Posts Tagged ‘crimes’

Defense Attorney Facing Jail For Perjury & Theft

Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010

While the main job of a Houston criminal attorney is to defend his client, he is still required to uphold the law while doing so. Unfortunately, some lawyers seem unable to follow these basic tenants.

Carlos Correa was an attorney in Houston for the past 40 years, but recently found himself in the position of finding his own Houston criminal defense lawyer. During his many decades of practice, Correa had many run ins with the law, including failing to disclose information to U.S. Customs agents, improperly handling lawsuit monies, and more, but now he is facing serious charges that could result in a twenty year sentence. He was caught hiring a friend to lie on the witness stand in a murder trial in 2006 and cashing social security checks for his father between 1996 and 2008. Correa’s father died in 1996.

Correa is now facing twelve years in prison and the surrender of his legal license, but if he tries to flee before his incarceration begins, he may instead be put away for twenty years.

To read more about the story, see the article in the Houston Chronicle. Image via alan(ator) [Flickr].

Deadly Force On the Rise in HPD

Tuesday, January 19th, 2010

Every year, the Houston Police Department shoots an average of 30 people. This number may seem pretty high, but it’s only half of the 2009 number. Sixty people were shot by the HPD last year and 27 of them were killed as a result. While most of the persons shot were wielding a weapon, one was unarmed and five of the shooting victims were mentally handicapped.

While no officers are being formally charged with the shootings, most are still under review by the department. The majority of officers in the department have said they prefer to use stun guns, but they are not always an option during certain confrontations.

While the department and the city government believe the shootings were all justified, many Houston criminal attorneys are cynical of the police officer’s choice to use deadly force in situations where stun guns may have been used effectively in place of guns.

To read more about the story, see the article in the Houston Chronicle. Image via thivierr [Flickr].