Why Should I Hire Sullo & Sullo Attorneys to Handle My Criminal Case?

Have You Recently Been Arrested and Don’t Know What to Do?

If you have recently been arrested, and you are trying to make a decision as to who you should hire to handle your criminal case, you have come to the right place. The Law Firm of Sullo & Sullo has provided some helpful information below to assist you in making an informed decision about your case:

You Have a Lot at Stake – Don’t Trust Just Anyone!

CRIMINAL CHARGES IN TEXAS ARE A SERIOUS MATTER. A PERSON CONVICTED OF A CRIME CAN FACE MANY LIFE-CHANGING CONSEQUENCES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO:

Incarceration (Jail):

Possible punishments for most of the criminal charges in Texas include jail time. A punishment of incarceration means giving up one’s personal freedom and is one of the greatest prices an individual can pay in society. It should not be taken lightly.

Fines:

Texas Courts can impose heavy and extensive fines in association with the punishment of criminal offenses. Paying these fees can easily damage one’s pocketbook and income flow, and can hinder a person’s ability to make ends meet. While not all criminal offenses result in jail time, the financial cost of being charged with any criminal offense is high and should be considered seriously.

A Permanent Criminal Record:

Many criminal trials or plea-bargains can result in marks on your criminal record that are not easily removed. This is particularly harmful in the case of potential employers running a background check on those individuals seeking employment. A criminal record search that reveals if you have been charged or convicted of a crime can easily result in your elimination from candidacy when being considered for a job. Ensuring that a person can be freed from having a permanent criminal record is a complicated matter and only an attorney well versed in his knowledge of criminal records and how they work in Texas should be trusted with your professional reputation and the future of your career.

Texas Felonies and Misdemeanors:

Types of Criminal Charges and their Punishments:

First Degree Felonies                         Class A Misdemeanor
Second Degree Felonies                    Class B Misdemeanor
Third Degree Felonies                        Class C Misdemeanor
State Jail Felonies


DISCLAIMER: The information provided below is a general overview of most of the different types of criminal charges and their punishments in the state of Texas. It is important to note that the penal code (laws regarding punishments) is very complex and that an attorney should be consulted for any advice regarding any particular case.Furthermore: This guide does not provide any information about federal crimes, which are separate from state crimes. If you have been charged with a federal crime, you must contact an attorney who is specialized in federal offenses and their punishments.Felonies

Capital Felonies:

Capital Felonies are the most serious and severely punished type of crime in Texas and are defined as an individual "intentionally or knowingly causes the death of [another] individual," under special circumstances. Under Texas Law, a Capital Felony is punishable by:
v Death by lethal injection; or
v Life imprisonment

Examples of Capital Felonies:

Committing murder of a public safety officer or firefighter in the line of duty; murder during the commission of specified felonies (kidnapping, burglary, robbery, aggravated rape, arson); murder for remuneration; multiple murders; murder during a prison escape; murder of a correctional officer; murder of a judge; murder by a state prison inmate who is serving a life sentence for any of five offenses; [or] murder of an individual under six years of age;First Degree Felonies

A First Degree felony is a very serious type of criminal charge in Texas, second only to a capital felony. First Degree Felonies are punishable by:

v Lifelong imprisonment; or
v Imprisonment from five to 99 years with a possible fine up to $10,000
v Possibility of community supervision (adult probation)*Examples of First Degree Felonies:

Aggravated robbery; Burglary of a habitation with intent to commit or commission of a felony; Murder; ......... Read more

Keeping Your Driver’s License after a DWI Arrest: The ALR Hearing

The ALR Hearing:
If you have been charged with DWI (Driving While Intoxicated), the law allows you fifteen (15) calendar days to contact the DPS (Department of Public Safety) and request an ALR (Administrative License Revocation) Hearing. This hearing will usually be scheduled to take place sometime between two to three months from your date of arrest. Failure to request a hearing within this time is considered a waiver and will result in an automatic suspension of driver’s license. The objective of the ALR Hearing is to find out if the officer had reasonable suspicion to make the stop, whether there was probable cause, whether the driver was given an opportunity to provide a breath or blood sample, and if there was alcohol concentration above the legal limit.
This ALR Hearing is extremely important for several reasons:
· This hearing will determine whether or not your driver’s license is suspended;

· In the event that your driver’s license is temporarily suspended, this hearing will give you the timely notice needed so that you can take the necessary steps to request and/or receive an Occupational Driver’s License in its place. In addition, it may save you the embarrassment and the money of a future arrest if you continue driving while your license was suspended. In other words, having notice that your Driver’s License has been suspended can prevent both another criminal case against you and the possibility of another arrest.

Note: An Occupational Driver’s License is a driver’s license issued only to individuals who have had their driver’s license suspended. This type of license has restrictions, and only authorizes the holder to drive a passenger vehicle under limited circumstances and for specific purposes, including, but not necessarily limited to, commuting to and from work, attending to certain familial responsibilities, attending court mandated appointments, going to medical appointments, and the like.

Feds Crack Down On Illicit Prescription Drug Sales

HOUSTON—Pharmacies in Illinois and Utah stand accused of illicit prescription drug sales over the Internet, according to court papers filed by federal agents in two U.S. cities. 

Search warrant affidavits allege that both pharmacies, one in Des Plaines, Illinois, and the other in American Fork, Utah, are owned by the same man, Kyle Rootsaert. The company in Des Plaines, now called Rand Pharmacy, combined with another unidentified online pharmacy shipped 30,000 packages of prescription drugs across the country during the first six months of 2010. 

"This is a pretty large ring of at least 200 websites that acted as internet pharmacies that were basically selling drugs—prescription drugs—without requiring a valid prescription," John Horton, a former official in the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, said in an interview with CNN. "These affidavits indicate this was a multiyear, multimillion-dollar operation involving thousands and thousands of prescriptions. Going back in time, there were even deaths involved with this organization." 

According to the court documents, the majority of the drugs were highly addictive, especially the muscle relaxants Soma and Tramadol. And the same physician, Dr. William E. Morrow of Layton, Utah, authorized most of the prescriptions without ever having seen or talked to any of the people ordering the drugs.

DWI and No-Refusal Weekends in Texas

HOUSTON—In 2008, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reported a total of 37,261 auto accident fatalities in the United States; 11,773 (32 percent) of which involved a driver whose blood alcohol content was above the legal limit. Perhaps even more disturbing are statistics that show Texas as the national leader in alcohol-related crashes, with 1,269 drunk driving deaths documented that year.

Given this information, it’s easy to see why alcohol and drug-related traffic offenses, commonly known as Driving While Intoxicated (DWI), are frequently prosecuted criminal offenses in Texas. If the alcohol concentration in a person's blood, breath or urine is .08 percent or higher, the person is considered intoxicated by law.

In some cases under Texas DWI law, the legal definition of intoxication is met even if a person's blood alcohol concentration is lower than .08 percent. Having alcohol, drugs or a controlled substance in one's body that causes loss of normal use of mental or physical faculties is also considered intoxication. If a person is operating a vehicle, vessel or even water skis in a public place, he or she is considered to be DWI, which is a Class B misdemeanor in Texas. Boating and operating an aircraft while intoxicated are also considered to be crimes.

The minimum amount of jail time in Texas for DWI is 72 hours, unless there is an open container of alcohol in the person's possession, in which case the jail time is at least six days. Consuming any amount of alcohol while operating a motor vehicle is also an offense in Texas....... Read more

Drug Violence in Mexico Spills into U.S.

HOUSTON—Although Mexico has long been a source of production and transit for illegal drugs, the country now finds itself embattled with powerful and well-financed drug cartels. An upsurge in drug-related violence can be traced to the end of 2006 when President Felipe Calderón launched an aggressive assault on drug trafficking organizations by deploying tens of thousands of federal police and soldiers to reign them in. But his initiative has been largely unsuccessful to date, and there is a rising chorus of voices on both sides of the border questioning the cost and fallout of the attack on the cartels.

Given its geographic location, Mexico has been used as a staging and transshipment point for narcotics, illegal immigrants and other contraband destined for U.S. markets from Mexico, South America and elsewhere for decades. During the 1980s and early 1990s, Colombia’s Pablo Escobar was the main exporter of cocaine and dealt with organized criminal networks all over the world. When enforcement efforts intensified in South Florida and the Caribbean, the Colombian organizations formed partnerships with Mexico-based traffickers to transport cocaine through Mexico into the United States.

These new allegiances flourished, since Mexico had long been a major source of heroin and cannabis and possessed an infrastructure that stood ready to serve the Colombia-based traffickers. At first, the Mexican gangs were paid in cash for their transport services, but in the late 1980s, a settlement was reached wherein they would be compensated in product. Payment was usually 35 to 50 percent of each cocaine shipment, which meant that organizations from Mexico became involved in distribution as well as transportation, and quickly morphed into formidable traffickers in their own right.

With the demise of Colombia’s Cali and Medellín cartels in the 1990s, Mexican gangs stepped up to dominate the wholesale illicit drug market in the United States. Arrests and deaths of key leaders in recent years have led to increasing violence as rival cartels fight for control of the trafficking routes into the U.S. Amid this continuous power struggle, gang leaders often attempt to use law enforcement to their benefit, either by bribing Mexican officials to take certain action against an opponent, or by leaking intelligence about a rival’s operations to the Mexican government or the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). There is also mounting evidence of corruption amid border security and law enforcement officers, with suspicions being raised about agencies on both sides of the border.

To many Mexicans, the rising count of gruesome drug-related murders is evidence that the government’s strategy to combat the cartels has failed. Current estimates put the death toll at close to 23,000 since Calderón took office in December 2006, with numbers increasing exponentially each year. The government insists that the majority of those killed in Mexico’s drug violence were involved in the narcotics trade. But a growing number of bystanders are dying in the crossfire, and Americans are among them....... Read more

Driving While Intoxicated (DWI): Definitions and Penalties

What is a Charge of DWI?

· If you possess a regular driver’s license, and you are found to have been driving in Texas with a Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) of 0.08% or higher, then you may be charged with DWI, or Driving While Intoxicated;

· It is important to note that the definition of DWI is simply that one’s physical and/or mental faculties were impaired while he or she was driving. As such, the charge of DWI is not limited to only being a charge involving intoxication from alcohol. It can also arise out of intoxication from drugs, including illegal narcotics or even legal prescription drugs.

· If you are found to have been driving in Texas with a BAC of 0.12% or higher, then you may be subject to higher penalties for DWI than if your BAC was only higher than 0.08% (but below 0.12%);