Blog
Medlin Client Falsely Convicted Exonerated After 21 Years
On Wednesday, a State district Judge exonerated 44-year-old John Earl Nolley for the 1996 murder of Sharon McLane. Nolley was released after 19 years in prison in May 2016 but was not declared innocent until a Texas judge signed an order following the emergence of new evidence. The order qualifies Nolley for state compensation. Legal Efforts Leading To Exoneration Nolley’s conviction was based on two jailhouse snitches and circumstantial evidence. Gary Medlin, an attorney at Medlin Law, worked with The Innocence Project to call key evidence into question. The integrity unit at the organization revisited files on informants and was [...]
Not Guilty by Jury: Driving While Intoxicated (DWI) Charge
Physical Limitations Undermine Field Sobriety Tests In DWI Trial Our client worked in air conditioning service and repair. He was stopped for a traffic violation and admitted to having a couple of drinks earlier. He did terribly on the DWI sobriety tests and looked to the police and prosecutors to be very intoxicated. He was arrested and charged for DWI. At trial, we were able to show that the client had some injuries and a bad back, was overweight and that the field sobriety tests were not fair for him since there was no way he could look normal [...]
Not Guilty by Jury After Blowing .14 with Breathalyzer Test
Breathalyzer Reliability Challenged In .14 BAC DWI Trial Our client was stopped for a traffic violation and admitted to having a few drinks earlier. The client did okay on the field sobriety tests, but was arrested and submitted to a breathalyzer test – the result was .14. We were able to show the jury how unreliable the breathalyzer is and how the particular breathalyzer machine used on our client had some problems. The jury found our client not guilty.
Tried for Intoxication Manslaughter
Intoxication Manslaughter Trial Turns On Valium Evidence Our client was in court accepting probation for possessing a controlled substance. After appearing before the judge and meeting with a probation officer, she drove home. On the way she fell asleep and drifted onto the shoulder of the highway, running over a man who had parked on the shoulder with car trouble, killing him instantly. Our client was arrested on the scene and taken to a hospital for a blood test which showed she had valium in her blood. The prosecutor claimed that she was intoxicated on valium and tried her for [...]
Possession 4-200g Cocaine with Intent to Deliver
Illegal Home Entry Leads To Acquittal In Cocaine Delivery Case Our client had a prior felony conviction and was looking at a minimum of 15 years in prison if convicted of possession with intent to deliver cocaine. Police officers had a tip that he was in possession of cocaine and knocked on his door. They claimed that the client allowed them to come in where they then saw cocaine in plain view and arrested him for possession with intent to deliver. At trial we showed that our client had told the cops through his window that he did not want to talk [...]
Jury Acquittal for Capital Murder Charge
Jury Rejects Capital Murder Charge After Coercion Evidence It was Christmas time and our client was going to walk to a holiday party. He stopped at his neighborhood convenience store to buy a scratch-off ticket – and was a winner! Just then a gang member walked in and pointed a gun at the store owner and demanded the cash. The gang member then pointed the gun at our client and told the client to grab the cigar box of money. The gunman shot the owner dead, and the gunman told our client to come with him. They drove [...]
Not Guilty for DWI Charge with .20 blood test
DWI Blood Test Case Ends In Acquittal After .20 BAC Challenge Our client was stopped as he pulled into a taco restaurant drive through late in the evening. After admitting that he had a few beers earlier, the police officer had our client do the DWI field sobriety tests. Even though our client did well on those tests, but not perfect, the officer arrested and charged our client for DWI. Our client submitted to a blood test which came back as .20 alcohol. At trial, we showed the many possible mistakes that can be made in blood testing for DWI. [...]
Acquitted: Drug Delivery Charge of 100+ Pounds of Marijuana
Marijuana Delivery Case Ends in Acquittal After CI Disclosure Issue The client had delivered over 100 pounds of marijuana to an undercover officer and had prior drug arrests and probations and was looking at a possible long prison sentence for delivering drugs – potentially a life sentence. We had demanded, prior to the trial, disclosure of any confidential informants or snitches used by the police and any deals, promises of leniency or grants of immunity given to such persons. The prosecutors represented to the court that no CI’s nor snitches had been used by the police. At the trial for [...]
Commonly Asked Questions in Texas Assault Cases
Assault can be a very serious offense in Texas. However, there are legitimate defenses in Texas assault cases. Here are some common questions our Fort Worth criminal defense lawyers are asked. Is Self-Defense Ever an Effective Defense in an Assault Case? Self-defense can be a defense in an assault charge. In Texas, someone is entitled to self-defense or the defense of a third party. A classic example is when a homeowner assaults an intruder in his or her house. Of if someone attacks your child in public you are entitled to fight back. If a person used force against another [...]
What Sets Your Firm Apart In Handling Criminal Cases?
What set our firm apart are our experience, knowledge and our individual attention to each case. We are not a mill or some factory where we have so many thousands of clients that we just run everything through and we cannot give individual attention to each case. We have a smaller caseload so that we can spend more time with each case, we can meet with each client. We can evaluate their case and meet with them in the office to give them our evaluation, recommendations and let them know how the best ways to handle their case. We take [...]
