Former judge Guy Williams spent nearly a decade on the bench in Nueces County but on Wednesday he found himself in court again with a half dozen police officers and firefighters ready to testify at his trial.
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Former judge Guy Williams spent nearly a decade on the bench in Nueces County but on Wednesday he found himself in court again with a half dozen police officers and firefighters ready to testify at his trial.
Click Here To Read The Full Story
Nueces County has an overdose death rate of 10.4 for every 10,000 people, which makes it one of the highest in Texas. Heroin and other opioids are becoming the primary drug being treated in Corpus Christi rehab centers. Fentanyl (which is a synthetic opioid) is becoming the most dangerous drug in the United States, and the Corpus Christi Police Department as well as local medical personnel get hundreds or overdose calls a year. While the opioid crisis has gained national attention, Corpus Christi has felt its effects as well.
Most people who become victims of opioid addiction either have had problems with their past or are having trouble dealing with the stresses of daily life. Drugs seem to be the only way to escape, and some of them started using when they were as young as ten years old. Some have had parents or loved ones who did drugs, and they turned to what they knew. People who have been abused as children can also be susceptible, because they see it as a way to cope.
Studies have shown that people who had a member of their immediate family do drugs are 50% more likely to become addicted themselves. But to many of them, it didn’t happen immediately. Marijuana is often considered to be the “gateway drug,” which has been the case for many people. It led them to do harder drugs, which is how they would manage to meet heroin — a drug that would numb the pain in a way that nothing else ever could.
Drug use often coincides with other mental illnesses (such as depression and anxiety), because it would give people a way to numb out the negative feelings that can seem overwhelming. They may have suffered abuse or some other childhood trauma, and they turn to drugs because the emotional pain is too much for them to bear.
The true severity of the opioid crisis in Corpus Christi is unknown because before a problem can be fixed, it first has to be identified. No one knows the real number of overdoses in the city, so they use the state database to report the number of overdose deaths. The Coastal Bend Wellness Foundation gives people overdose prevention kits in an effort to save someone who is going through opioid addiction, and some believe that the system being used by the county to classify overdose deaths needs to change.
A drug counselor for South Texas Substance Abuse Recovery Services says that Corpus Christi has a huge heroin problem, and it has been rising among young people who get hooked on benzos. The executive director of the Palmer Drug Abuse Program believes that there are approximately 1,000 overdose deaths in Corpus Christi every single year, and the CEO of Driscoll Children’s Hospital said that the system doesn’t do enough to identify what is considered to be a “public health problem.” If you’re not able to identify the issue, you won’t be able to fix it. And there isn’t enough data to determine the true magnitude of the opioid epidemic in Corpus Christi.
While heroin can have a devastating effect on someone’s life, it can influence society as a whole — especially when law enforcement is concerned. According to the head of CCPD’s narcotics and vice division, heroin is “one of the most prevalent drugs in Corpus Christi.” That’s why all CCPD officers have started to carry Narcan in case they run into an overdose situation. Law enforcement officers are also trying to slow down the heroin trade in the city, with 13 different agencies (including the Drug Enforcement Administration) working together to crack down on heroin dealers. With this coordinated effort, local authorities are hoping to make a proverbial dent in the city’s drug trade.
The problem, however, is that only 7% of people who need to be treated for addiction will get it. The typical waiting list for Charlie’s Place is about 20 days for people who want to participate in the program, which gives them plenty of time to change their minds. Drug addicts can be highly unpredictable. One day, they may want to get help because of a rock-bottom situation. The next day, they’re back on the streets doing what they have always done.
Nueces County has been seeking litigation against several pharmaceutical companies, because they believe that they have been putting pressure on local doctors to prescribe medications that are extremely addictive. Our city has the highest number of opioid-related deaths in the State of Texas. If you or a loved one has been a victim of this epidemic, Gale Law Group has a team of lawyers who would be happy to discuss your case.
To find out how you can get justice for an opioid-related death, get in touch with us today!
Check out our criminal defense page for more.
If you’re currently facing criminal charges, you could be subject to serious penalties (which can include jail time and expensive fines). Not to mention, the long-term consequences of having a criminal record. Before you’re ready for the courtroom, you need to have a defense strategy that you can use against the prosecutor. The most common criminal defense strategies fall under two main categories. Either you weren’t involved in the crime, or you shouldn’t be held responsible because of some additional circumstances.
Here are some common defense strategies that can be used in criminal cases.
You’re innocent until you’re proven guilty, which puts the burden of proof on the prosecution. They have to prove your guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. And if your criminal defense attorney can prove that you weren’t involved in the crime, you’ll be acquitted. No matter what type of evidence the prosecution presents in court, you need to find a way to discredit them by poking holes in their story.
An alibi is any evidence that shows a judge that you weren’t there when the crime was committed, which can be used in your favor. If you prove that you couldn’t be at the crime scene when it was committed, there’s no way that you can be found guilty.
If law enforcement officers found that a large group of people was involved in an assault or any activity that resulted in dangerous physical contact, they have to decide who will be charged and who will be let go. But because these kinds of cases can be confusing, they may not know how the altercation started. If you were involved in an assault because of self-defense, the court could mistake it as an act of aggression (which could result in a criminal charge). Your criminal defense attorney will have to prove that you had a physical altercation because you felt like you were in imminent danger.
Law enforcement officers can mistake consensual activities as a crime, which can result in a charge. And while consent can be used as a criminal defense strategy in some cases, it doesn’t always play an important role in getting an acquittal.
This type of defense strategy may be used if you can prove it to a judge. The legal definition of insanity is when someone has “the inability to distinguish right from wrong,” but proving it in court is harder than you think. You need to present evidence from a psychiatrist of healthcare professional to prove that your action were the result of insanity, and you could face rehabilitation instead of treatment. So, an insanity plea won’t mean that you found the proverbial golden ticket.
This type of defense strategy won’t work in a DUI case, but it could be used in a similar way to an insanity plea for other types of charges. If you committed a crime while you were under the influence of drugs or alcohol and can prove that you weren’t in the proper mental state, you could reduce your charges and get a lighter sentence. However, you shouldn’t rely on this defense for an acquittal.
Law enforcement officers will often go undercover to find people who commit crimes, but they may go too far so they can make an arrest. This tactic can backfire if the entrapment defense is used. It’s the act of coercing someone to commit a crime, which can be done to force an arrest. If a law enforcement officer forces someone to sell a controlled substance, this person may not be convicted on the grounds of entrapment.
You can try to come up with a criminal defense strategy on your own, but there may be some part of your case that can be used to your advantage. Gale Law Group has a team of criminal defense attorneys who can help you in court. We’ll look at every part of your case, and we’ll come up with a strategy that will give you the best chance for acquittal. That’s why we’re one of the best criminal defense attorneys in the Coastal Bend.
If you want to work with a criminal defense attorney in Corpus Christi, TX that can get the job done right, get in touch with us today!
Check out our criminal defense page for more.
A short exchange between law enforcement and a man accused of strangling a woman will not be shown at trial.
Trinidad Perez is charged in the death if Yvonne Villanueva, whose body was found stuffed in the back of a couch near Petronila. According to an affidavit, she was strangled during an argument.
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The Texas Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a lawsuit by a former Nueces County prosecutor who said he was fired for refusing an illegal order to hide evidence favorable to a criminal defendant.
Read the full article here:
https://www.statesman.com/news/20190315/texas-supreme-court-justices-call-for-beefed-up-michael-morton-act
During a daylong hearing a panel of three appellate judges called a special court of review heard testimony related to two reprimands handed down against Williams in December. His attorneys Chris Gale and Amie Augenstein appealed the decision….
The hearing held by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct focused heavily on allegations of one reprimand that Williams inappropriately touched three women at a party at a downtown Corpus Christi club in August 2017…
Three women, including a sitting judge, testified that former Judge Guy Williams repeatedly groped them at a party and sent one a “demeaning” text referencing her body…
Spring Break is a dangerous time for Texas drivers. Hundreds of young people lose their lives because they made the decision to drive drunk, which is why the Texas Department of Public Safety has taken steps to educate college students about the dangers of driving while under the influence of alcohol. In 2016, there were 13,510 crashes in the state of Texas that involved young drivers between the ages of 17 and 34 that were driving while intoxicated (which resulted in 535 fatalities and 1,355 serious injuries). During Spring Break, there were 458-DUI-related accidents that involved young drivers, which resulted in 15 fatalities and 35 serious injuries.
Spring Breakers are encouraged to plan ahead, and they should find safer alternatives to getting behind the wheel. Some of these can include, but may not be limited to:
The legal limit in the state of Texas is a BAC that’s below .08. And if you’re caught driving under the influence, you could pay a fine of up to $17,000 that can include time and jail and a loss of your license.
Because it’s such a large state, Texas experiences a large number of auto accidents every year. This includes incidents that are related to drunk driving. The state had 13,138 fatalities related to drunk driving from 2003 to 2012, which was higher than the national average in that space of time. There were 1,024 fatalities related to the use of alcohol. Out of that number, 37.59% were driving over the legal limit, while 7.73% had alcohol in their systems.
Additional data showed that there were more tragedies with regard to age. The Texas Department of Transportation discovered that most drunk drivers that died in a crash were in the following age ranges:
The combined number of drunk drivers between the ages of 21 and 35 made up 50% of all DWI-related deaths in 2017. The Texas Department of Public Safety showed that most of these accidents occurred between 2:00am and 2:59am on Sunday mornings. Because bars close late on Saturday nights, people are more likely to drive drunk during that time.
If you or someone you love has been injured or killed, Gale Law Group has a group of qualified attorneys that can help you. We will hold the driver accountable, because it’s important for them to be liable for any death or injury of which they were the cause. We can give you the peace of mind that you deserve, and we’ll be able to give you solid counsel during the entire process.
If you want more information about how we can help you, get in touch with us today! We would be happy to speak with you!
Check out our criminal defense page for more.
Corpus Christi Citgo employee Alirio Zambrano thought nothing of being summoned to Caracas, Venezuela, for a meeting in late November 2017.
After all, Caracas is home to Citgo’s parent company, Petroleos De Venezuela, S.A. (“PDVSA”), Venezuela’s state-owned oil company and at the time, Zambrano was VP and Operations Manager at Citgo’s Corpus Christi refinery.
But, the meeting was a trap…Read the full story on KRIS 6
