Changing the Rules to Convict

The Court of Criminal Appeals may have outdone themselves. Really.

Trumping itself in terms of stupid opinions is difficult, but they pulled off the feat in Taylor v. State, 268 SW 3d 571 (10/2008).

This case allows the State to introduce a litany of on going hearsay from a therapist regarding the alleged victim child ( and adult) of an alleged sexual assault. Essentially, if the “victim’s” and therapists sessions are pertinent to ongoing treatment, then everything the alleged victim says to the therapist is admissible hearsay.

If the state is clever enough they can put ”victims” in therapy immediately after an outcry and have months and years of testimony from a therapist all under the guise of treatment for post traumatic stress disorder or some other malady.

The Court instructed the prosecution how it can, by laying a little foundation, allow a THERAPIST to give hearsay testimony concerning what the “victim” has said in an “ON GOING COURSE OF TREATMENT” and such blatant hearsay is admissible as a declaration for medical diagnosis and treatment.

In a long poorly written convoluted opinion the Court came up with this gem:

“We disagree with the Austin Court, however, to the extent that it has held that such a self-interested motive ( presumption behind medical diagnosis and treatment hearsay exception that a patient will be truthful due to patient’s self interest in receiving necessary medical care) ‘ is no longer present once a diagnosis has been made and treatment has begun. This is too categorical. It is inconsistent with the plain language of the rule, which admits hearsay made for the purpose of “diagnosis or treatment”, not “diagnosis or determining a course of treatment,” or “diagnosis or devising a treatment plan.” Moreover, the motive for self-preservation that fuels the hearsay exception does not necessarily extinguish once a course of treatment has been determined and has commenced. The effectiveness of on - going treatment, and especially mental health treatment, we have no doubt, will at least sometimes depend, in some particulars, upon the patient’s veracity. When that is the case, and so long as the patient can be made to understand that dependency, there is little reason to question his motive to be truthful in the interest of improving his own mental health.”

The Court of Criminal Appeals, in other words, cannot conceive of even the possibility that a child, teenager, or adult, would lie, embellish, or exaggerate an allegation of sexual assault. The Court does not even entertain the idea that what the “victim”-patient informs the therapist could be false, based upon suggestiveness or coaching from adults, be motivated for personal gain, or any other possibility. It has to be true because the “victim”- patient is seeing the therapist for their own mental health well being. Certainly not to assist the state build its case and provide corroborative evidence to bolster the complainant’s credibility.

Further, the Court does not question the therapist’s rendition of years of patient hearsay. Were these sessions recorded? Highly unlikely. Are there extensive notes? Perhaps. When were those notes written? Simultaneously with the session? Post session? What about the therapist’s self interest in remaining on the child advocacy centers list to receive appointments?

None of these issues is even a consideration.

This state will stop at nothing in order to ensure that all it takes is an allegation of sexual abuse in order to convict!

If you are facing charges or arrest of false allegations of child sexual abuse, call Stuckle and Ferguson, PLLC. We are on your side. The time to act is NOW!

The Creation of a False Allegation

Nothing incites the fury and anger of any community like the discovery of a reported child molester in the neighborhood. Unfortunately no charge is easier to make against an innocent person and more difficult to disprove. The word of a child, whether mistaken, coached, or the result of a deliberate lie, is all that it takes to ruin lives.

The law firm of Stuckle & Ferguson is well aware of the relative ease in which a false allegation of child sexual assault can be made. False Allegations arise under a multitude of circumstances from children of any age and in every socioeconomic group.

Various independent facts can easily give rise to an innocent person being falsely accused of child sexual abuse. Certain situations and circumstances have cultivated false accusations against the innocent, for example:

False allegations have been made by spouses, and former spouses in a divorce or custody battle to seek legal leverage and gain the upper hand.
Teen age children have alleged abuse to get the disciplinarian father or family member out of the house.
School age children will fabricate abuse after observing “Good Touch, Bad Touch” type films at school.
Children know more about sex than our society is willing to recognize. They are bombarded with sexual overtones through the movies, magazines and advertisements.
Some children make false allegations for attention.
False Allegations are often made by emotionally disturbed adolescents with a specific agenda to hurt someone.
Some children make false allegations after hearing about real sexual abuses that have occurred to friends or classmates.
Sometimes a false allegation is made by a young child who does not understand the gravity and consequences of their words.

Often questionable remarks by children are misinterpreted by frantic family members and evolve into allegations by over zealous social workers. Once an allegation is made the child savers begin building a case against the accused. They do not evaluate the factual basis for the allegation or conduct a thourough investigation. Rather, they are convinced the child was abused, you are the abuser, and your fate is sealed. Due to the elimination of the accused’s fundamental constitutional rights, the mentality of the “child savers”, and the Child Saving Industry’s dependence on victims and perptrators, our prison’s are full of innocent persons.

Whatever the reason behind the allegation the law firm of Stuckle & Ferguson are here to uncover the truth and open the eyes of a system, which would rather keep them them shut. We have many years of experience in demonstrating these ulterior motives and bringing justice to those falsely accused.

The Recipe For Conviction:

1. “Outcry” from a child, interpreted as abuse;
2. Reporting of the outcry by a person required by law to report any suspicion of child abuse, or someone with a hidden agenda or motive;
3. A biased investigation by employees of the child saving industry;
4. A biased medical report by a “nurse” contracted by the child saving industry;
5. Syndrome evidence from an “expert” witness;
6. Circumstantial evidence of the accused’s opportunity to be alone with the child.
7. Motive or other variables leading to an accusation.

If you are being falsely accused of child sexual abuse the system is working against you! The law firm of Stuckle and Ferguson, PLLC has years of experience and proven success in defending those falsely accused of child sexual assault. Contact Us to discuss your case. The time to act is NOW!

Preparing a Vigorous Defense

When facing false allegations, the accused must be prepared to fight for their life. Because of the special nature of child sexual abuse cases, erosion of constitutional rights, determination of the child savers that you are guilty you must vigorously defend yourself and prove your innocence!

If an attorney says to “wait and see if you are indicted”…WALK AWAY IMMEDIATELY! The best time to get a dismissal is before a formal charge.

Prepare a Vigorous Grand Jury Defense to Avoid Prosecution

Many times the best method of winning a false allegation case is to defeat it before it officially starts. These charges are felonies and before the prosecutor can proceed, they must obtain a grand jury indictment. The grand jury is a screening panel of persons selected from the community to serve a six month term reviewing cases to determine if “probable cause” exists. If the grand jury finds probable cause , they will issue a ‘true bill” of indictment. The case then gets assigned to a trial court for disposition. If the grand jury issues a “no bill”, the case ends. The prosecutor has the right to present a case to another grand jury if one entered a “no bill”, however this is rare, and is usually only invoked in cases which have gathered media attention.

A falsely accused defendant has a golden opportunity to avoid an indictment by preparing evidence for the grand jury to review prior to its decision. The grand jury is controlled by the prosecution, and does not have to accept defensive evidence. It is customary, however, for the prosecutor to provide defensive evidence to the grand jury upon request.

The defense can provide the grand jury with information that might not be admissible at trial, such as polygraph results, character letters, and other forms of hearsay.

The defense can also provide expert witness reports and affidavits explaining the unreliability and tainted evidence obtained by the prosecution. Defendants and defense witnesses can be made available to testify before the grand jury, but the decision whether or not they are allowed to testify is up to the grand jury. Defense counsel is not authorized to be in the grand jury room when evidence is presented, nor is counsel allowed to make oral argument. The defense attorney can be outside the grand jury chambers and can prepare witnesses to testify.

Here are some common examples of evidence to build a grand jury defense packet:

A. Your Criminal History;
B. Honorable Discharge and Military Records;
C. Education Records;
D. Polygraph Results;
E. Polygraph Report;
F. Psychological and Personality Testing of Client;
G. A Factual Summary of the Defense Version of the Case;
H. Sworn Statements That the Alleged Victim Has Made False Accusations in the Past;
I. Legal Research and Case-law to Show Reason to Not Indict;
J. Good Character Letters;
K. Availability of Defendant and Others to Testify If Requested;
L. Recantations from Alleged Victims When Available;
M. Expert Witness Testimony & Affidavits Regarding the Tainted Evidence Which Comprises the Prosecutors Case; and
N. Test Results Showing the Accused Is Not a Child Molester or Pedophile.

If your attorney insists that pursuing a grand jury defense is a waste of time, FIRE HIM!

Prepare a Vigorous Defense for Trial

If the grand jury indicts, then the case must be prepared for trial. It is rare for the state to dismiss a case once they have a grand jury indictment.

Selection of the jury is critical for a child abuse or sexual assault case. Potential jurors come into the case with strong emotional feelings regarding any allegation of abuse to a child. Your attorney must overcome the strong emotions the jury panel has against child abuse and focus their attention on being fair and acknowledging that false allegations are made. The jury panel must see that the only thing worse than child abuse is being falsely labeled as a child molester.

In addition, the attorney must educate the jury panel on how false allegations could be made. The panel needs to understand how a child can be coached through leading and suggestive interviewing techniques into making statements about incidents that did not occur.

The attorney must be well skilled in cross examination techniques for the states witnesses. This includes being ready to show deficiencies in the states investigation through a preconceived assumption of guilt shared amongst Child Protective Service workers, police, and so called experts. Cross examination is a skill that can only be obtained through years of trial practice itself.

The attorney must also be prepared to offer strong defensive witnesses. Contrary to many criminal cases, the accused must testify in a child abuse case if the defense wants an acquittal. Until the jury hears it straight from the accused mouth that the abuse did not occur, it will convict.

At Stuckle and Ferguson, PLLC we have assembled a team of experts with over 25 years in defending false allegations of child sexual assault. Our firm has successfully represented clients at Grand Jury proceedings and obtained acquittals at Trial. Whether you are being investigated for sexual abuse, have been arrested or indicted, we are prepared to vigorously defend you in every stage of the criminal process. Contact Us to schedule a consultation.

The Right Child Sexual Abuse Attorney

Very few attorneys specialize in fighting false allegations. Many lawyers represent clients with child abuse and child sexual assault charges. These lawyers will handle such cases in addition to a general criminal defense practice. Child Sexual Assault cases are different than the typical criminal charge and must be handled differently!

The falsely accused must have an attorney that does more than mere representation. The attorney must actually defend the falsely accused. Incredibly, many times an attorney will take the case and concern themselves with a disposition that meets with the satisfaction of the prosecution and judge. The prosecutor and judge are the enemy in child abuse cases!

Consider the following in hiring the right attorney:

LENGTH OF PRACTICE & EXPERIENCE

A false allegation case can only be defended successfully by an attorney with significant trial experience and specifically with child sexual assault cases. The falsely accused are not in a position to have inexperienced counsel.

Unfortunately, the police, Child Protective Services, and the public will consider you to be guilty. For the falsely accused it is important to act immediately. The falsely accused must prove their innocence! An attorney who does not begin an all out defense at the very beginning is wasting valuable time and compromising your future.

It is a false allegation. This needs to be vocalized and acted upon. The charge is false. The allegations are untrue. Scream it until someone hears. And if your attorney does not hear, then fire him/her and hire someone else.

There is no “home field advantage”in sexual assault cases. Do not shy away from a good attorney who is located in a different county from where you are being charged. Judges do not get re-elected if the public views them as being soft on a child sexual assault charge. It makes no difference how well a local attorney knows the judge, that will not be of any assistance with this type of charge. An “outsider” who does not care about making the judge or prosecutor happy, but just wants to defend you and win is much better than a local name.

Your attorney does not have to be board certified in criminal law. Board certification usually means that the attorney practices criminal law in general. For a child abuse or child sexual assault allegation, the best is an attorney who specializes primarily in those cases to the exclusion of other cases.

REJECT PLEA BARGAINS

A false allegation of child sexual assault must be beaten through either a dismissal or an acquittal (not guilty finding) at trial. There is no victory in a plea bargain with these cases. The innocent person’s life will be destroyed by pleading guilty. At no time in dealing with a false allegation should there ever be an admission of guilt. A plea bargain may seem an easy way out, but it will ruin the life of the falsely accused forever.

Deferred Adjudication, successfully served will not result in a conviction for the defendant. However, the lack of a formal conviction really is meaningless. Whether the accused receives deferred, straight probation, or is released on parole, he will still have to register as a sex offender. Registration is by nature, public, and will result in the nature of the charges being made known to anyone. Registration results in the loss of employment and the inability to secure future meaningful employment.

Community Supervision for sex offenders also requires sex offender treatment courses. In these courses the offender is required to admit that not only the actual charge is true, but also any additional charges or allegations made in police or Child Protective Service reports are true. It matters not that the charge is exaggerated, untrue, or only partially true. It matters not that the extraneous other charges did not occur. Failure to admit that everything alleged is true will result in a revocation of community supervision and placement in the penitentiary.

The prosecution will tempt the inexperienced defense attorney with offers of deferred adjudication and “treatment” instead of incarceration. Do not fall for this trap. Sex Offender probation has but one goal: to take all of the defendant’s money and then revoke him and send him to the penitentiary. The percentage of defendants who successfully make it through community supervision probation without being revoked is small. The reason it is so difficult to complete probation is the rules keep changing. Making community supervision more difficult for sex offenders is a favorite of the legislature. The changes politicians make offer the appearance of fighting child molestation. No lobby group exists for sex offenders and politicians can make community supervision success impossible.

A sexual assault conviction will mean that you will lose your children.

The law firm of Stuckle and Ferguson, PLLC has assembled a team of defense experts who focus on proving the innocence of the falsely accused of child sexual abuse. Contact Us to discuss your case.

The Elimination of Constitutional Rights

Prosecutors and the child saving industry have convinced the legislature that merely creating hysteria is not enough to insure conviction for those accused. In addition, rights originally created in our constitution to protect the criminal defendants must be eliminated.

The Rules to Have Changed to Secure Convictions

All across our nation, state legislatures have supported child advocacy special interest groups. The following illustrates how constitutional rights have been taken away in child sexual assault trials:

No Right to Confront Your Accuser:

Criminal law codes have been rewritten to where in many cases, the child accuser does not have to appear in court and face the accused. Instead, the state can offer the child’s testimony through a video tape made by agents of the prosecution.

“Hearsay Evidence”:

Hearsay is defined as “a statement, other than one made by the declarant while testifying at the trial or hearing, offered in evidence to prove the truth of the matter asserted.” (Tex. Rules. Evid. 803 (2)). In Layman’s terms, “Hearsay” evidence is when a witness testifies about something they do not personally know, but were told by someone else. Hearsay is considered unreliable and is normally inadmissible as evidence against an accused. In child abuse cases however, hearsay evidence is admitted as evidence of guilt. A so called “outcry” witness can testify as to what a child supposedly said to them regarding the alleged abuse.

“Syndrome Evidence” Is Admissible Against the Accused:

In most states, the prosecution can have an expert witness testify that the child is suffering from “Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome”(CSAAS). This psychological “mumble jumble” is an unscientific theory of supposed traits of abused children. The psychologist who came up with this syndrome many years ago has since indicated that this theory is not reliable evidence in a court of law. Prosecutors do not care! This junk science makes its appearance in courtrooms across the country daily.

With Syndrome Evidence, the State Replaces Its Lack of Real Proof with Speculation.

CSAAS theorizes that because an alleged victim is supposedly demonstrating certain behavioral patterns that he/she must have actually been abused. Unfortunately, a big problem with this and other syndromes is that the character traits offered to show abuse are also common for non-abused children. If the child has been crying, he/she must have been abused. If the child has nightmares, he/she must have been abused. If the child is withdrawn, he/she must have been abused. If the child is outgoing, he/she must have been abused. If the child is happy around the accused, its because the child enjoyed the abuse. The list of factors goes on forever. But to a jury, when an expert witness is connecting typical childhood behavior with indicators of abuse, the testimony is extremely damaging to the falsely accused.

Convictions Without Physical Evidence:

Our prisons are full of persons who have been convicted of child molestation without any physical evidence ever introduced against them at trial. In other words, the typical evidence in which the state offers to convict a defendant, such as body fluids, blood, semen, hair, DNA, are not introduced at trial to link the accused to a crime.

Medical nurses and employees whose livelihoods depend upon their contracts with child advocacy centers will give opinions that a child was abused. Failure to give the right opinion will mean the contract is not renewed. These opinions from medical “experts” will say the findings are “consistent with” sexual abuse. Of course, “consistent with” is not a true medical diagnosis. This testimony, as demonstrated by a competent defense attorney will reveal the findings given as “consistent with abuse” are just as “inconsistent with abuse”.

Prosecutors Secure Convictions by Manipulating the Juries’ Fear of

Releasing a Child Molester Back Into the Community.

Instead of physical and medical evidence, the falsely accused are convicted upon theories, inferences, and speculation. Prosecutors secure convictions by manipulating the juries fear of releasing a child molester back into the community. This fear will be combined with hearsay, expert witness “syndrome evidence”, misleading medical testimony, and the biased opinions of child advocacy investigators.

To support this speculation, a biased child protective services caseworker will produce a video taped interview of the child. This biased interviewer will use leading, suggestive, and coached questions to easily obtain an “admission” from a child. Many times the child does not make a statement that abuse occurred, but merely agrees with the adult authority figure who informs the child of the abuse.

After an outcry, it is easy to find witnesses who can place the accused in circumstances in which he was alone with the alleged victim.

The system is not on your side. At Stuckle & Ferguson, we beleive in your innocence. The time to act is NOW! Contact Us for an evaluation of your case.

The Special Nature of Child Sexual Assault

“Our Prisons Are Full of Innocent Persons”

Public hysteria regarding child molestation has changed the rules of the criminal justice system. Child physical and sexual abuse cases must be defended in an entirely different manner than the normal criminal case. In theory the constitutional rights of the defendant are still in place, however in reality those rights do not apply.

The truth is: The accused is presumed to be guilty.

There is merely an appearance of constitutional rights for the accused in a child abuse case. The judge will still inform the jury that it must presume the defendant to be innocent and require the state to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. However in reality, once a false allegation is made, the defendant must both prove himself innocent and that something “did not happen”.

Our criminal justice system states that if the jury has a “reasonable doubt” then it must find the defendant “not guilty”. This theory simply does not apply to child sexual assault cases. The jury must be convinced they are not letting a child molester off and back into the community.

The jury must absolutely believe in the innocence of the defendant.

The state does not have to prove guilt, but simply make the accusation. Once the accusation is made, the defendant must prove innocence beyond a reasonable doubt. Failing that, the jury will not take a chance the defendant may be a child molester, and will convict.

How Did We Come to This?

The media, legislature and the “child saving industry” has created a national child molestation hysteria. Through their well funded efforts, the general public is convinced a child molester lurks behind every tree, waiting for the golden opportunity to snatch a child. In addition, not satisfied with just terrifying the public, these forces have created a perception that child abuse is rampantly occurring behind the closed doors of our neighbors and friends.

Many politicians seek and maintain their positions by running campaigns aimed at the voter’s emotional desire to protect children. An effective way to follow this campaign promise is to enact laws that eliminate basic rights of criminal defendants charged with any form of child abuse.

If you have been falsely accused of child sexual abuse contact the law offcies of Stuckle & Ferguson, PLLC immediately. The special nature of this allegation requires experienced defense in this area of the criminal law!

Rules for the Falsely Accused of Child Sexual Abuse

Rule No. 1

Nothing an accused or alleged victim can say or do will convince a childsaver (Child Protective Services, Child Advocacy Prosector, Child Advocacy Center Caseworker, Family Advocacy Prosecutor, Family Advocacy Center Caseworker, police Detective, or Victim’s Advocate) that the abuse did not occur. Nothing!

Rule No. 2

Talking to Child Protective Services or the Police Investigator, or Anyone Without an Attorney Present is the Single Worst Thing a Wrongfully Accused Person Can do.

Rule No. 3

In most cases an experienced attorney will not allow you to talk to Child Protective Services or the police or give a statement. The attorney knows whatever you say will be used against you.

But You Are Innocent!

The violation of the above three rules by those falsely accused is commonplace. An innocent person believes sanity will intervene at some point, and decides to cooperate fully with the police and Child Protective Services. The accused gives written statements and videotaped statements to CPS and the police. In addition, the accused talk on the phone to detectives and caseworkers. They talk in the investigators offices without knowing whether they are being recorded. They often talk themselves into a corner that is extremely difficult to ever get out of.

Unfortunately, Child Protective Services and the police are not interested in conducting a fair and thorough investigation. The accused who walks into the child advocacy center without an experienced attorney to “tell their side of things” or “clear this all up” is doing exactly what the authorities want. The child savers know what they are doing. At this meeting they will obtain real or implied admissions and circumstances presenting opportunity for abuse coming from the accused’s own mouth.

They will Twist Your Words!

The Child Protective Service investigator will start off by asking questions that appear to be innocuous but are intentional set up questions. The investigator may ask an alleged perpetrator if they have ever given their child a bath or changed a diaper. The accused will answer “Yes” as that is a normal parental function. Then the investigator will move in for the kill. The next questions will focus on other instances in which the alleged perpetrator has touched the genital areas of the child.

For example, the investigator may ask if you have ever touched your child’s bottom or genital area. If the accused says “No”, the next question will be whether you have ever wiped your child’s bottom after changing a diaper. This will be followed by whether you have ever applied medicine or a lotion for diaper rash. After the accused says “Yes”, the investigator will become more aggressive. “Are you now are admitting to touching your child’s genital area?”. The accused, knowing that any contact was done without sexual intent and solely for personal hygiene reasons is confused. The accused may say, “No, not in the manner that you are describing”. The investigator will follow up by saying, “ Are you now denying touching your child’s genital area?” The follow up questions will be to establish opportunity for abuse, such as: “Are you ever alone with your child? Have you given baths while alone with the child? “ Applied medication to your child without any one else around ? What about the date of the allegation, isn’t it true that you were alone with your child at that time?”

Now They Have What They Wanted All Along

The falsely accused now will face an official investigative report which will read like this:

”Alleged perpetrator at first denied any sexual contact with child, but then after questioning admitted such contact. When this inconsistency was pointed out by the investigator, the perpetrator attempted to limit admission of contact by stating that same was done “only while giving baths and applying medications”. Investigator finds alleged perpetrators answers to be inconsistent, evasive, and untruthful.’”

Arm Yourself

A knowledgeable attorney can provide the accused with an appearance of cooperation with authorities without providing evidence against yourself. The investigators cannot twist your words and dictate their interpretation of what you said if you have not talked to them!! The attorney can assist you in making the decision of whether to meet with child protective services or the police. In most situations, the attorney knows that the arrest and charge decision has already been made and that a meeting will not change the forthcoming prosecution.

Contact the Law Firm of Stuckle & Ferguson immediately to protect yourself!

Do Not Attempt Your Own Defense

This is NOT the Time To Do It Yourself!

If informed that surgery is needed to remove a tumor, no patient would go home and start rummaging through kitchen knives to commence a self-service operation. Obviously this procedure is best left to the skilled hands of a skilled surgeon. The same principle exists when a family desires to have a criminal case dismissed. This is not the time to do it yourself.

The System Does Not Care About Families

The criminal justice system is a great mystery to those who are not familiar with its inner sanctum. There is a right way and wrong way to get things accomplished. The family finding itself facing an accusation does not understand how to approach the system. Common sense and justice, thought to be inherent in the system, does not exist. Rather the criminal justice system is more concerned with power, perpetuation of the appearance of justice, and statistics.

Media and political attention concerning domestic violence may lead the naive to think the system is concerned with the well being of families. That is incorrect! The system does not care one iota about the families it captures in its web. A family in recovery, healing from domestic conflicts presumes the protectors would be pleased to discover prosecution is no longer desired. This is certainly the public persona exemplified by the protectors. Referring to the Smith County, Texas Family Advocacy Center, Executive Director Carol Langston said: “I would love for the center not to have to be here 20 or 40 years from now.” (Laura Krantz, Staff Writer, March 20, 2004, Tyler Morning Telegraph).

Baloney.

In fact the exact opposite is true. The protectors want as many cases as possible and are not concerned with what’s best for the family. The system is concerned with what’s best for itself, growth and expansion. Those goals are not met by dropping cases.

“This is crazy. We had an argument that got out of control. Everything is fine now. My spouse does not want to prosecute. If I talk to them and explain, it will go away.”

This is the initial feeling of a family who does not want any additional complications, such as a frivolous prosecution in their lives. The family may be experiencing problems and difficulties, but it is not a matter that requires governmental intervention. Husband and wife desire to work out their issues on their own, their way. All that is needed now is to make an appointment to speak to the prosecutor and have the State drop the case.

The State Will Not Drop the Case!

If you are facing allegations of Domestic Violence contact Stuckle & Ferguson. You must act quickly to protect your rights!

The Right Domestic Violence Defense Attorney

Hiring the Right Attorney is Crucial to Your Freedom!

Very few attorneys specialize in fighting domestic violence allegations. Many lawyers represent clients with assault charges. These lawyers will handle such cases in addition to a general criminal defense practice. Domestic cases are different from the typical criminal charge and must be handled differently!

Consider the Following in Hiring the Right Attorney:

LENGTH of PRACTICE & EXPERIENCE

A domestic violence allegation can only be defended successfully by an attorney with significant trial experience and specifically with domestic assault cases. The accused is not in a position to have inexperienced counsel.

Unfortunately, the police, family advocacy center personnel, and the public will consider you to be guilty. For one charged with family violence, it is important to act immediately. The accused must prove their innocence! An attorney who does not begin an all out defense at the very beginning is wasting valuable time and compromising your future.

There is no “home field advantage” in a domestic violence case. Do not shy away from a good attorney who is located in a different county from where you are being charged. Judges are elected politicians. Judges do not get re-elected if the public views them as soft on domestic violence. It makes no difference how well a local attorney knows the judge; it will not be of any assistance with this type of charge. An “outsider” who does not care about making the judge or prosecutor happy, but just wants to defend you and win, is much better than a local name.

REJECT PLEA BARGAINS

A false allegation of domestic violence must be beaten through either a dismissal or an acquittal (not guilty finding) at a jury trial. There is no victory in a plea bargain with these cases. The innocent person’s life will be drastically degraded by pleading guilty. At no time in dealing with a false allegation should there ever be an admission of guilt. A plea bargain may seem an easy way out, but it will ruin the life of the falsely accused forever.

Deferred Adjudication, Straight Probation, Being Released from Jail or a Conviction All Result in a Finding of Family Violence.

A deferred adjudication or sentence, successfully served will not result in a conviction for the defendant. However, the lack of a formal conviction is meaningless. Whether the accused receives deferred, straight probation, or is released from jail, he will still have a criminal record and a finding of family violence. These records are public and the nature of the charges can and will be made known to anyone. Family violence findings may result in the loss of employment and the inability to secure future meaningful employment especially if you require a security clearance or carry a weapon in your line of work.

Community supervision for the defendant will require battering intervention program counseling. In this setting, the offender is required to admit that not only the actual charge is true, but also any extraneous charges or allegations made in police or advocacy center reports are true. It matters not that the charge is exaggerated, untrue, or only partially true. It matters not that the extraneous other charges did not occur. Failure to admit that everything alleged is true will result in a revocation of community supervision and incarceration.

The prosecution will tempt the inexperienced defense attorney with offers of deferred adjudication and “counseling” instead of incarceration. Do not fall for this pretense. Even aside from the lifetime penalties involved, it can be difficult to complete probation as the rules keep changing. Making community supervision more difficult for family violence offenders is a legislative reality. Politicians continue to enact new laws, that offer the appearance of fighting domestic violence. No lobby group exists for persons charged with domestic abuse and the legislature can make the community supervision process intolerable without significant opposition.

A Finding of Family Violence Will Often Mean That You Will Lose Your Children

The Domestic Violence Defense Team at Stuckle & Ferguson is well aware of the costs to your future associated with a plea bargain. We are prepared to vigorously defend you at any stage of your case. Contact our office to ensure your freedom, family, and livelihood.

PREPARE A VIGOROUS PRE-CHARGE DEFENSE TO AVOID PROSECUTION

If an attorney says to wait and see if you are formally charged; walk away immediately; the best time to get a dismissal is before a formal charge.

Many times the best method of winning a false allegation case is to defeat it before it officially starts. Evidence can be collected pre-charge by the defense that does not have to meet the standards of admissible evidence at trial. The defense can produce typically inadmissible evidence such as polygraph examination results, character letters, and other forms of hearsay. The defense can also offer expert-witness reports and affidavits explaining the unreliability and tainted evidence procured by the prosecution.

Here are some common examples of evidence that can be assessed for a charge dismissal packet:

Your Criminal History
Honorable Discharge
Education Records
Polygraph Results
Polygraph report
Psychological and Personality Testing of Client
A Factual Summary of the Defense Version of the Case
Sworn Statements that the Alleged Victim has Made False Accusations in the Past
Legal Research and Case Law to Show Reason to Not Indict
Good character letters
Availability of defendant and others to testify if requested.
Recantations from alleged victims when available.
Expert-witness testimony and affidavits regarding tainted evidence comprising the States’ case.
Test results showing the accused does not have the psychological characteristics of a batterer.

If your attorney insists that pursuing a pre-charge defense is a waste of time, fire him.

At Stuckle & Ferguson, we are experienced in defending Domestic Violence cases. We have successfully cleared our client’s names by presenting vigorous defenses to the Grand Jury resulting in a “no bill”. If you believe that charges might be filed against you for Domestic Violence, the best time to act is NOW! Contact Us Immediately to schedule an appointment.

PREPARE A VIGOROUS DEFENSE FOR TRIAL

If the prosecutor accepts the charge, then the case must be prepared for trial. It is rare for the state to dismiss a case once they have formally filed an assault charge. Your attorney must be prepared to try these specialized types of cases to a jury.

Selection of the jury is critical for domestic violence cases.

The potential jurors come into the case with heavy emotional attachments regarding allegations of abuse to a spouse or intimate partner. Strong emotions held by jurors about domestic violence must be overcome and their attention placed on being fair and acknowledging that false allegations are made. The jury panel must understand the serious potential for injustice a false allegation can cause.

In addition, the defense attorney must educate the jury panel on how false allegations could be made. The panel needs to understand how an alleged victim can make false and exaggerated statements and what motivation exists to do so.

The attorney must be well skilled in cross-examination to show deficiencies in the state’s investigation through a preconceived assumption of guilt shared amongst the advocacy team. Cross-examination is a skill obtainable only through years of trial practice itself.

The attorney must also be prepared to offer strong defense witnesses. Contrary to many criminal cases, the accused must testify in a domestic violence case if the defense wants an acquittal. Until the jury hears it straight from the accused’s mouth that the abuse did not occur, it will convict.

Our Domestic Violence Defense Team has years of trial experience with a proven track record of obtaining acquittals for our clients. If you are facing a charge of Domestic Violence contact Stuckle & Ferguson to schedule a consultation.

Rules for the Accused of Domestic Violence

Rule No. 1: There is nothing you can say to these people to make them go away.

Nothing an accused or alleged victim can say or do will convince the ”protectors” (Child Protective Services, child advocacy prosector, child advocacy center caseworker, family advocacy prosecutor, family advocacy center caseworker, police detective, or victim’s advocate) that the abuse did not occur. Nothing!

Rule No. 2: The case will not be dismissed until the government finds a dismissal is in their best interests, not the best interests of the family.

The effects on an individual family means nothing to these people. The family is a mere meal ticket, another in a long line of families the system will victimize and probably destroy. Informing the protectors that the family is fine, has made up, is working out their problems, and does not need prosecution will fall on deaf ears. The system does not care. The protectors need bodies to meet necessary quotas to continue receiving grant money and expand.

It is only when the protectors recognize they will lose the case, possibly in an embarrassing fashion, that a dismissal will be considered. The state must be motivated through its own fear of losing face with a jury before it will consider the needs of the family.

Rule No. 3: Talking to the “protectors” without an attorney present is the single worst thing a wrongfully accused person can do.

In most cases an experienced attorney will not allow you to talk to the “protectors” (Child Protective Services, child advocacy prosector, child advocacy center caseworker, family advocacy prosecutor, family advocacy center caseworker, investigator, police detective, or victim’s advocate) or give a statement. The attorney knows whatever you say will be used against you.

Do Not Try to Reason with the “Protectors”

The violation of these rules by unaware family members is commonplace. A family desiring to put the incident behind them believes sanity will intervene at some point, and decide to contact the police and prosecution. The alleged victim and suspect will give written and videotaped statements. In addition, they will talk on the phone or offices of detectives and prosecutors without knowing they are being recorded.

The protectors are not interested in conducting a fair and thorough investigation. The accused and alleged victim who walk into a family advocacy center without an experienced attorney to “tell their side of things” or “clear this all up” is doing exactly what the authorities want. The protectors know what they are doing. At this meeting they will obtain real or implied admissions and circumstances presenting opportunity for battering coming from the accused’s own mouth.

An attorney can place you in a position so that you are “cooperating” with the investigation without incriminating yourself. The attorney can assist you in making the decision of whether to meet with the authorities. In most situations, the attorney knows the charge decision has already been made and that a meeting will not change the forthcoming prosecution.

Even if you have violated these rules, contact the Law Firm of Stuckle & Ferguson immediately to protect yourself and your family!

Typical Wrong Reaction By the Falsely Accused

What should you do once an allegation has been made?

“I’m innocent. This is crazy. If I talk to them and explain it will go away.” This is the initial feeling of the wrongfully accused. They have done nothing wrong and therefore there should be no adverse consequences. Those in authority will quickly recognize their innocence, the mistake, the overreaction, and it will all go away.

Nothing the Accused Can Say or Do will Convince a Child Saver to Go Away. NOTHING!

For the self-proclaimed child savers though, no mistakes are ever made. “Of course the accused will deny it. Who among us would admit to being a child molester? Children do not lie. Adults lie. Molesters lie. You are lying.” This is the mind-set of those who will prosecute you. Child protective services caseworkers and prosecutors believe the case is over once the child makes an outcry of abuse and that outcry is subsequently substantiated during the videotaped interview. No other evidence is necessary for them to submit the case to a grand jury. No physical evidence of abuse. No medical evidence of abuse.

Nothing.

Now they may try to get such evidence. However, in their minds a failure to obtain it does not undermine their conviction that abuse has occurred. Hymen still intact? Well the hymen does not have to be broken in order for abuse to occur, or for digital penetration. Lack of semen? Well, of course, this offense occurred over the course of years and the child did not make an outcry immediately after the incident. Lack of substantiating witnesses? No matter, molesters work behind closed doors, in private, when no one else is around to witness. Lack of criminal record for the accused? The accused is a child molester, he is interested in secretly abusing children, not in committing adult crimes. Has the accused pass a polygraph test? Those are not admissible because a savvy adult can manipulate such tests.

If you are Wrongfully Accused read the Rules for the Falsely Accused of Child Sexual Abuse.

Do Not Waste Precious Time Hoping to Persuade the “Protectors” of Your Innocence.

At Stuckle & Ferguson, we believe in your innocence. Our defense team of attorneys, private investigators, and specialists have over 25 years of criminal law experience. We have dedicated ourselves to assembling a war chest to defeat cases of false accusations. We are ready to face the State and DEFEAT them!

Domestic Violence Legal Facts

Issues Upon Arrest & Consequences of a Conviction or Plea Bargain

Issues Upon Arrest

What is domestic violence?

Domestic violence is defined as “an act by a member of a family or household against another member of the family or household that is intended to result in physical harm, bodily injury, assault, or sexual assault or that is a threat that reasonably places the member in fear of imminent physical harm, bodily injury, assault, or sexual assault, but does not include defensive measures to protect oneself.” Tex. Fam. Code § 71.004.

What is a domestic violence offense?

There is not a Texas penal code statute entitled “Assault — Domestic Violence.” Despite what offense may have been written on the magistrate’s warning or bail bond, the actual offense is typically for “Assault.” In Texas, an assault offense can range from a Class C misdemeanor (similar to traffic citation) to a felony. The charge is a Class C misdemeanor if the physical contact is merely regarded as “offensive” or “provocative.” In those situations, the suspect usually receives a citation and promises to appear later in a Municipal Court where the maximum punishment is by fine up to $500.

The vast majority of family violence cases are charged as Class A misdemeanors in which it is alleged the defendant caused “bodily injury” to the victim. In cases in which “serious bodily injury” is alleged, the offense is characterized as a felony. It also will be a felony if “the defendant has been previously convicted of an offense against a member of the defendant’s family or household.”

What evidence do the police need to make an arrest?

An officer must arrest if probable cause exists to believe that bodily injury has occurred.

Do the police need a warrant to arrest me?

Texas state law authorizes the police to make an arrest without a warrant of:

“persons who the peace officer has probable cause to believe have committed an assault resulting in bodily injury to a member of the person’s family or household.” Tex. Code. Crim. Proc. Art. 14.03 (a) (4).

This legal authorization leads to an automatic arrest or “zero tolerance” policy by many police departments. Once a call for assistance was made to a “911″ operator regarding a domestic disturbance, someone is going to jail if there is any evidence, credible or not, of bodily injury.

What is bodily injury?

“Bodily Injury means physical pain, illness, or any impairment of physical condition.” Tex. Pen. Code § 1.07 (8).

It does not take much to make an allegation of “bodily injury.” Bodily injury does not require a trip to the doctor, any medication, or even any sign of injury such as a bruise or red mark. The alleged victims’ statement they felt pain is sufficient for an arrest to be made. This is why the police officer will ask the alleged victim if she was “hurt” or felt “pain.” If the victim says yes, then the officer has been provided with probable cause the bodily injury provision has been met.

What happens if the alleged victim decides she does not want to prosecute?

The State will prosecute the case anyway.

What is zero tolerance?

Zero tolerance means the police will make an arrest without exception after a family argument if they have probable cause to believe any bodily injury has occurred.

What is a no drop policy?

A “No Drop Policy” means the State will prosecute all domestic violence cases without exception, even if the victim wants the case dismissed and has filed an affidavit of non-prosecution.

Can I be held in jail even after I make bail?

The magistrate (judge) can hold the arrested person in jail for four (4) hours after making bail, if there is probable cause to believe any violence would continue if the person were immediately released.

This period can be extended up to forty-eight (48) hours if authorized in writing by a magistrate. If the extended time period exceeds twenty-four (24) hours, the magistrate must make a finding the violence would be continued if the person were released and the person has previously been arrested within ten (10) years on more than one occasion for family violence or for any other offense involving the use or exhibition of a deadly weapon. Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Art. 17.291.

What is the arraignment?

After an arrest the accused will be brought before the magistrate for the arraignment. At this hearing, the magistrate will read the accused their legal rights, set bail, and usually issue an emergency protective order. Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Art. 15.17.

What is an Emergency Protective Order?

An emergency protective order is issued against the accused by the magistrate at the arraignment hearing. Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Art. 17.292 “Magistrate’s Order for Emergency Protection”.

The protective order may:

Evict the accused from their residence for sixty (60) days or more;
Prohibit the accused from possessing or being in the vicinity of a firearm, weapon, or ammunition;
Prohibit the accused from communicating directly with a person protected by the order or a member of the family or household in a threatening or harassing manner;
Going to or near the residence, place of employment, or business of a member of the family or household or of the person protected under the order; or the residence, child care facility, or school where a child protected under the order resides or attends.

What happens if I violate the emergency protective order?

Violation of the emergency protective order results in a separate criminal offense punishable by a fine of as much as $4,000, or by confinement in jail for as long as one year, or both. An act that results in domestic violence or a stalking charge may be prosecuted as a separate misdemeanor or felony offense. If the act is prosecuted as a separate felony offense, it is punishable by confinement in prison for at least two years. Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Art. 17.292.

Can the judge kick me out of my own house?

The protective order may evict the accused from their residence for sixty (60) days. Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Art. 17.292

Can I be ordered not to have any contact with my wife or children?

In Texas, an emergency protective order by itself cannot prohibit the arrested person from making non-threatening communication or contact with the protected person. However, nothing prohibits the magistrate from making an additional “no contact” condition of bail. Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Art. 17.40. ”Conditions Related to Victim or Community Safety”.

Can I get the protective order modified, changed, or dismissed?

The court that issued the emergency protective order can modify all or part of the order after each party has received notice and a hearing has been held. In order to change or modify the order, the court must find Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Art. 17.292:

the order as originally issued is unworkable;
the modification will not place the victim of the offense at greater risk than did the original order; and
the modification will not in any way endanger a person protected under the order.

What if my spouse or girlfriend says she will not enforce the protective order?

Only the Judge who issued the emergency order can change it or set it aside. No other person can give permission to anyone to ignore or violate the order Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Art. 17.292.

How long is the protective order in effect?

An emergency protective order is in effect for not less than thirty-one (31) days and not more than sixty-one (61) days Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Art. 17.292.

A final protective order issued by a District Court may be in effect for up to two (2) years. Tex. Fam. Code § 85.025.

Can I own or possess a firearm while out on bail?

No! Under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(8) (The Lautenberg Amendment) it is a Federal felony to be in possession of a weapon or ammunition while under a restraining order involving domestic violence or abuse, and that includes military and peace officers.

Under Texas law, after arrest a magistrate will usually issue an emergency protective order, which can prohibit the arrested person from possessing a firearm, unless the person is a peace officer. Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Art. 17.292.

The magistrate or judge assigned the case can make additional bond conditions, which prohibit the accused from possessing a firearm while the case is pending. However, Federal law supersedes state law.

What happens if I have a right to carry handgun license?

Under Texas law the magistrate can suspend a license to carry a concealed handgun Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Art. 17.292 but that has been superseded by Federal law 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(8 and 9) and you cannot purchase, acquire, or be in possession of firearms or other dangerous weapons, e.g., swords, grenades, explosives, ammunition, etc. This is a felony with a mandatory minimum of 5 years in prison if convicted.

If you have a gun collection, swords, etc., the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (BATFE) approved method of storage after issuance of a restraining order or being charged with domestic violence is with an attorney, with the police or sheriff, or with an approved firearms dealer.

What kind of conditions will I be under while out on bail?

A magistrate can require any condition to bail that he or she finds to be reasonable as long as it is related to the safety of the victim or the community Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Art. 17.40. “Conditions Related to Victim or Community Safety”.

In most cases this will mean there is to be no contact between the alleged victim and the defendant. Once the case has been assigned to a court, that judge may order additional conditions of bond. A judge in Collin County, Texas, has made it a practice to require the accused to attend a weekly batterer intervention counseling program for eighteen (18) weeks even though there has been no conviction. You may also be required to wear an electronic location-monitoring bracelet, attend alcohol or anger management classes, and etc., all before your case goes to trial.

The prosecutor must notify family law court of an arrest for domestic violence if temporary orders regarding custody or possession of a child are in effect.

The prosecutor must notify a family law court of an arrest for family violence if the family law court had previously entered temporary orders. Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Art. 42.23. “Notification of Court of Family Violence Conviction”.

What is an affidavit of non-prosecution?

This affidavit is a legal document from the victim informing the authorities prosecution is not desired and requesting the case to be dropped.

What happens if my spouse or girlfriend executes an affidavit of non-prosecution?

The charging decision belongs to the government. In all likelihood, the State will prosecute the case anyway.

Should we meet with the prosecutor to get the case dismissed?

Sometimes the alleged victim wants to meet with the prosecutor to change her story and get the charge dismissed.

This procedure needs to be skillfully handled by an attorney. If your spouse or girlfriend meets with either the prosecutor or police investigator alone, she will be threatened with arrest and prosecution if she wants to change the original story. The prosecutor will threaten to charge her with making a false statement to a police officer and/or perjury.

Can the case ever be dismissed?

Yes, even with a “no drop“ or “zero tolerance“ policy, a good attorney can eventually influence the prosecutor to drop the case. Prosecutors, despite great overtures about caring for the victim and similar altruistic posturing, care very much about winning. The only thing that matters to a prosecutor is winning the case and advancing their career. The alleged victims are just numbers whose faces and situations will be forgotten by the prosecutor with the start of the next case.

The defense motivates the prosecutor to dismiss. Prosecutors hate to lose cases. If confronted with a case that cannot be won they will try to deviate from office policy to dismiss, “just this one time.”

What if there is no physical evidence of bodily injury?

In many cases evidence of injury is slight, or no physical evidence of injury may exist at all. The State will prosecute the case anyway.

How could I be found guilty if there is no physical evidence?

The State can get a conviction solely on the testimony of the alleged victim without any physical evidence of bodily injury.

What if the victim does not show up for trial?

The State will subpoena her for trial. If she does not appear the judge will issue a writ of attachment (arrest warrant). The Sheriff will arrest your spouse or girlfriend and bring her to the courthouse. If she cannot be located, the judge will grant the State’s motion for a continuance. If she cannot be found, even after a continuance, the State will prosecute the case and present hearsay evidence of what your accuser said:

On the 911 dispatch tape;
To the investigating police officers;
By introducing any written or recorded statements of your spouse or girlfriend. Written or recorded statements may now be inadmissible after the United States Supreme Court decision in Crawford v. Washington, 2004 U.S. Lexis 1838, 72 U.S.L.W. 4229.

Can the case be won at trial?

These cases are frequently won at trial by skilled criminal defense attorneys. In many situations, the argument involved both parties and any physical assault was actually mutual combat. Self-defense is a defense to prosecution under Texas and all states law.

Consequences of a Conviction or Plea Bargain

Will an arrest or conviction be on my record?

A conviction, probated sentence, deferred sentence, deferred adjudication, or any form of plea bargain will result in a permanent criminal record.

A plea of guilty (a plea bargain is a guilty plea), or no contest to the charge or a finding of guilt, will result in a criminal record even if the defendant is placed on probation or deferred adjudication and successfully completes the community supervision period.

In Texas there are only two ways to remove a domestic violence arrest record. An attorney can have the records of arrest expunged (destroyed) if the state never files a case or if the case is won at trial.

There is no method by law to expunge, destroy, or seal domestic violence convictions, probations, or deferred adjudications. Tex. Govt. Code § 411.081.

What happens if I am not a U.S. citizen?

A person charged with domestic violence who is not a United States citizen can face serious penalties. Deportation is required by federal law even if the case ends in probation or deferred adjudication. Re-entry into the United States will probably be denied after arrest, even if the case has not gone to trial.

Who would have access to my record?

The records will be available for anyone with access at the courthouse or over the Internet. Even a deferred adjudication case will be discoverable to any person. Present or future employers will have access to domestic violence records.

If I successfully complete deferred sentencing or adjudication can I get the records sealed?

Deferred sentences or adjudication for domestic violence cannot be expunged or have the records sealed. It will be a permanent record even though a formal conviction is not entered Tex. Govt. Code § 411.081.

Can I own or possess a firearm?

No! Under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(9) (the Lautenberg amendment) anyone “who has been convicted in any court of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence” can never own, possess, or be in the vicinity of a weapon or ammunition again.

The federal law has no time limitation to it. The permanent loss of the right to possess a firearm, weapon, or ammunition applies whether the case ends in a conviction, probation, or deferred adjudication and that includes any form of plea bargain.

Can I get a national security clearance if I am convicted or enter a plea?

No! And you will lose any existing security clearance you hold.

If placed on community supervision, will I have to attend counseling?

A person on community supervision for domestic violence will be required to attend a year long Battering Intervention Prevention Program counseling course. The average defendant is required to attend once a week for a fifty-two (52) week period. Failure to attend, or missing too many meetings will result in revocation of the community supervision and placement in jail. Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Art. 42.141.

Can I attend counseling of my own choosing?

The defendant does not get to select a counseling program. This program will be set up in advance and the defendant will be required to attend. Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Art. 42.141.

What are typical probation/deferred conditions for domestic violence cases?

The defendant is responsible for all costs of counseling and probation. Typical conditions of Community Supervision include Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Art. 42.141:

Fines;
Court Costs;
Victim Impact Panels;
Counseling for Victim;
Contributions to Women’s Domestic Violence Shelters;
Weekly Batterers Intervention Prevention Program Counseling;
Alcohol Evaluation and Treatment;
Anger Management Counseling;
Monthly Probation Fees of $50 per Month;
No Contact With Victim;
Random Urinalysis Testing;
Monthly Reporting To Probation Officer;
Community Service;
Electronic Location Monitoring Bracelet; and
Other Conditions the Judge Finds to Be Reasonable.

A domestic violence conviction will result in a finding of family violence!

If the defendant enters a plea bargain of any kind, or is found guilty, the trial court must make an affirmative finding of family violence and enter the affirmative finding in the judgment. Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Art. 42.013.

What does it mean to have a family violence finding?

A plea of either guilty or no contest will result in a family violence finding even if the sentence is deferred.

A finding of family violence can have drastic consequences for a parent facing a child custody or modification case. There probably will be a presumption that the accused is not a fit parent.

The trial court judge must notify family court of a family violence finding

The trial court judge must notify the family court judge if the defendant was found guilty, or pled guilty or no contest to a domestic violence offense. This must be done even if the defendant is placed on deferred adjudication or given a deferred sentence.Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Art. 42.23 . “Notification of Court of Family Violence Conviction”.

A final protective order can be entered against a person found to have committed domestic violence

A family court judge may enter a final protective order against a person found guilty or pled guilty or no contest to a domestic violence offense. This can be done even if the defendant is placed on deferred adjudication Tex. Fam. Code § 85.022 “Requirements of Order Applying to Person Who Committed Family Violence”.

What are the possible penalties for a conviction?

In Texas, the accused faces up to a $4,000 fine for a conviction, whether by a plea or a finding of guilt at trial. The accused may be incarcerated for up to one year in the county jail upon conviction, whether by a plea or a finding of guilt at trial.

If the accused has a prior conviction for family violence, a second charge will be prosecuted as a third degree felony offense, carrying a range of punishment of not less than two (2) years or more than ten (10) years in the penitentiary and a fine up to $10,000. Tex. Pen. Code. § 12.21; § 12.34.

If you are facing allegations of Domestic Violence the time to act is now! Contact the Domestic Violence Defense Team at Stuckle & Ferguson.

Changing the Rules to Convict

Legislation, Rules of Evidence, and the Court’s Willingness to Please the Domestic Violence Industry

Legislative Changes

Pro-football star, Warren Moon, former quarterback of the Houston Oilers and Minnesota Vikings was charged with domestic violence assault in July 1995.

The case captured national attention as his wife, the alleged victim, Felicia Moon did not want to testify or pursue charges.

The prosecution forced Felicia Moon to testify after the Texas Legislature amended and limited the “husband-wife” privilege. Prior to the change in the law, a spouse could elect not to be a witness for the state to testify against the other spouse.

“The couple said they scuffled at their home July 18 after an argument over credit cards provoked Mrs. Moon to throw a 2-pound candle holder at Moon’s back. Mrs. Moon ended up with scratches and bruises around her neck and shoulders. Moon said that he was probably responsible for the injuries but that he was trying to calm his wife, not harm her.
Mrs. Moon likewise insisted her husband never intended o hurt her. She had pleaded with prosecutors to not press charges but was forced to take the stand under a 1995 law eliminating the right to refuse to testify against one’s spouse. More than 40 states have eliminated the spousal privilege.”

Terri Langford, Associated Press, February 23, 1996.

It took the jury merely 27 minutes to acquit Warren Moon of the assault.

Evidentiary Rules

The 1995 amendment to the Code of Criminal Procedure and Rules of Evidence authorize the prosecution to mandate a spouse to testify against the other spouse. The provisions read:

Art. 38.10 Exceptions to the Spousal Adverse Testimony Privilege

The privilege of a person’s spouse not to be called as a witness for the state does not apply in any proceeding in which the person is charged with a crime committed against the person’s spouse, a minor child, or a member of the household of either spouse (Tex. Code Crim. Proc. Art. 38.10).

(b) Privilege Not to Testify in Criminal Case

(4) Exceptions: The privilege of a person’s spouse not to be called as a witness for the state does

not apply:

(A) Certain criminal proceedings.

In any proceeding in which the person is charged with a crime against the person’s spouse, a member of the household of either spouse, or any minor.

Texas Rules of Evidence 504: Husband - Wife Privileges

In addition to the legislative changes, Texas Appellate Courts have broadened hearsay exceptions, authorizing the prosecution to introduce supposed prior statements of an alleged victim.

Hearsay Evidence

In domestic violence cases, hearsay evidence is often admitted as substantive evidence of guilt. It is typical for courts to allow a police officer to testify to the officer’s memory of what the victim supposedly said at the time of the incident. This testimony is admitted even though the victim’s alleged statements were not recorded by the officer. Rather, the officer is testifying from notes in the police report made several hours or even days after the arrest. This testimony is admitted as an “excited utterance.”

An excited utterance is defined as “A statement relating to a startling event or condition made while the declarant was under the stress of excitement caused by the event or condition.” (Tex. Rules. Evid. 803 (2)). It is common for a statement to be admitted at trial as an excited utterance even if the incident occurred several hours prior to the officer obtaining the statement from the victim. The hearsay exception of excited utterances also allows the state to play the recorded “911″ call from the victim to the jury. Whether an “excited utterance” is admissible is within the discretion of the trial court judge.

A criminal defense attorney will object to hearsay testimony as a violation of the defendant’s right to confront their accuser at trial. When a witness at trial is reciting hearsay testimony, the defendant cannot cross-examine or confront the person who actually made the statement. The person who made the statement, called the declarant, is not the witness on the stand. The United States Constitution and state constitutions guarantee the defense the right to confront the accuser at trial. Generally speaking, an objection on the grounds the confrontation clause was violated is overruled by the trial court judge if the state can prove a hearsay exception.

The Court’s Willingness to Please the Domestic Violence Industry

On March 8, 2004, the United States Supreme Court decided the case of Crawford v. Washington, 2004 U.S. Lexis 1838, 72 U.S.L.W. 4229. The court interpreted the Sixth Amendment “Confrontation Clause” of the United States’s Constitution. In Crawford the Court found the confrontation clause was violated when a recorded statement by Crawford’s spouse was played for the jury. Crawford’s wife did not testify at trial under Washington’s “husband-wife” privilege.

The case may not impact traditional hearsay rule exceptions. The Court made a distinction between “testimonial” and “non-testimonial” hearsay. The spouse in Crawford had also been arrested and gave her statement while in police custody. The Court found those circumstances to be testimonial hearsay, inadmissible as a violation of the confrontation clause when the recording was played at trial and she did not testify.

Crawford does not cover “non-testimonial” statements such as when a spouse makes incriminating statements against the alleged battering spouse on a “911″ call. Additionally, the Crawford v Washington ruling may not apply to “excited utterance” hearsay statements made by the victim when police first arrive on the scene. That question will be addressed by state appellate courts. With anticipated pressure from the domestic violence Industry, state appellate courts may take a very narrow view of the Crawford v. Washington holding, and still allow hearsay statements into evidence.

Syndrome Evidence May Be Admissible Against the Accused

A new strategy is being urged by the state in domestic violence cases, particularly when the alleged victim has recanted or changed her story. The prosecutors are borrowing concepts from child sexual assault cases and attempting to expand them to family violence cases. In many states, prosecutors in child abuse cases can offer expert testimony that a child is suffering from the ”Child Sexual Abuse Accommodation Syndrome “(C.S.A.A.S.) This syndrome is based on the theory that abused children will exhibit certain character traits indicative of abuse.

Prosecutors in adult domestic assault cases are now attempting to show a victim who recants or changes her original story is suffering from Battered Woman’s Syndrome. The new prosecutorial trend is to use the syndrome to explain why a victim of domestic violence would recant. The state wants the jury to hear expert testimony explaining that a victim is likely to recant, not due to the absence of violence, but because she is a battered woman.

“Battered Woman Syndrome describes a pattern of psychological and behavioral symptoms found in women living in battering relationships.” People v. Romero, 13 Cal Rptr 2d 332, 336 (Cal App 2d Dist. 1992). The nation’s leading expert on the syndrome, Dr. Lenore Walker, states in her book The Battered Woman Syndrome that there are four general characteristics of the syndrome:

The woman believes that the violence was her fault.
The woman has an inability to place the responsibility for the violence elsewhere.
The woman fears for her life and/or her children’s lives.
The woman has an irrational belief that the abuser is omnipresent and omniscient.

Walker found nine typical characteristics of the battered wife:

Has low self-esteem;
Believes all the myths about battering relationships;
Is a traditionalist about the home, strongly believes in family unity and the prescribed feminine sex-role stereotype;
Accepts responsibility for the batterer’s actions;
Suffers from guilt, yet denies the terror and anger she feels;
Presents a passive face to the world but has the strength to manipulate her environment enough to prevent further violence and being killed;
Has severe stress reactions, with psycho-physiological complaints;
Uses sex as a way to establish intimacy; and
Believes that no one will be able to help her resolve her predicament except herself.

Slowly the syndrome is appearing in domestic violence courts throughout the country as a means to strengthen the state’s case against the accused. The majority of courts are disallowing expert testimony without specific proof the victim in that case suffers from the syndrome. However, it is anticipated this syndrome will soon gain the same status as C.S.A.A.S. and become a routine prosecutorial tactic against defendants in domestic violence cases.

With syndrome evidence, the state replaces its lack of real proof with speculation. Expert testimony stating the wife is a battered woman can be fatal to the falsely accused. A wife testifying for the defendant describing the incident may tell the jury she exaggerated or was the instigator herself. The prosecution in rebuttal will call an expert witness to inform the jury that she is testifying in a manner consistent with being a battered spouse and merely protecting her husband or lover

A variety of state law cases indicate this prosecutorial trend seeking to introduce evidence the victim belongs to the class of persons known as “Battered Woman’s Syndrome” is spreading:

Russell v. State, Court of Appeals of Alaska, 2002 Alas. App. LEXIS 237, (2002) (Memorandum decision, not legal precedent);
People v. Williams, Court of Appeal of California, Second Appellate District, Division Four, 78 Cal. App. 4th 1118; 93 Cal. Rptr. 2d 356;
State v. Yusuf, Appellate Court of Connecticut, 70 Conn. App. 594; 800 A.2d 590; 2002 Conn. App. LEXIS 349 (2002);
State v. Niemeyer, Appellate Court of Connecticut, 55 Conn. App. 447; 740 A.2d 416; 1999 Conn. App. LEXIS 408 (1999);
Michigan v. Christel, 449 Mich. 578, 537 N.W.2d 194, 1995 Mich. LEXIS 1477;
State v. Cummings, Court of Appeals of Ohio, Eighth Appellate District, 2002 Ohio 4178; 2002 Ohio App. LEXIS 4353 (2002);
Garcia v. State, NO. 01-99-01068-CR, Court of Appeals of Texas, First District, Houston, 2000 Tex. App. LEXIS 3774, (2000)(Unpublished, not legal precedent).

Convictions Without Physical Evidence

Defendants have been convicted of domestic violence without any physical evidence introduced against them at trial. In many cases, the argument resulting in the arrest was so slight the alleged victim does not need or seek medical treatment. Frequently, the accused is convicted for intentionally causing “bodily injury” without any testimony from a qualified medical expert. The victim’s testimony alone that she felt pain or suffered bodily injury is sufficient for a conviction.

This testimony can be supported by police officer testimony of having observed red marks, scratches, or bleeding, to substantiate the decision to arrest. These claimed injuries may or may not be photographed and preserved for trial. Commonly, a defendant is convicted of causing bodily injury without medical or photographic evidence.

The creation of the family advocacy center is anticipated to follow their child advocacy center predecessors. Medical nurses and employees, whose livelihoods depend upon their contracts with the centers, will give opinions that a “victim” was abused. Failure to give the “right” opinion will mean the contract is not renewed. These opinions from medical “experts” will say the findings are “consistent with” abuse. Of course, “consistent with abuse” is not a true medical diagnosis. This testimony, when attacked by the defense attorney, will reveal the findings given as “consistent with abuse” are just as “inconsistent with abuse.”

Instead of physical and medical evidence, the falsely accused are now, and will continue to be convicted upon theories, inferences, and speculation. Prosecutors secure convictions by manipulating the juries’ fear of releasing a battering spouse back into the home. This fear will be combined with hearsay, expert witness “syndrome evidence,” misleading medical testimony, and the biased opinions of family advocacy investigators. Immediately after arrest, the alleged victim will be hustled to the family advocacy center to be interviewed. At the center, a “forensic interviewer” with the help of state agents will orchestrate a video taped interview. The prosecutor and police detective will be monitoring the process through a two-way mirror in the adjacent room. The interviewer will be in communication and fed questions from the agents through a wireless microphone earpiece. The interviewer will question the alleged victim when she is still highly emotional and upset, prone to exaggeration, and motivated to hurt the accused. Many cases have shown investigators the need to require an alleged victim to add the phrase “I felt pain,” to any written or verbal description of the incident. The alleged victim is unaware that “pain” is the legal buzzword authorities must have to prosecute.

Summary: Recipe for conviction

1. “911″ call from the alleged victim claiming assault and injury;

2. Recorded preservation of the “911″ call for trial;

3. A biased police investigation;

4. A zero tolerance policy requiring the police to make an arrest;

5. A biased interviewer requiring the alleged victim to state or write that she felt “pain”;

6. A biased medical report by a “nurse” contracted by the domestic violence industry;

7. Syndrome evidence from an “expert” witness if the victim recants or changes her story;

8. Trial testimony through “excited utterance” hearsay and denial of the husband-wife privilege not to testify against their spouse;

9. Conviction on little or no physical evidence.

If you are facing allegations of Domestic Violence the time to act is now! Contact the Domestic Violence Defense Team at Stuckle & Ferguson.

Coming Soon to a Neighborhood Near You

Pssst…They are coming…Or are they already here?

Family advocacy centers are a relatively new innovation in the “War on Domestic Violence.” They are quickly following in the footsteps of child advocacy centers. Many communities are combining the two into one super center. The City of Phoenix Arizona may have been the first to create a strictly domestic violence center upon opening the Family Advocacy Center in August 1999. The Phoenix model is a good indicator of the self fulfilling prophecy behind Family Advocacy Centers, ” Build It — They Will Come.”

Statistics of cases from the Phoenix Center show:

Since August 1999, Phoenix has had 16,439 domestic violence “contacts” in which 59% have received “services.” Translated, this figure means roughly 9,700 domestic violence cases in five years since the opening of the Phoenix Family Advocacy Center.

How many of those cases resulted in criminal convictions could not be ascertained.

The first known Family Advocacy Center in Texas opened its doors in January of 2002. The City of Irving Family Advocacy Center describes its goal to “bring together those police units and outside agencies that provide support, prosecution, and therapy for victims of domestic violence, child abuse, and sexual assault.” To no one’s surprise, the Irving Police Department adopted a ” Zero Tolerance“ stance on domestic violence. Again, not surprisingly, Irving boasts of rising statistical increases in the number of domestic violence cases received since the creation of its Family Advocacy Center. Consistent with Phoenix, the Irving police department web site does not cite statistics regarding actual criminal convictions.

Rest assured, a Family Advocacy Center is coming soon to a neighborhood near you.

According to the Department of Justice, the federal government will award $20 million in grants in 2004 to communities across the nation to plan and develop family advocacy centers (United States Department of Justice Fact Sheet on The President’s Family Justice Initiative).

Collin County, Texas is one of the communities applying for the federal grant money. However, a spokesman for the Collin County District Attorney’s office indicated the county

“would pursue the center even if it did not win the grant. But without financial backing, the project would take longer.”

Dallas Morning News, Collin County Edition, March 14, 2004, ” Groups Unite To End Domestic Violence“

North Texas is an active participant in the domestic violence industry. Dallas and Denton Counties have instituted specialty family violence courts, in which domestic violence cases are almost the only cases on the docket. Specialized courts allow prosecutors and judges to create a uniform method to streamline cases. The accused faces a tremendous obstacle in a domestic violence court. The court’s very existence is silently predicated upon convicting as many defendants as possible. Only convictions can feed the system, as with convictions come fines, community supervision fees, battering intervention program costs, and other methods of pouring money back into the industry. Rising numbers of convictions mean the need for more prosecutors, judges, probation officers, domestic violence counselors, domestic violence programs, and more specialized domestic violence courts. Convictions also support the propaganda generating the movement:

“domestic violence is prevalent in your community at an unconscionable rate.”

The government substantiates its national cry of a plethora of domestic violence through statistical data. Since there is not a nationwide plethora of domestic violence, the protectors needed assistance in the form of fuzzy math. The fuzzy math problem was easily solved. Simply cite statistics that show the number of domestic violence “contacts” or “services provided” rather than domestic violence convictions. By using “contacts” as the statistical benchmark, domestic violence crusaders are able to point to every police dispatch to a family argument as a “case.” These “cases” then secure the numbers needed for federal and state grant money.

Another problem facing the protectors was dealing with the end result of minuscule criminal activity. How would prosecutors secure criminal convictions in court after arresting lovers and family members for arguments and trivial push-shove matches? For this, the protectors and politicians needed to change the law.

The legislature responded with open arms. See: Changing the Rules to Convict

If the “War on Domestic Violence” has been wagged against you need the Domestic Violence Defense Team of Stuckle & Ferguson. We are experienced and preparred to fight for you! Contact Us NOW!

The Domestic Violence Industry: The Family Advocacy Center; Follow the Money; and Prosecution Team Unity.

Prosecution Team Unity: Take Out a Family for The Team

The majority of District Attorney’s Offices in North Texas follow the national model of having specialized family violence units, where assigned prosecutors and investigators handle only domestic violence cases. Many North Texas law enforcement agencies have specialty domestic violence teams. All of the law enforcement agencies affiliated with an advocacy center assign officers to the center as part of a domestic violence task force.

The creation of specialized domestic violence prosecution teams has but one goal: conviction of a suspected perpetrator. The advocacy team collaboration of prosecutors, police, social workers, medical professionals, counselors and others are a team in every sense of the word. They share more than a central location. They share belief systems, ideologies, strategies, and a game plan. That game plan is to convict any person charged with domestic violence. The belief system is one that every person charged with domestic violence is a batterer. The belief system also finds every victim of domestic violence to be a battered spouse.

The belief system incorporates extreme arrogance. The family violence team knows better than anyone, particularly the family itself, what is best for them. The team works together in secret, planning and mapping out strategy to forge the future of the family, whether it is in their best interests or not.

“Unfortunately, it won’t really matter what happened that night or how capable she (alleged victim) is of deciding for herself whether or not she needs protection — the court and the prosecutors can still say no. They can stand by and tell that victim that she doesn’t really know what’s best for her and her family. She is a victim — how can she possibly know what’s best after what she’s been through?

Many of these people know exactly what is best for them and their families, and yet are revictimized by the powerlessness imposed upon them by a system of people who know better.”

Janeice T. Martin, Esq., Domestic Violence - The Other Side of Zero Tolerance

The above statement is not an aberration. It is common to find family service plans forced upon alleged victims by advocacy center social workers to include conditions that require:

The alleged perpetrator to reside out of the household while the case is pending;
The alleged perpetrator to have no contact with their family while the case is pending;
The alleged victim to “assist” in the prosecution of the alleged perpetrator.

Assisting in prosecution means the victim must testify against the defendant. It also often means the victim must pursue divorce proceedings against the defendant. If the victim does not want to divorce or testify, advocates will eventually threaten her with failing to protect her children. Then the protectors will threaten removal of the children unless the victim pledges allegiance to the team and assists in convicting the defendant.

“Women are coerced into accepting their cultish indoctrination via the use of threats, intimidation, and the fear of losing their children…Women are ordered to leave their husbands, even in the absence of real domestic violence or abuse. They are ordered to never let the fathers see their children, or DSS will charge the women with neglect.”

Nev Moore, More Families in DSS…More $$ For Everyone: Unhealthy Relationship between DSS and Domestic Violence Industry

If you are facing allegations of Domestic Violence contact Stuckle & Ferguson. You must act quickly to protect your rights!

The Domestic Violence Industry : The Family Advocacy Center; Follow the Money; and Coming Soon to a Neighborhood Near You.

Follow the Money

Federal law provides funding to states for the creation, development, and utilization of Family Advocacy Centers through the Family Violence Prevention and Services Act. The bottom line for the falsely accused is this: Domestic violence is now an enormous financial industry. Each state receives millions of federal dollars in grant money by adopting provisions of federal law.

“(Women’s Shelter Centers) provide DSS (Department of Social Services) with additional clients. The women’s groups get more money and DSS gets more state and federal money. They both are artificially inflating their numbers. They inflate domestic violence statistics this way and through the use of coerced restraining orders. By artificially inflating the domestic violence statistics they are able to create political hysteria — leading to more funding.”

Nev Moore, More Families in DSS…More $$ For Everyone:Unhealthy Relationship Between and Domestic Violence Industry

In effect, the government has created a self-fulfilling prophecy. Federal money is awarded to communities who can statistically justify the need for a family violence center. In so doing, the government itself perpetuates charges of domestic violence. It creates a “Domestic Violence Industry.” This circular reasoning mirrors the previous “crime de jour” of child sexual assault in the 1990′ s. A comparison of the governmental domestic violence movement with the prior special interest group-driven child sexual assault hysteria illustrates:

“According to the late Dr. Richard Gardner, the reason for the alarming rise in child abuse allegations and specifically false allegations can be rationally explained. “There’s a complex network of social workers, mental health professionals, and law enforcement officials that actually encourages charges of child abuse — whether they are reasonable or not.” Dr. Gardner is referring to the fact that the Mondale Act (CAPTA) is responsible for the dramatic increase in child abuse charges. “In effect, the Mondale Act, despite its good intentions, created and continued to fund a virtual child abuse industry, populated by people whose livelihoods depend on bringing more and more allegations into the system.”

Armin Brott, A System Out of Control: The Epidemic of False Allegations of Child Abuse

The Federal Government will award $20 million in grants in 2004 to communities across the nation to plan and develop Family Advocacy Centers. (United States Department of Justice The President’s Family Justice Center Initiative). The DoJ’s Fact Sheet reveals hidden financial incentives in the formation of centers to promote domestic violence cases. Family violence “services” will create a large number of jobs and benefit center associated professionals. Dropping cases will not. According to the DoJ Fact Sheet the Family Violence Centers may include the following “services”:

Medical Care, Including On-site or Off-site Primary Physical Care, Mental Health Counseling for Victims and Dependents, Sexual Assault Forensic Evidence Collection;
Law Enforcement and Legal Assistance Services, Including On-site Help to Get Protective Orders Signed and Enforced, to Investigate and Prosecute Offenders, and Provide Witness Assistance and Court-based Victim Advocates;
State-of-the-art Information Sharing and Case Management Systems;
Social Services, Including Federal and State Welfare Assistance for Parents and Children;
Employment Assistance, Including Employment and Career Counseling and Training Through Local One Stop Employment Centers or Other Local Services;
Substance Abuse Treatment;
Child-related Needs Such as Parenting Classes, Teen Pregnancy Services, Supervised Visitation and Safe Exchange Programs, Services for Child Witnesses of Domestic Violence, Assistance for Relocating Children into New Schools, Truancy Programs, and Youth Mentoring Programs;
Housing and Transportation Assistance to Cover Immediate Needs and Help with Long-term Housing Solutions; and
Chaplaincy or Faith-based Counseling Programs Providing Victims and Their Families with Non-sectarian Spiritual Guidance.

Which Professionals Directly Benefit From a Community-Based Family Violence Center?

Medical: Physicians, S.A.N.E (Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners), and Nurses;
Law Enforcement: Police Investigators, Patrol, Polygraph Operators; Supervisors, Staff;
Legal: District Attorney’s Offices; Assistant District Attorneys, Investigators, Staff;
Social Services: Department of Protective and Regulatory Services, Caseworkers, Investigators, Supervisors, and Support Staff;
Employment Offices: Employment Agencies, Workers, and Staff;
“Forensic Interviewers” ;
Substance Abuse Centers: Substance Abuse Counselors;
Child Related Vendors; Counselors and Therapists;
Housing Authorities; Placement and Personnel;
Counseling Services: Mental Health, Rage and Anger, Battering Intervention Prevention Program Counselors, Marriage Counselors, Family Counselors;
Women’s Advocacy Group Personnel;
Women’s Shelter Placement Personnel and Shelter Personnel; and
Victim Advocate Services Personnel (Advocates to Support Victims and Monitor the Individual Case from Arrest Through Trial)

Who On the Above List Benefits If No arrest and Charge are Made?

Ultimately, this begs the big question:

“Is the government interested in the quality or the quantity of domestic abuse cases?”

A critic of the Domestic Violence Industry, John Flaherty, co-chairman of the Fatherhood Coalition in Massachusetts states:

“This industry is an octopus. It’s got its tentacles in more and more parts of everyday life. It’s a political movement…This industry doesn’t answer to anybody. They’re in it mainly for the money…The industry’s problems may be about to increase, because it is becoming clear through scientific research that the whole premise of the movement and the industry it spawned — that “domestic violence” means bad men hitting helpless, innocent women — is just plain wrong.”

John Maguire, The Booming Domestic Violence Industry, Massachusetts News

The Family Advocacy Centers will operate with the group mindset of most bureaucracies. “The agencies’ main objective is self preservation: to perpetuate the bureaucracy and to expand the bureaucracy.” (Silverstorn, The Truth About Child Protective Services).

The Method for Doing This is by Seeking and Making Cases.

How do the advocacy centers get the number of cases they need? A philosophical change at the most basic level was needed. In order to make the numbers work, the definition of domestic violence had to be expanded to extend beyond battering spouses and include normal family arguments and lover’s quarrels. In essence, the system adapted by accepting each domestic disturbance “911″ call as a potential customer.

“A call to 911 is generally mutually assured destruction of a relationship, marriage, family, and the lives of all involved. It doesn’t matter that you’re innocent. Or that she attacked you first. Or that you both went over the line and that both of you want to put it behind you and work it out. The system will prosecute you and persecute you until you’ve confessed your sins — even if you’ve none to confess. And you’re not cured until they say you’re cured — even if you were never sick to begin with.”

Charles E. Corry, Ph.D., quoting Glenn Sacks,
“What Happens When 911 is Dialed”

” Zero Tolerance” and “No Drop“ policies create a constant stream of what the advocacy centers need most: bodies. More arrests result in more persons charged. The assembly line then takes over, and the unwitting family becomes passed on from one self-interested protector to another. Post arrest the victim is “assisted” by the police detective, “forensic interviewer,” and the prosecutor. Incriminatory statements secured, the prosecution team will temporarily lose interest until trial.

At this point, the victim support groups take over, advocates are appointed, shelters are called, and counselors engaged. The list goes on until the family is emotionally, psychologically, and financially drained. And if it all goes perfectly for the team: conviction.

In essence, a great food chain is created, in which many professionals, counselors, physicians, and vendors, are feeding off persons arrested and charged under “Zero Tolerance” programs. Family advocacy salesmen freely admit the concept is a direct springboard from the child advocacy centers. An Allen Texas Police Investigator states:

“The children’s advocacy center works very well in Collin County…crime victims groups in Collin County work well together. So having a family justice center would encourage that more.”

Dallas Morning News, Collin County Edition, March 14, 2004, “Groups Unite To End Domestic Violence“.

The financial rewards for family advocacy centers will not be dependent upon criminal convictions. The funding will be given to the centers regardless of the outcome of the case, or truth of the allegations. With absolute immunity from liability, the family advocacy center team members have no fear of any repercussions for their actions.

If you are facing allegations of Domestic Violence the time to act is now! Contact the Domestic Violence Defense Team at Stuckle & Ferguson.

The Domestic Violence Industy: The Family Advocacy Center; Prosecution Team Unity; and Coming Soon to a Neighborhood Near You.

The Family Advocacy Center

A strange conglomeration of individuals pushing varying agendas comprise the force behind the domestic violence movement. The movement combines legitimate victims and their advocate supporters with professional vendors who have much to gain through concentrated efforts to expand the industry:

“These people, some idealistic and some merely pragmatic, have networked, talked with each other, served on various commissions, boosted each other’s careers, and helped to expand the definition of family violence, and the size of state and federal funding massively. Only ten years ago, the women’s safety-advocates were a small group of idealists, operating on pennies. Today the movement has grown large on state and federal tax monies. Every month, it seems spawns new sub-programs, clinics, shelters, research institutes, counseling centers, visitation centers, poster campaigns. Today, domestic violence is a big industry… Mapping the full extent of the domestic violence industry is not easy, because it’s a cottage industry, spread out in hundreds of places. State and federal money (in each state) goes to well over a hundred institutes, clinics, programs for counseling or outreach or coordination or training, computer databases, coalitions, shelters, PR agencies and other groups.”

John Maguire, The Booming Domestic Violence Industry, Massachusetts News

The media, pressured by women’s safety advocate groups has perpetuated public hysteria by over inflating the true incidence of domestic violence. While a legitimate social problem and cause for reasonable concern, the response to the force-fed hysteria has been legislative overkill. In order to facilitate the legislative demands, bureaucracies must be formed. The result is “The Family Advocacy Center.”

A typical family advocacy center combines many agencies and individuals into one facility. The center will house police, legal, medical, social service, substance abuse, housing, women’s advocacy, victim’s rights, and counselors in one facility. The Irving, Texas Family Advocacy Center defines itself as “one stop shopping for victims.”

If you are facing allegations of Domestic Violence the time to act is now! Contact the Domestic Violence Defense Team at Stuckle & Ferguson.

The Domestic Violence Industy: Follow the Money; Prosecution Team Unity; and Coming Soon to a Neighborhood Near You.

The Domestic Violence Industry

Domestic Violence is a Political Crime

“Hello. I’m from the Government and I’m here to help.” This old saying is satirically funny. Governmental intervention into anything usually creates nameless, faceless bureaucracies, solving nothing, complicating everything, and resulting in higher taxes.

The government has definitely made its way into family violence:

“Like many crusades to stamp out social evils, the War on Domestic Violence is a mix of good intentions (who could be against stopping spousal abuse?), bad information, and worse theories. The result has been a host of unintended consequences that do little to empower victims while sanctioning interference in personal relationships.”

Cathy Young, Domestic Violations, Reason Magazine, February 1998

Every few years a new “crime de jour” is created. This phenomenon begins with a legitimate social problem needing to be addressed. Examples in recent years of “crimes de jour” include “Driving While Intoxicated” and “Child Sexual Abuse.” The tragic consequences of isolated worst-case scenarios of these crimes are highly publicized. The nation is inundated with media coverage and informed the problem is not being adequately dealt with by the criminal justice system. Crime victims form support groups (such as M.A.D.D.-Mothers Against Drunk Driving) and these support groups in turn create lobby groups. The lobbyists influence the media, judges, and politicians. Political candidates sense community outrage and run campaigns with platforms designed to solve the “crime de jour.” After each campaign year and legislative session, new laws address perceived omissions, loopholes, and provide additional punishment for those convicted of the “crime de jour.”

The enactment of such special interest group legislation officially converts the

“crime de jour” into a “ political crime.”

“Some crusaders openly argue that domestic violence should be taken more seriously than other crimes. In 1996, the sponsor of a New York bill toughening penalties for misdemeanor assault on a family member (including ex-spouses and unwed partners) vowed to oppose a version extending the measure to all assaults: “The whole purpose of my bill is to single out domestic violence,” Assemblyman Joseph Lentol said. “I don’t want the world to think we’re treating stranger assaults the same way as domestic assaults.”

Cathy Young, Domestic Violations, Reason Magazine, February 1998

The current “ crime de jour” is domestic violence.

If you are facing allegations of Domestic Violence the time to act is now! Contact the Domestic Violence Defense Team at Stuckle & Ferguson.

The Domestic Violence Industy: The Family Advocacy Center; Follow the Money; Prosecution Team Unity; and Coming Soon to a Neighborhood Near You.

Zero Tolerance & No-Drop Policies

“In the Domestic Violence industry, when the accusation is made, the case is closed.”

John Maguire, The Booming Domestic Violence Industry, Massachusetts News

In response to need to supply the necessary bodies to perpetuate the domestic violence industry, law enforcement has adopted a new tool: Zero Tolerance.

What does “Zero Tolerance” mean? Two police officers will be dispatched to a home regarding a domestic disturbance. They will not arrive empty handed. Patrol units, equipped with computers, enable officers to quickly determine if this address has had any prior domestic incidents. Officers will know the complete criminal history of each spouse before arrival.

The police will typically find a household in which a man and woman have argued and are emotionally upset. The officers will separate the parties and conduct a brief interview of each one’s version of events. The police will look for physical signs of violence, such as bleeding, red marks, or scratches on the individuals. They will also search the house for signs of a struggle, thrown ashtrays, knocked over furniture, spilled food or drinks, pictures askew on the wall, etc.

Then the two officers will confer with each other and compare stories. A decision to arrest will then be made. This entire “investigative” process can be completed in mere minutes, with the arrest decision made in a split second.

“What couple does not encounter stress, especially when they have children? But in the fever of emotion, a woman can call “ 911″ and have three police cars there in minutes. After this fateful act, she loses all control. The state prosecutes her husband whether she likes it or not. He is jailed and prohibited from returning home… And all they wanted was the police to defuse a tense situation…This policy (Zero Tolerance) is designed to accustom society (both police and victims) to the intrusion of the state into private lives. Couples are arrested just for having an argument. Neighbors phone the police. What’s next? Cameras in our homes just like George Orwell’s “1984″ ‘?

Editorial, Winnipeg Free Press, “Zero Tolerance,” February 10, 2002

Grants To Encourage Arrest Policies

The Dallas County Texas Task Force on Domestic Violence was a federal grant award recipient in 1998 for $1,333,951. The title of the award, “Grants To Encourage Arrest Policies,” is a federal directive encouraging “Zero Tolerance.” The grant states:

“Purpose: These funds will allow the Dallas County Task Force to continue ensuring arrests and prosecution of domestic violence offenders, provide counseling and support to victims, and ensure that victims have access to protective orders. Funds will support the addition of staff attorneys and prosecutors.”

AND THEN THE CASE WILL NOT BE DROPPED.

Zero Tolerance by the Police Leads to a No-Drop Policy by the Prosecution

“Zero Tolerance” by the police leads to a “No-Drop” policy by the prosecution. An arrest means the case will be prosecuted. Prosecution offices associated with Family Advocacy Centers will proceed with the case even if the family situation has been resolved. An “Affidavit of Non-Prosecution” is ineffective as this legal document merely reflects what the victim wants to do. The affidavit indicates the family is in healing and desires to work on repairing the marital relationship. The Family Violence Industry does not consider salvaging the marital relationship as an acceptable end result. The “protectors” view of their job entails ending the relationship for the safety of the “victim.”

Prosecutors are not concerned with the wishes or needs of the real victim. The “No Drop” policy requires the case to go to trial even if the real victim wants the charges dismissed. “No-Drop” means the government will push the case all the way regardless of hardship upon the family. To the entrepreneurs of the Family Violence Industry, “helping” the victim necessitates separation of the family, enforced through protective orders, followed by divorce. In addition, the helping agenda probably includes loss of employment for the accused spouse, financial hardship, and adding unnecessary emotional stress to a family.

“Zero Tolerance” means that the government, not you, the government, knows what is best for your family and children.

If the government is so concerned about stopping family violence and helping families, why would they push prosecution when the family is asking them not to?

Is the government not listening to you and your family? Are they trying to destroy your home? Protect your family and rights now. Contact Us Immediately!

Who is the Real Victim Anyway?

The legal definition of a crime “victim” is not what one might think. The word “victim” seems to mean the person who was assaulted, stabbed, murdered, or had their property stolen. Under the law, however, the “victim” of a crime is the “State.” All criminal cases are therefore styled: “The State of ______ vs. The Defendant.”

Once the authorities become involved in a domestic disturbance, they will forever be intertwined with the eventual outcome of the incident. The State, meaning the government, police, and prosecutors, solely decide if a case will be prosecuted or dismissed. Even if the “real victim,” i.e. the person who supposedly was assaulted, informs the authorities of their desire to have the case dismissed, the charging decision is still left up to the government.

In Texas, the allegedly assaulted person can provide the government with an “affidavit of non-prosecution,” a document stating prosecution is not desired and requesting the case be dropped. Until recently, such affidavits were given substantial consideration from the government. After all, why would the authorities want to prosecute when the actual victim did not desire it? The answer is simple:

A case of alleged domestic violence now belongs to “The Family Violence Industry.”

A constant complaint from those at the center of a domestic violence investigation is how irrelevant the family is to the investigative team. The team wants to win the case. It wants a criminal conviction. And will do anything to get it. The team, despite its public overtures, does not care about the individual family it is making life-altering decisions for. The family, alleged victim, defendant, and children alike are all mere pawns, literally at the mercy of this governmental machine.

The machine knows very well how to destroy families, yet it knows nothing of healing them.

“The woman sitting across the table often breaks into tears and fits of trembling. She lives in fear. She says she has been threatened and emotionally battered by those who call themselves “front-line workers” in the war against violence against women. Since the violence against women specialists invaded their lives a year ago, husband and wife have developed ulcers, been financially battered and say they survived many attempts to break up their marriage.

Now they’re angry…From the start the advice from support workers connected to the Domestic Violence Court was that she should break up her marriage. She should not risk living with a violent man. Her attempts to defend her husband were met with we-understand-and-we-know-better attitudes; she was afraid of him and was trying to protect him so he wouldn’t be angry. When it became clear she had no intention of separating from her husband, the threats from domestic violence specialists connected to the court moved to a new level that still terrifies her.

“They seemed to be threatening to take my child. They said if I wasn’t going to protect my child from his father, then the system would have to.”

“I learned it’s a system that doesn’t listen. “

Dave Brown, The Ottawa Citizen, 2001, Cult of The Domestic Violence Industry

If you have fallen prey to the Domestic Violence Industry you need experienced Domestic Violence Defense. Contact us NOW!

What is NOT Domestic Violence

Husbands and wives, boyfriends and girlfriends, have arguments. Does that now mean, or justify, a trip to jail and a criminal conviction with lifetime penalties?

Human beings make mistakes, cause accidents, and act immaturely at times. Everyone has past conduct they wish could be taken back. Part of being human is sometimes hurting those loved the most. The absurdity is to classify a single, out-of-character, nonviolent act as “criminal.”

For instance, it is not domestic violence to:

Yell and scream at our girlfriend, spouse, or another household member, even if the neighbors hear it;
Use profanity during an argument with a girlfriend, spouse, or household member;
Engage in minor pushing incidents with a girlfriend, spouse, or household member;
Engage in consensual sex that may be loud or rough, e.g., see The Joy of Sex;
Engage in horseplay, wrestling matches, and pillow fights or similar mock combat even if accidents result;
Hold the arm or hand of a girlfriend, spouse, or household member while arguing;
Restrain an intimate partner to prevent them from hurting themselves or another family member;
Momentarily block the path of a girlfriend, spouse, or household member;
Throw and break items during an argument, or engage in consensual S&M;
Awake violently from a nightmare, or react violently when someone awakens you suddenly;
Say hurtful and mean things to a girlfriend, spouse, or household member;
Use self defense to stop a girlfriend, spouse, or household member from attacking you; or
Serve, or have served in the Armed Forces of the United States, nor is such service a reasonable basis for “fear” in a rational and sane individual.

With “Zero Tolerance“ arrest policies and “No Drop“ prosecutions, the number of arrests for petty family arguments has skyrocketed. A former prosecuting attorney explains the phenomena:

“Christopher Pagan, who was until recently a prosecutor in Hamilton County, Ohio, estimates that due to a 1994 state law requiring police on a domestic call either to make an arrest or to file a report explaining why a no arrest was made, “domestics ” went from 10 percent to 40 percent of his docket. But, he suggests, that doesn’t mean actual abusers were coming to his attention more often. “We started getting a lot of push-and-shoves,” says Pagan, “or even yelling matches. ” In the past, police officers would intervene and separate the parties to let them cool off. Now those cases end up in criminal courts. It’s exacerbating tensions between the parties, and it’s turning law-abiding middle class citizens into criminals.”

Cathy Young, Domestic Violations, Reason Magazine, February 1998

If you are facing allegations of Domestic Violence the time to act is now! Contact the Domestic Violence Defense Team at Stuckle & Ferguson.

The Special Nature of Domestic Violence Allegations

True Domestic Violence Must Stop

No rational person condones violence toward anyone, particularly a family member or intimate partner. In America there are many tragic domestic relationships that involve battered men, women, and children. A true victim in a violent intimate relationship needs immediate support and protection. A true batterer needs to face the legal consequences of their actions.

But the term “batterer“ is commonly misused in domestic violence debates. Battering does not refer to a single argument, nor does it mean the occasional conflicts that many couples have that may grow to yelling at each other and some pushing or shoving. See: What is Not Domestic Violence. Rather, battering involves beating and verbally abusing an intimate partner over a long period of time. (Levy,1984, p. 23).

Innocent Family Members Can be Falsely Accused of Domestic Violence

The legislature has enacted laws to assist police and prosecutors convict the guilty and stop the abuse of intimate partners and family members. The intent behind these laws is well meaning and necessary. Problems arise when laws designed to protect a victim of domestic violence are used too broadly and are applied to normal families and relationships. A big difference exists between an abusive partner repeatedly committing violent acts, and a nonviolent family or relationship in which a single argument went too far.

Unfortunately, the politicians and authorities do not see the difference!!!

To the self-proclaimed saviors and protectors of abused “victims,” any allegation of domestic violence means the relationship must be one continuously engaged in abusive behavior.

As John Maquire puts in his article The Booming Domestic Violence Industry in Massachusetts News:

“The domestic violence entrepreneurs and state officials live in a different world from us. A sense of nameless vague threat is always in the background. To hear the pros talk, all the men they deal with are batterers, sexual abusers, or virtually time bombs of violence. Repeated cliches like “at risk” and “a safe place” and “maintaining safety” pepper their sentences. Yet, in many cases, there is no evidence of violence or any kind of serious harm to children, merely an accusation by the mother. But in the DV industry, when the accusation is made, the case is closed.”

If an argument between intimate partners and spouses is the benchmark for domestic violence, then almost every couple and family in America would be defined as an abusive relationship. This governmental overreaction, and dragnet targeting of normal families and relationships, and treating them as criminals has led us to massive injustice across the nation.

If you are facing allegations of Domestic Violence the time to act is now! Contact the Domestic Violence Defense Team at Stuckle & Ferguson.

Domestic Violence Defense

Our nation has gone over broad in its legitimate mission to put an end to domestic violence. Governmental overkill has created the Family Violence Industry. Currently the web utilized to catch husband and wife batterers has been cast too wide resulting in the destruction of non-violent families.

The law firm of Stuckle & Ferguson understand the repercussions of this war on domestic violence including “zero-tolerance” and “no-drop” policies. Stuckle & Ferguson are there to protect the accused from excessive and false charges, as well as the life altering consequences of a domestic violence allegation.

The Special Nature of Domestic Violence Allegations: While true domestic violence must stop, the governmental overreaction has lead to innocent family members can be falsely accused of domestic violence.
What is NOT Domestic Violence: Misunderstandings as to what really is Domestic Violence and examples of common scenarios which have been erroneously classified as Domestic Violence.
Who is the Real Victim Anyway?: Under the law the “victim” of a crime is the State. The State, meaning the government, police, and prosecutors, solely decide if a case will be prosecuted or dismissed.
Zero Tolerance & No-Drop Policies: If Domestic Violence is alleged there will be an arrest. If there is an arrest there will be a prosecution even if a spouse doesn’t want to prosecute?
Changing the Rules to Convict: Legislation, Rules of Evidence, and the Court’s Willingness to Please the Domestic Violence Industry created a recipe for conviction on little or no physical evidence.
The Domestic Violence Industry: The government’s misguided efforts is furthered by a system full of people whose careers depend on bringing more allegations and convictions into the industry. Domestic Violence is a Political Crime; The Family Advocacy Center; Follow the Money; Prosecution Team Unity; and Coming Soon to a Neighborhood Near You.
Family Violence Legal Facts-FAQS, Issues upon Arrest, Procedures, and Consequences of a Plea Bargain.
Selecting the Right Domestic Violence Defense Attorney: Do Not Attempt Your Own Defense, Domestic Violences cases are different than other criminal cases; Rules for the Accused of Domestic Violence, guidelines to remember when accused of Domestic Violence.

If you are facing allegations of Domestic Violence the time to act is now! Contact the Domestic Violence Defense Team at Stuckle & Ferguson.

Firm Overview

The criminal justice system is a great mystery to those who are not familiar with its inner working. Simply, there is a right way and wrong way to get things accomplished. The family finding itself facing an accusation does not understand how to approach the system. Common sense and justice, thought to be inherent in the system, does not exist. Rather the criminal justice system is more concerned with power, statistics, and numbers.

The Law Firm of Stuckle & Ferguson protects your family from accusations with life altering consequences. We are prepared, experienced, and able to assist you with all aspects of your case. Our expertise is available early during the investigative stage, through negotiations with charging officials, or for an ultimate trial on the merits. We will act quickly to protect your rights and provide vigorous representation in the areas of:

Defense of False Allegations of Child Sexual Assault - Very few attorneys specialize in fighting false allegations. Child physical and sexual abuse cases must be defended in an entirely different manner than the normal criminal case.
Defense of Child Protective Services (CPS) cases - Many parents find themselves overwhelmed when contacted by CPS investigators and caseworkers, who are able to manipulate the parents through intimidation, making the innocent parents feel helpless.
Defense of Accusations of Domestic/Family Violence - Innocent Family members can be Falsely Accused of Domestic Violence. “Zero Tolerance” in making arrests by the police leads to a “No-Drop prosecution. An arrest means the case will be prosecuted.
General Criminal Defense - The worst mistake an accused person can make is to wait and see if the state takes action. Precious time is being lost.

We are prepared to fight the State to protect your rights. Please contact us anytime to schedule a consultation.

Attorneys

Paul Stuckle

Law Enforcement Background

Paul began his 25 years in the criminal justice system with a degree in law enforcement from St. Edwards University in Austin, Texas. He worked as a police officer in the Patrol Division of the Dallas Police Department, fighting crime on the front lines. Paul responded to calls involving domestic disturbances, assaults, shootings, and learned first hand how situations are not always as clear cut as they may seem. Many times the police tend to arrest based upon the statements of those on only one side to the incident and fail to complete a fair and thorough investigation. This law enforcement experience is extremely valuable to the defense of a criminal case.

Police Legal Advisor

Paul served as the attorney for the Ft. Worth Police Department under the late Chief Thomas Windham. Paul was responsible for all of the legal training for the department and authored a text book on the laws of Arrest, Search, and Seizure. Paul has specialized knowledge of whether the police made a lawful search or arrest and can challenge illegal searches and seizures in court to have the evidence thrown out.

Collin County Trial Attorney

Paul has significant trial experience. This combination of experience gives your attorney the benefit of knowing both how to defend your case and what the other side will attempt to do with the prosecution.

Law Professor

In addition to training police officers, Paul worked as an instructor for Southeastern Paralegal Institute teaching legal students in the areas of criminal law and evidence.

Municipal Court Judge

Aside from having significant trial experience, Paul was also a part time judge. He has been a Municipal Court Judge for over 15 years, including the last 13 years as the Chief Municipal Court Judge for the City of The Colony. In this regard, Paul has heard cases including Traffic violations, Driving Under the Influence of Alcohol, Thefts, Assaults, and Minors in Possession of Drug Paraphernalia, Alcohol, and Tobacco. As Judge, he presided over 2,500 cases a year.

Education & Honors

National Public Defender Advocacy Institute (University of New Mexico School of Law) 1997
National Criminal College Trial Practice Institute 1998
Dallas Police Academy. Graduated December, 1983
Licensed in Texas in November 1983. Doctor of Jurisprudence Texas Tech School of Law, Lubbock, Texas 1983
St. Edward’s University, Austin, Texas BA in Criminal Justice Graduated Magna Cum Laude, 1980
Certified Peace Officer: Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education
Member of Texas and National Criminal Defense Lawyers Association
Author of Texas Arrest, Search and Seizure (text book for Police Officers)
Former President: Collin County Criminal Defense Lawyers Association
Annual Texas Municipal Judge Certification from Texas Municipal Courts Training Center (1993 - present)
Graduate and five time teaching assistant of the Dale Carnegie Course in Effective Speaking and Human Relations
National Dean’s List; St. Edward’s Dean’s List continuous academic scholarship recipient
Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities
Member of National Child Abuse Defense Resource Center
Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do (1995) Lucas Martial Arts Institute; Master Darryl LaRoe

Alyse Ferguson

Accomplishments

7 years experience law enforcement
7 years experience Mental Health/Mental Retardation
Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology minor Criminal Justice
Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology
Law Degree, Texas Wesleyan University

Law Enforcement

Alyse has 7 years experience in the criminal justice field. She has worked as both a police officer and probation officer. Her work in these areas included working as a probation officer for the Collin County SCORE program, Collin County Restitution Center, and Tom Green County CHAPS Program. Her work dealt with all areas of crime including domestic violence, drug offenses, and assaults.

Instructor

Alyse has also worked as an instructor for Texas Drug Offender Education Program, Texas Minor In Possession Program and taught courses in a local Drug and Alcohol Recovery Program.

Mental Health Mental Retardation

In addition to experience in law enforcement Alyse worked in the Mental Health field for 7 years. She began work as a residential supervisor for MHMR and later served as program director for Home and Community Services. During this time she worked suicide intervention, responding to suicide calls and calls for mental health commitments.

CPS Defense

How can CPS do this to me? I have done nothing wrong!

Attorney Paul Stuckle and his CPS Defense Team hear these heart-breaking words often. The sad fact is that many falsely accused parents make mistakes dealing with CPS because they do not understand the power and motives of the organization. Parents are often naïve and believe their innocence will be quickly realized and the matter will be dropped. This is the biggest mistake parents make.

Few attorneys are experienced in defending families in CPS cases. CPS cases can only be successfully defended by an attorney with significant trial experience, specifically in false child abuse allegations. Paul Stuckle has that experience. False allegations must be beaten through dismissal or victory at trial. He believes strongly in proving the innocence of the falsely accused and has dedicated his practice to that principal.

Some services we provide that you may need in your case:

Immediate intervention to put CPS on notice that you intend to fight for your children, your rights and to prove your innocence.
Step by step explanation of the CPS child-taking process. What is next for your family? How to prevent mistakes that could result in termination of your parental rights.
Prepare a vigorous defense for trial.
Aggressively defend you and fight on your behalf to have your children returned to your home or prevent their removal in the first place.
Fight for your right to have your children placed with relatives or friends instead of with strangers.
Protect your rights as a family.

Act Immediately!

Child Sexual Abuse Defense

Have you been falsely accused of child sexual abuse? Are you screaming and banging your head proclaiming your innocence and it is falling on deaf ears?

Do you think those falsely accusing you are out to get you? THEY ARE.

Paul Stuckle and Alyse Ferguson, Attorneys. Stuckle & Ferguson understand what is happening to you. We are the law firm with the ability and power to defeat false accusations of child sexual abuse and save your life!

These charges can easily be brought, regardless of any evidence to the contrary. The lack of factual and scientific evidence is not a barrier to the prosecution. The State will attribute any indicia of your innocence to the nature of the crime and the alleged victim. Further, any inconsistencies in statements, behaviors, interviews, or medical exams are twisted to fit the State’s theory.

The Child Advocacy Center does NOT seek the truth. In child sexual abuse cases, all of the State’s illusionary “evidence” is combined to achieve the self-fulfilling prophecy that the “child savers” had in mind from the beginning:

THIS CHILD WAS ABUSED…AND YOU ARE THE ABUSER.

The child abuse industry makes it work for them. Convictions, numbers, power-trips, pay raises, and delusional “save the children” thinking rule their logic. In child sexual assault and abuse cases the “professionals”: prosecutors, psychologists, psychotherapists, child protective service workers (C.P.S.), law enforcement officers, forensic interviewers, sexual assault nurse examiners (S.A.N.E.) and other members of the “child advocacy team “truly believe that “one size fits all”.

In child sexual abuse cases, the child savers manipulate findings to suit their agenda. Lies, brainwashing, suggestibility, manipulations, coaching, rehearsed memories, and leading questions serve as the collective truth of the State. It has all been assembled with the foregone conclusion that YOU ARE GUILTY.

In a normal world logic, justice, rational reasoning and scientific evidence such as DNA, seminal fluids, medical evidence of a torn hymen, and fingerprints would rule the day. Not in child sexual abuse cases. Child sexual abuse cases are in a realm of their own and the falsely accused of child sexual abuse have just entered the Twilight Zone. Lack of evidence is evidence. Professional examinations that reveal nothing become “consistent with” abuse. Everything that the child does, says, or may do in the future becomes a product of this imaginary abuse, of which you are responsible.

So how do you react? The accusations of child sexual abuse are FALSE! You are being accused of sexually abusing or molesting a child. Perhaps your own child. The thought of these false allegations make you sick and repulsed. Your natural instinct is to “straighten this out”. You think “If these investigators and case workers just hear my version they will surely understand and realize these accusations are groundless”. This approach would be a normal reaction in a normal situation. However, not in child sexual abuse cases. In fact, by the time you become aware of the child sexual abuse charges the decision has already been made to prosecute.

Do not be surprised. The above conclusion was arrived at by the “child advocacy” team as soon as the allegation reached their desk. All of the remaining collection of “evidence” was mere window dressing to obtain their foregone conclusion: YOU DID IT.

False accusations of child sexual assault cases are very serious, difficult, and costly to defend. You have a decision to make and your reputation, future, family, and freedom depend upon that decision. Choosing the right defense team is crucial to your freedom.

At Stuckle & Ferguson, we have developed a formula for success in child sexual assault cases. Our defense team of attorneys, private investigators, and specialists have over 25 years of criminal law experience. We have dedicated ourselves to assembling a war chest to defeat cases of false accusations of child sexual abuse. We are ready to face the State and DEFEAT them!

Please contact us anytime to schedule a consultation.

Contact Us

Paul Stuckle & Alyse Ferguson
Attorneys at Law
1001 20th Street
Plano, TX 75074
(Bus) 972-423-4405
(Fax) 972-423-3447
Send A Message

Alyse Ferguson

Accomplishments

7 years experience law enforcement
7 years experience Mental Health/Mental Retardation
Bachelor’s Degree in Psychology minor Criminal Justice
Master’s Degree in Counseling Psychology
Law Degree, Texas Wesleyan University

Law Enforcement

Instructor

Alyse has also worked as an instructor for Texas Drug Offender Education Program, Texas Minor In Possession Program and taught courses in a local Drug and Alcohol Recovery Program.

Mental Health Mental Retardation

Paul Stuckle

Law Enforcement Background

Police Legal Advisor

Collin County Trial Attorney

Law Professor

In addition to training police officers, Paul worked as an instructor for Southeastern Paralegal Institute teaching legal students in the areas of criminal law and evidence.

Municipal Court Judge

Education & Honors

National Public Defender Advocacy Institute (University of New Mexico School of Law) 1997
National Criminal College Trial Practice Institute 1998
Dallas Police Academy. Graduated December, 1983
Licensed in Texas in November 1983. Doctor of Jurisprudence Texas Tech School of Law, Lubbock, Texas 1983
St. Edward’s University, Austin, Texas BA in Criminal Justice Graduated Magna Cum Laude, 1980
Certified Peace Officer: Texas Commission on Law Enforcement Officer Standards and Education
Member of Texas and National Criminal Defense Lawyers Association
Author of Texas Arrest, Search and Seizure (text book for Police Officers)
Former President: Collin County Criminal Defense Lawyers Association
Annual Texas Municipal Judge Certification from Texas Municipal Courts Training Center (1993 - present)
Graduate and five time teaching assistant of the Dale Carnegie Course in Effective Speaking and Human Relations
National Dean’s List; St. Edward’s Dean’s List continuous academic scholarship recipient
Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities
Member of National Child Abuse Defense Resource Center
Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do (1995) Lucas Martial Arts Institute; Master Darryl LaRoe

Selecting the Right Attorney

Very few attorneys focus on fighting false allegations. Many lawyers represent clients with Domestic Violence, Child Abuse and Child Sexual Assault Charges. These lawyers will handle such cases in addition to a general criminal defense practice. Domestic Violence, Child Abuse and Child Sexual Assault Charges cases are different than the typical criminal charge and must be handled differently!

The prosecutor and judge are the enemy in Domestic Violence, Child Abuse and Child Sexual Assault Charges!

Choosing the Right Criminal Defense Attorney is Crucial to Your Freedom!

Consider the following when hiring a criminal defense attorney:
Length of Practice & Experience:

Reject Plea Bargains

Prepare A Vigorous Grand Jury Defense to Avoid Prosecution

Prepare A Vigorous Defense for Trial

1. Find someone with substantial experience; trial skills are learned in battle;

2. Domestic violence and child abuse / sexual assault allegations are specialized cases; general experience is not enough. Your attorney must know the specific ways to handle your case;

3. If an attorney says to cooperate with cps or the police; walk away immediately;

4. If an attorney says to wait and see if your are indicted; walk away immediately; the best time to get a dismissal is before a formal charge;

5. Find an attorney who cares, there are some if you look hard enough;

6. You get what you pay for is a reality in this area; if it sounds too good to be true, it is;

7. Don’t shy away from a good attorney who is not located in the county of your case; many times the “home field advantage” argument is bogus. Home field will always belong to the prosecutor and judge who are in bed together. An outsider who does not care about making anyone happy, but just wants to win, may be the way to go;

8. Find an attorney who will see you and return calls personally; legal assistants are not good enough;

9. Find an attorney who wants to go to trial; there is usually nothing to gain in a plea bargain. A family violence conviction will mean that you will lose your children. A sexual assault conviction means the end of your life;

10. Be patient, take your time, and feel good about your attorney selection. How you respond and fight after being charged with a crime is the most important decision of your life.

Mandatory Reporting Laws

Each state now has a mandatory child abuse reporting law. The laws are a pre-requisite for the states to receive funding from the federal government under The Federal Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act CAPTA (42 U.S.C.A. §5106g) as amended by the Keeping Children and Families Safe Act of 2003. The following offer links to the mandatory reporting laws of each state:

1. http://www.smith-lawfirm.com/mandatory_reporting.htm

2. http://www.rainn.org/public-policy/legal-resources/mandatory-reporting-database

3. http://www.childwelfare.gov/systemwide/laws_policies/state/

Texas law, for example, requires a professional with cause to believe that a child has been abused or neglected to make a report to CPS within forty-eight hours after suspecting abuse. The professional cannot delegate the responsibility to make the report upon any other person. Tex. Fam. Code § 261.101(b). In Texas mandatory reporters include: teachers, nurses, doctors, day-care employees, juvenile probation officers, and juvenile detention or correction officers. The duty to report takes priority over any other recognized legal privilege. There is no privilege to refuse to report available for an attorney, member of the clergy, doctor, social worker, or mental health professional. Tex. Fam. Code §261.101(c). The identity of the professional making the report is confidential unless waived in writing. Tex. Fam. Code §261.101(d).

Texas follows the trend in other states by requiring any person to make a report if they have ’cause to believe that a child’s physical or mental health or welfare has been adversely affected by any person.’ Tex. Fam. Code §261.101(a) .

In addition, Texas authorizes the District Attorney of the county in which the report is made to be notified of every complaint at the time it is made. Tex. Fam. Code § 261.1055.

One of the problems for both the mandatory and citizen reporter is the absence of clear guidelines. Although each state law contains definitions of abuse and neglect, it is a matter of personal discretion when the standard is met. The standard itself can be rather vague, calling for a report when an individual has ’cause to believe’ abuse or neglect is present. For CPS this is a goldmine, as it increases the number of reports substantially:

They (CPS) have lobbied hard and long and been rewarded with ever increasing numbers of people who are classified as ‘mandatory reporters.’ What does that mean? It means there are people who if they even suspect a child MIGHT be being abused they MUST by LAW, report the parents or guardians to CPS. They are told by CPS that they did the right thing, that the parents or guardians will be contacted and services will be offered to them.

The Truth About Child Protective Services, Silverstorn

As Kim Hart, Director of the National Child Abuse Defense Resource Center observes:

An allegation of child abuse or neglect may arise from something a child says to someone, such as an angry ex-spouse, neighbor or teacher. The allegation may stem from someone observing the behavior of the child a behavior interpreted as suggesting child abuse.

Guilty Until Proven Innocent: A Manual for Surviving False Allegations of Child Abuse, Kim Hart

Mandatory reporters face criminal penalties for failure to report. In addition, failure to report results in potential professional misconduct including grievances, discipline, and ultimate loss of the ability to work in one’s chosen profession. With this tool, new cases have are reported to CPS upon mere suspicion and often with no suspicion at all. The professional knows that he/she must err on the side of caution. Self preservation takes priority over facts, creating an overabundance of reporting rather than facing the possibility of professional sanctions.

Attorney Jennifer L. Cox & Attorney Jennifer A. Osowiecki believe that there is substantial motivation for mandatory reporters to err on the side of caution:

Despite the fact that there are nominal fines provided as penalties for failing to properly report suspected or known child abuse, in the past agencies of the state have attempted to require institutional providers to pay fines in excess of tens of thousands of dollars in the face of a single isolated technical violation that did not result in any harm to the child. In such cases, these hefty fines were proposed as part of a consent decree offered as a behind-the-scenes deal, with the implicit threat to the facility, should it refuse to pay, that the State might encourage media attention against the institution. The clandestine nature of these proceedings makes it impossible to determine how wide spread the practice was (or potentially still is).

Mandatory Reporting Of Child Abuse: Hidden Dangers for Professionals, Attornies Jennifer L. Cox & Jennifer A. Osowiecki

Dr. Richard Gardner agreed the reporting laws contribute to unnecessary reports:

“As a result, everyone’s on the defensive they’re afraid that if they don’t make a report, they’ll be deemed criminals if they inadvertently put a child back in the hands of a real abuser.”

A System Out of Control: The Epidemic of False Allegations of Child Abuse, by Armin A. Brott

The motivation to report is further advanced by the presence of immunity. Texas law is representative in that a good faith report renders the reporter immune from civil or criminal liability that might otherwise be incurred or imposed. Tex. Fam. Code § 261.106. However, if the falsely accused person attempts to sue a reporter for an unfounded complaint, they will be liable for attorney’s fees and other court expenses if the court determines the claim against the reporter was a frivolous claim. Tex. Fam.Code §261.108. There is a penalty for an intentional false report. Tex. Fam. Code §261.107.

Have you been contacted by CPS or law enforcement because of a false report of abuse? Protect your rights! Contact Us immediately!

The Recipe For Conviction:

Prepare a Vigorous Grand Jury Defense to Avoid Prosecution

Prepare a Vigorous Defense for Trial

The Rules to Have Changed to Secure Convictions

No Right to Confront Your Accuser:

“Hearsay Evidence”:

“Syndrome Evidence” Is Admissible Against the Accused:

With Syndrome Evidence, the State Replaces Its Lack of Real Proof with Speculation.

Convictions Without Physical Evidence:

Prosecutors Secure Convictions by Manipulating the Juries’ Fear of Releasing a Child Molester Back Into the Community.

The truth is: The accused is presumed to be guilty.

How Did We Come to This?

Rule No. 1

Rule No. 2

Rule No. 3

But You Are Innocent!

They will Twist Your Words!

Now They Have What They Wanted All Along

Arm Yourself

This is NOT the Time To Do It Yourself!

The System Does Not Care About Families

Hiring the Right Attorney is Crucial to Your Freedom!

Consider the Following in Hiring the Right Attorney:

LENGTH of PRACTICE & EXPERIENCE

REJECT PLEA BARGAINS

Deferred Adjudication, Straight Probation, Being Released from Jail or a Conviction All Result in a Finding of Family Violence.

A Finding of Family Violence Will Often Mean That You Will Lose Your Children

PREPARE A VIGOROUS PRE-CHARGE DEFENSE TO AVOID PROSECUTION

If your attorney insists that pursuing a pre-charge defense is a waste of time, fire him.

PREPARE A VIGOROUS DEFENSE FOR TRIAL

Rule No. 1: There is nothing you can say to these people to make them go away.

Rule No. 2: The case will not be dismissed until the government finds a dismissal is in their best interests, not the best interests of the family.

Rule No. 3: Talking to the “protectors” without an attorney present is the single worst thing a wrongfully accused person can do.

What should you do once an allegation has been made?

Nothing the Accused Can Say or Do will Convince a Child Saver to Go Away. NOTHING!

Nothing.

Do Not Waste Precious Time Hoping to Persuade the “Protectors” of Your Innocence.

Issues Upon Arrest & Consequences of a Conviction or Plea Bargain

Issues Upon Arrest

What is domestic violence?

What is a domestic violence offense?

What evidence do the police need to make an arrest?

Do the police need a warrant to arrest me?

What is bodily injury?

What happens if the alleged victim decides she does not want to prosecute?

What is zero tolerance?

What is a no drop policy?

Can I be held in jail even after I make bail?

What is the arraignment?

What is an Emergency Protective Order?

What happens if I violate the emergency protective order?

Can the judge kick me out of my own house?

Can I be ordered not to have any contact with my wife or children?

Can I get the protective order modified, changed, or dismissed?

What if my spouse or girlfriend says she will not enforce the protective order?

How long is the protective order in effect?

Can I own or possess a firearm while out on bail?

What happens if I have a right to carry handgun license?

What kind of conditions will I be under while out on bail?

The prosecutor must notify family law court of an arrest for domestic violence if temporary orders regarding custody or possession of a child are in effect.

What is an affidavit of non-prosecution?

What happens if my spouse or girlfriend executes an affidavit of non-prosecution?

Should we meet with the prosecutor to get the case dismissed?

Can the case ever be dismissed?

What if there is no physical evidence of bodily injury?

How could I be found guilty if there is no physical evidence?

What if the victim does not show up for trial?

Can the case be won at trial?

Consequences of a Conviction or Plea Bargain

Will an arrest or conviction be on my record?

What happens if I am not a U.S. citizen?

Who would have access to my record?

If I successfully complete deferred sentencing or adjudication can I get the records sealed?

Can I own or possess a firearm?

Can I get a national security clearance if I am convicted or enter a plea?

If placed on community supervision, will I have to attend counseling?

Can I attend counseling of my own choosing?

What are typical probation/deferred conditions for domestic violence cases?

A domestic violence conviction will result in a finding of family violence!

What does it mean to have a family violence finding?

Prosecutors Secure Convictions by Manipulating the Juries’ Fear of

Releasing a Child Molester Back Into the Community.