July 30th, 45-year old Michael Green of Houston was exonerated on charges of rape from 1983 after spending 27 years in prison.  DNA evidence that was not used when he was charged and convicted showed that he was not guilty of the crime.  Green, then 18-years old, was convicted after the rape victim identified him in a photo array and lineup.  Green was sentenced to 75 years in jail for the crime he did not commit.

The DNA evidence was also able to identify the four men who were involved in the rape, three of whom admitted their guilt.  The statute of limitations has ended on the case and none of them men can be prosecuted for the crime.  However, three of the four have been to prison for other crimes, and two of them remain behind bars.

Green’s 27 years in prison is the longest any exonerated Texan has spent in jail.

If you or someone you know has been wrongfully charged with a crime, contact the Houston criminal defense attorneys of Johnson, Johnson & Baer at 713-222-0400 to learn more about your rights.

A Houston man was released from prison last Friday after investigators from the district attorney’s office determined that he was not involved in the robbery and rape that kept him locked up for 19 years.

39-year old Allen Wayne Porter was sentenced to life in prison in 1990 for robbery and sexual assault.  Porter was accused of being one of three men who broke into a drug dealer’s home in southwest Houston in search of $30,000 and drugs.  The men abused the four occupants of the apartment and raped two women repeatedly.  Despite testimonies that he was not involved in the robbery and a lack of DNA evidence connecting him to the crime, the  court found Porter guilty.

Friday, Porter was released on a recognizance bond awaiting a final decision by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

If you or someone you know has been charged with sexual assault, contact the Houston sex crimes defense lawyers of Johnson, Johnson & Baer at 713-222-0400 to learn more about your rights.

In 2009, Texas had 1,269 deaths in alcohol-related driving accidents.  Now, lawmakers are considering making stricter driving while intoxicated laws including sobriety checkpoints and mandatory blood tests.

Chairman of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee, Senator John Whitmire of Houston aruges, “We need a consistent DWI policy across the state of Texas”.  Furthermore, Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo testified for possible  changes to the state’s DWI laws stating, “If we can’t intervene in people’s lives, we can’t change their behavior.  It has to start with the first arrest”.

Other topics discussed at the hearing included repealing a surcharge that fines driver’s convicted of driving drunk thousands of dollars and making new treatment options available to first time offenders.

If you or someone you know has been charged with a DUI or DWI, contact the Houston drunk driving defense lawyers of Johnson, Johnson & Baer at 713-222-0400 to learn more about your rights.

Eloise and Daniel Mireles were recently convicted of stealing $255,000 from their local district attorney’s office in Harris County.  The couple was sentenced to ten years of probation, plus several conditions including spending at least one month in jail every year, ten years to pay back the $255,000, and wearing signs that say “I am a thief.  I stole $255,000 from a crime victim’s fund”.

Eloise Mireles was convicted of stealing money orders and cashiers checks while working as an administrative assistant at the Harris County office’s victims’ rights division.  The money and checks were restitution funds paid by convicted criminals.

In addition to wearing the signs for five hours every weekend on a street corner for ten years, the couple has to hang a sign on their front door stating, “The occupants of this residency are convicted thieves.  They stole $250,000 from the Harris County Crime Victims’ Fund”.

If you or someone you know has been charged with theft, contact the Houston theft defense attorneys of Johnson, Johnson & Baer at 713-222-0400 to learn more about your rights.

In 1993, Texas legislators created the state jail system in order to house non-violent criminals with charges like drug possession and theft, or first-time offenders.  They feature individual housing and rehabilitation treatment programs.

Recently, some lawmakers are questioning whether the system has been successful or not.  Recidivism rates are higher than regular prisons and some believe that the original model of the system needs to be reconsidered.

On the contrary, others like Senate Criminal Justice Committee Chairman John Whitmire disagree, stating, “We created this system to take all the low-level drug offenders and property criminals out of state prisons so we’d have enough room to keep the violent offenders behind bars longer.  The system has worked well”.

If your or someone you know has been charged with a criminal offense, contact the Houston criminal defense attorneys of Johnson, Johnson & Baer at 713-222-0400 to learn more about your rights.

A Houston pilot, 46-year old Todd Ewanko, was arrested on six charges of possession of child pornography earlier this month in a huge child porn bust in Houston.

Investigators found the largest collection of child porn they had ever seen including six encrypted hard drives with images of sexual abuse in Ewanko’s possession.

Harris County Sargent Gary Spurger stated, “This is the most we’ve seen in the Houston-metro area”.  Furthermore he said, “He was making things available for people to share right there on the Internet”.

The first folder investigators looked at on the computers and laptop confiscated from Ewanko’s apartment had over 1.2 million images.

If you or someone you know is facing pornography charges, contact the Houston pornography law defense attorneys of Johnson, Johnson & Baer at 713-222-0400 to learn more about your rights.

On Monday, a former Florida teacher was sentenced to ten years in prison for having sex with two underage students in 2008.  In addition, the Tampa Bay judge order a fifteen year sex offender probation after her release from jail.

31-year old Stephanie Ragusa plead guilty in April to three counts of lewd and lascivious battery involving a 14-year old boy, and two counts of having unlawful sex with a minor involving a 16-year old student.  Ragusa has been in prison since 2008 when she was arrested.

Prosecutors tried to illustrate Ragusa as a manipulator to the jury,  while the defense argued that Ragusa has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder.

If you or someone you know has been accused of a sex crime, contact the Houston sex crimes defense lawyers of Johnson, Johnson & Baer at 713-222-0400 to learn more about your rights.

38-year old Frank Lavelle Urbish Jr. aka “Thumper” of Beaumont, 29-year old Michael Dewayne Smith aka “Bucky” of Houston, and 42-year old Jim Flint McIntyre aka “Q-ball” of Houston were arrested for “violent crimes in aid of racketeering activity”.

The men are members of the Aryan Brotherhood of Texas, a racist organization that started in prison in the 1980s.  The three were indicted in San Antonio for the 2008 murder of a prospective member in Atascosa County.  Each are charged with murder and possessing a firearm after having being convicted of a felony and conspiracy to commit murder.  Smith and McIntyre are also charged with carrying and using a firearm during a crime of violence.

The men are in state custody facing a maximum of life in federal prison or the death penalty.

If you or someone you know has been charged a weapons crime, contact the Houston weapons charge criminal defense attorneys of Johnson, Johnson & Baer at 713-222-0400 to learn more about your rights.

Fort Bend County Sherriff’s Office Organized Crime Unit detectives arrested five people involved in an organized crime ring who forged checks to buy high-end merchandise.

24-year old Leeandre Aaron Brewer of Houston was identified as the ring leader, who would produce the checks using others’ personal identification information with the help of a collaborator, 30-year old Jessie Lamon Rose of Garland.  Rose was previously a manager of a clearinghouse of credit unions, Southwest Corporate Federal Credit Union.

37-year old Fredrick Lee Herford of Houston, 27-year old Dallas Christopher Toussaint of Houston, and 24-year old Brandon William Stowe of Houston were arrested for traveling out of state with the checks to purchase clothing and electronics merchandise in stores including, Target, Macy’s and Dillard’s.  The men would then ship the items to Houston to be returned at stores for a cash refund.

Detectives believe the total financial losses involved in the ring will be over $100,000.

If you or someone you know has been charged with theft, contact the Houston theft attorneys of Johnson, Johnson & Baer at 713-222-0400 to learn more about your rights.

The Texas teacher accused of beating a 13-year old student was charged yesterday with injury to a child.

The Jamie’s House Charter School teacher, Sheri Lynn Davis, was caught on video tape hitting and kicking 13-year old Isaiah Reagins in April.  The Harris County Sherriff’s Office also charged a slew of authorities, including one teacher, the school principle, and district superintendent, at the school for witnessing or knowing about the incident, but failing to report it.

A district spokesperson stated that the principle and district superintendent did all they could once they were aware of the abuse, and that the two teachers involved in the incident were fired.

Reagins’ mother has filed a civil lawsuit against Davis and the school for the injuries done to her son.

If your or someone you know has been charged with assault, contact the Houston assault defense attorneys of Johnson, Johnson, & Baer at 713-222-0400 to learn more about your rights.