concealed. …

For the most part, the Fourth Amendment should keep police out of your Houston home unless they have a warrant signed by a judge. Yet warrantless entry has happened, and Houston judges do have the ability to issue no-knock warrants.  Here’s what you need to know. Exigent Circumstances Exigent circumstances help police officers justify search…

A person commits perjury when the following things happen. The defendant took an oath to testify truthfully or is making a sworn statement such as an affidavit. The defendant is thought to have willfully made a false statement while under oath. The defendant believed or knew the statement was untrue. It is never a good…

Texas processes more exonerations than any other state, which means plenty of wrongful convictions take place in our state.  If you’ve been charged with a crime and you’re relying on your innocence to protect you, it’s time to think again. Innocence is not enough. A person can be wrongfully arrested for any crime. Factual Innocence…

A “no contest” plea deal is often used as a plot device in the media, but the use of this particular plea is pretty rare. There are a few recent cases where it’s come up. A former radio host plead no contest to a sex crime in Denton County. A local man entered a no…

A recent Houston case resulted in a $9.2 million forfeiture and prison for seven due to the sale of synthetic drugs. While synthetic drugs are often portrayed as legal in popular media, they can get you into a lot of trouble. For example, here in Texas the sale of synthetic marijuana has been explicitly banned…

It goes without saying that if posts you’ve made on your various social media accounts help prosecutors build a case against you, they’re going to want to use them. You can bet that law enforcement has done everything in its power to review your social media accounts, looking for that evidence.  You’d be surprised what…

It’s easy to get falsely accused of domestic violence. As soon as someone puts in a call, the police are usually going to arrest someone. Sometimes they even arrest the party who put in the call. They’re not necessarily wrong to do so: over half of all violent relationships are characterized by bi-directional violence. In…

Having your criminal records sealed can help you rebuild your life after a conviction. Juvenile records are on “restricted access” automatically, which means they’re sealed to anyone but law enforcement from the time the child turns 21. These records may be unsealed only if the child is convicted of another crime.   Unfortunately, expunging or sealing…

While the First Amendment does offer you freedom of speech, there are also numerous instances in which you may be arrested for saying or printing words that can be construed as threatening.  For example, a Houston man recently jumped on to social media to make a terrorist threat against the County Fair. He has been…