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Austin, TX Criminal Defense Attorney News Archive

Austin man convicted in shooting death of motorist

A sentence of life imprisonment looms for Darius Lovings after the jury found him liable for the death of William Ervin in 2012.

Court heard that Lovings had shot Ervin when the latter stopped to help him while he was pretending to have car trouble.

Austin criminal lawyer Jon Evans had asked the jury to consider that mental health issues have been at play during the incident.

Lovings had told the police after his arrest that he had heard voices.

Aside from Ervin's death, Lovings is also facing charges of robbery and attempted murder.

Former prosecutor sentenced to 10 days for wrongful conviction

Ken Anderson, the former District Attorney of Williamson County, was meted with a 10-day jail term after the judge accepted his no-contest plea for the charge of contempt of court.

The charge steamed from the wrongful conviction of Michael Morton who was found guilty for the murder of his wife in 1986 and was sentenced to life imprisonment.

However, in 2011, Morton's conviction was overturned using DNA as proof that he did not kill his wife.

In the light of that development, Anderson, who had prosecuted Morton's case, was scrutinized and was determined to have erred when he withheld evidence which would have been beneficial for Morton's defense.

Aside from the short jail stay, Anderson will also have to give up his license as a lawyer and as part of the plea bargain, he will also be disbarred for five years.

Austin attorney Eric Nichols, however, pointed out that there will be no conviction for Anderson on any criminal charge.

Morton, for his part, said he is more than happy with the result because all he wanted was for Anderson not to practice law anymore to prevent what happened to him from happening to anyone else again.

Anderson was also fined and made to do community service.

Man convicted of murder faces life imprisonment

A jury found Thomas Trent Atkinson, a man tagged by prosecutors as a pimp, guilty of murdering Alejandro "Alex" Hernandez Jr. and is facing life imprisonment.

Court heard that Hernandez had picked up a sex worker but had later dropped her off when they couldn't agree on her fee.

Hernandez was later found dead. He was beaten and had a gunshot wound on his back.

The jury believed in the witness, the same sex worker whom Hernandez picked up, who said that she had seen Atkinson shoot Hernandez.

Atkinson's lawyer, Keith Lauerman, a criminal attorney in Austin, tried to discredit the woman but prosecutors said her claims were not baseless.

They added that she did not hide who she was to the jurors even admitting her love for Atkinson.

Drunk driver to serve sentences from three convictions simultaneously

Nicholas Colunga will be spending 14 years in jail for hitting Kylie Doniak while driving intoxicated.

Doniak was among the pedestrians whom Colunga hit when he ignored a red light.

Aside from Doniak, two others were also injured in the incident for which Colunga was also convicted.

The judge ordered for Colunga to serve the sentences of his two other convictions simultaneously.

He also received more than $2,000 fine for all three convictions.

Prosecutors had wanted Colunga to be handed the maximum penalties for all charges but Amber Vasquez Bode, Austin defense attorney representing Colunga, told jurors that a longer stay in prison would make offenders more dangerous once they go back into society.