Houston, TX Criminal Defense Attorney News Archive

The bail application of Conrad Barret, who is charged with a hate crime, was denied, something that Barret's lawyer said they have been expecting.

Houston criminal attorney George Parnham said that according to the judge, his 27-year-old client might avoid a criminal conviction. He also poses as a danger to the public.

Barret was charged after he attacked an old, black man; filmed the act and showed it to someone, who turned out to be an arson investigator.

Barrett is looking at more than a 10-year prison term and a fine of more than $200,000 should he get convicted.

Lonnie Jones Jr. will be imprisoned for 40 years after a jury convicted him for hitting his girlfriend several times in the face when she refused to hand him money for drugs.

Willis Smith, a defense attorney with an office in Houston, asked for the minimum—a 25-year sentence for Jones but the judge thought otherwise.

Jones was eligible to be sentenced to life imprisonment because of his previous convictions which also included assault.

Brett Ligon, the district attorney, said that the sentence has made the community a safer place as Jones has been violently violating the laws of Texas.

Franceso Colorado Cessa, convicted of laundering money for the Zetas, is facing new charges for trying to bribe the judge who had sentenced him.

Charged along with Cessa are his son, Francisco Colorado Cessa Jr. and Ramon Segura Flores, his associate in the business.

The three allegedly conspired to hand more than a million dollars in an attempt for Judge Sam Sparks to give Cessa a lesser sentence.

Just hours before the bribery charges were filed, Sparks had handed Cessa the maximum prison term for laundering money for the drug cartel, which had him buying and selling racehorses.

Mike DeGeurin, a defense attorney from Houston who is representing the three, did not comment regarding the bribery charges.

The three accused have yet to enter a plea.

A life in prison will be the next step for Mona Nelson who was convicted of abducting and murdering Jonathan Foster, 12, a day before Christmas in 2010.

Foster's body was found in a burned state, enfolded by a carpet and dumped on a ditch.

Nelson admitted having emptied the contents of a thrash can on the ditch but that she had not known that it had also contained Foster's remains.

According to Allen Tanner, Houston defense attorney, Nelson had told the judge she was innocent after the verdict was read.

The prosecutors took no chances in building a solid case against Nelson but they stop short of asking for a death penalty.