**Over 79 Years Combined Criminal Defense Experience**
** Board Certified in Criminal Law, Texas Board of Legal Specialization, since 1989**
Our law firm in Fort Worth Texas is driven with one simple goal in mind and that is to deliver the best possible result on every case we represent. We know that for every criminal case that we pursue, there is a human being that is dependent on us for defending his or her rights, freedom and future wellbeing. This type of an understanding is the foundation of any successful attorney-client relationship.
Everyone should be deserving of a lawyer that they feel comfortable working with. You need someone by your side, who knows and understands the sum and substance of the Texas criminal justice system, and who is familiar with the courts, judges, prosecutors and clerks in the various jurisdictions of the state of Texas.
We are committed 110% in being that firm for you!
The Medlin Law Firm
1300 S University Dr #318
Fort Worth, TX 76107
(682) 204-4066
https://www.MedlinFirm.com/locations/fort-worth/
Heat & Hurricanes Shaped Texas Criminal Law Reform Agenda In 2017
The criminal reform agenda was active in Texas in 2017. Climatic factors like heat and hurricanes also had an impact.
After Hurricane Harvey hit the coast of Texas in the summer of 2017, five Texas prisons were evacuated.
A report in The Nation noted some inmates were left with little food in unsanitary and flooded prisons.
Hundreds of evacuated inmates ended up at a notoriously hot prison that was already at the center of an ongoing lawsuit about overheating.
In July 2017, a federal judge ruled that the lack of air conditioning at the Pack Unit where temperatures regularly hit 100 degrees plus, constituted cruel and unusual punishment.
Nearly two dozen inmates lost their lives from heat stroke in Texas prisons in the last 20 years. Almost 75 percent of the prisons in question lack air conditioning in the areas where inmates live. The brutal conditions impacted the criminal law reform agenda.
The judge ordered that all inmates with medical sensitive issues housed at the Pack Unit be moved to a prison with air conditioning. However, as Hurricane Harvey approached prison officials evacuated some prisons and used the nearly empty Pack Unit for temporary accommodation.
A report in the Texas Tribune noted many criminal justice bills failed statewide in 2017. John Whitmore, D-Houston, submitted a bill to reform bail by speeding up the release of defendants who are unlikely to skip court or re-offend. The measure failed.
Some other criminal justice reform efforts did not make it onto the statute books despite bipartisan support. They included measures to raise the age at which a young offender is considered an adult to 18 and to restrict civil asset forfeiture.
Some policing bills made it out of the legislature. They included a law to mandate high school students to undergo training on interactions with law enforcement officers.
Another law reinforced an existing statute requiring departments to report police shootings to the state, creating a penalty for a failure to do so.
The Sandra Bland Act garnered considerable attention. It focused on mental health treatment in county jails.
Bland, an African American woman, took her life in a cell after an arrest sparked by a traffic infraction. The new act mandates independent agencies to investigate deaths in jail and makes it easier for mentally ill defendants to be released.
The eventual legislation was criticized by Bland’s family members because provisions intended to impose additional steps to legally secure a consent search were stripped from the eventual legislation.
Also in Texas, a bill making attacks on police a hate crime was signed. If you have been charged with criminal defense in Texas, please call the Medlin Law Firm.
