Collin County Criminal Lawyers Blog

By Bo Kalabus
bo@kalabuslaw.com
Office: 972-562-7549
24 Hour Jail Release 214-402-4364

The client was pulled over for having a headlight out in the early morning hours last September. Once at the driver's side window, the trooper smelled the odor of alcohol beverage and when asked, my client admitted to drinking. The trooper asked my client to step out of the vehicle, and began to administer field sobriety tests. The client performed poorly on tests and refused to take a breath or blood test. Seems like a certain conviction for the State of Texas right?

My client had a professional license that was on the line following the arrest and his career would be ruined if he lost the case, or plead guilty. This was certainly one case where failure was not an option.

As I said earlier, my client had performed poorly on the filed sobriety tests, which are essentially roadside gymnastics. If a person has a bad back or foot problems they are not a good candidates for these standardized tests. Well, as it turns out, my client was young, but was 40% disabled from injuries sustained while in the armed forces. Moreover, his primary disability was degenerative back disease that causes him constant chronic pain. He also had injuries to his feet that required him to wear inserts in his shoes. As you can see, my client was set up to fail the field sobriety tests from the start and the deck was stacked against him.

At the trial, I introduced my client's medical records as evidence of his well-documented history of medical problems. I also got the trooper to admit on cross examination that he had the power to seek a warrant to have my client's blood drawn for testing and he elected not to do so. Further, the trooper admitted that there were alternative field sobriety tests he could have administered in lieu of the tests he gave, but again, he elected not to do so. Following my final arguments after a two-day trial, the jury found my client Not Guilty after an hour of deliberation.

In the final analysis, this was a case where there was enough evidence to arrest my client, but the evidence did not come close to proof beyond reasonable doubt of guilt at trial. The client was beyond relieved and very pleased with the result.

By Bo Kalabus
bo@kalabuslaw.com
Office: 972-562-7549
www.rosenthalwadas.com
24-Hour Jail Release 214-402-4364

Call for Immediate Jail Release 214-402-4364

Getting a phone call in the middle of the night and learning that you have a loved on in jail for a DUI is unnerving experience. If you have landed on this webpage, I bet you have had a very recent conversation with the jail staff or the bond desk that says your family member/friend may need a attorney writ bond and this frustrated you further because you have also found out that you can't get them out of jail because they have to see the judge to have their bond set and this won't happen until the next morning, or later because it is a weekend. If this is the case I can help you--call 214-402-4364 for immediate jail release.

What's A Writ Bond or an Attorney Bond?

An attorney writ bond (short for writ of habeas corpus) works because it is a mechanism that triggers an immediate cash bond for certain misdemeanor DUI arrests in Collin County. The bonds are $500 for all DWI misdemeanors.

Who's Eligible for an Attorney Writ Bond?

Class B Misdemeanors
Class A Misdemeanors
These are usually DWI, Theft, and Drug Possession cases

Cases NOT Eligible for Attorney Writ Bonds:

Class C Misdemeanors--traffic tickets
Felony cases
Family Violence cases

For a more detailed description of how a writ bond or attorney bond works go here.

When you hire me, your loved one not only gets out of jail, but also benefits and variety service from representation you would expect from a full service criminal defense firm with strong roots in Collin County. To see a video on how I handle DUI/DWI case preparation go here.

bo@kalabuslaw.com

www.kalabuslaw.com
www.rosenthalwadas.com

972-562-7549
214-402-4364 (24 hour jail release)

The client was pulled over on a report of reckless driving that was made via a 911 call to police dispatch by another driver. When the officer came up on my client her driving looked pretty good prior to the stop save for one swerve into the other lane. When the officer came up to my client's window, he took her driver's license and asked her numerous questions. After contact with my client, the officer noticed she had watery eyes, but did not smell of alcohol. The officer went back to his police car and commented to his fellow officer on the open microphone in the vehicle that he did not think my client had been drinking. After that statement, the officer went on to continue his investigation by conducting the field sobriety tests, which ultimately lead to my client's arrest.

I urged a Motion to Suppress the vehicle stop because of the comment the officer made that he did not think my client had been drinking. The officer's primary reason for the stop was to investigate the reckless driving charge. After the arresting officer had a chance to speak to my client and not see any real signs of intoxication--as evidenced by his comment--I argued that his reason for the traffic stop was over and the officer lacked reasonable suspicion to continue a DWI investigation. Following arguments, the judge granted the Motion. With the reason for the stop now moot, we proceeded to a bench trial before the judge that found my client not guilty.

In the final analysis, this was a rushed decision to pull the client over. The evidence at the hearing on the Motion to Suppress just did not support the reason for the vehicle stop and the case dismissed. The client was relieved and very pleased with the result.

By Bo Kalabus
bo@kalabuslaw.com
Office: 972-562-7549
Collin County 24-Hour Jail Release 214-402-4364
www.kalabuslaw.com
www.rosenthalwadas.com

This is a really interesting point in the law. If the police see you speeding, swerving, or committing any other traffic offense, the officer has reasonable suspicion to pull you over, write you a ticket and send you on you way. The officer can also, check your driver's license, check to see if you have auto insurance, and run your license to see if you have any outstanding warrants.

The law on the stop scenario above is very clear in the law. An investigative detention (like a traffic stop) must be temporary and last no longer than is necessary to effectuate the purpose of the stop. Similarly, the investigative methods employed should be the least intrusive means reasonably available to verify or dispel the officer's suspicion in a short period of time. It's the state's burden to demonstrate that the seizure it seeks to justify on the basis of a reasonable suspicion was sufficiently limited in scope and duration to satisfy the conditions of an investigative seizure. See Florida v. Royer, U.S. 491 (1983).

Where this gets tricky is if the officer sees your vehicle swerving at night and pulls you over. The officer gets the car window and starts talking to you and he smells alcohol, sees you have bloodshot eyes, which he considers clues of intoxication. Now at this point the officer may have developed additional reasonable suspicion to get you out of the vehicle to perform field sobriety tests in addition to the stop for swerving. Another scenario might be you are pulled for speeding. As the officer approaches the vehicle, he sees a bag of marijuana on the seat next to you. You guessed it--the officer has reasonable suspicion to arrest you for possession of marijuana.

Reasonable suspicion exists when, based on the totality of the circumstances, the officer has specific, articulable facts that, when combined with rational inferences from those facts, would lead him to reasonably conclude that a particular person is, has been, or soon will be engaged in criminal activity. This is an objective standard that disregards any subjective intent of the officer making the stop and looks solely to whether there exists an objective basis for the stop. The facts relied upon to support a conclusion of reasonable suspicion must amount to something more than an inchoate and general suspicion or hunch.

Since there is no bright line rule on the when the officer develops reasonable suspicion, it's an area where a defense to a criminal case can be mounted especially if the officer can not back up his reasonable suspicion with articulable facts or inferences to support his continued detention of you on the roadside.

By Bo Kalabus
bo@kalabuslaw.com
www.rosenthalwadas.com
www.kalabuslaw.com
Office: 972-562-7549
24 Hour Jail Release 214-402-4364

According to numerous reports, Cowboys WR Dez Bryant has come to an agreement with the Dallas County District Attorney's (DA) office to get his case dismissed. If you recall, Mr. Bryant was arrested back in July of this year for a domestic charge with his mother being the victim.(Dallas Morning News story here) The case was charged as a Class A misdemeanor, which carries a range of punishment up to 1 year in jail and up to a $4,000 fine.

Mr. Bryant's lawyer and the Dallas County DA have worked out a conditional dismissal, which is a popular alternative to defend an assault family violence case and avoid prosecution. There are two ways to look at the agreement: 1) the Dallas DA has given Mr. Bryant an incredible opportunity to get the case dismissed and eventually have the arrest expunged from his record; or 2) the Dallas DA has given Mr. Bryant just enough rope to hang himself. You be the judge, the details of the conditional dismissal are as follows:

Mr. Bryant must participate in intensive weekly individual counseling for one year with a professional counselor that is approved by the DA's Office. This counseling must also encompass 12 sessions of anger management. Mr. Bryant must also submit monthly progress reports to the DA's office from his counselor. Upon successful completion of the Anger Management portion, as well as active productive participation for the remaining sessions of counseling, and if Mr. Bryant commits no new offenses, which includes strict compliance with the requirements of Mr. Bryant's Occupational Driver's License, the District Attorney agrees to dismiss the case. If Mr. Bryant fails to meet one of the requirements of this agreement, he will be prosecuted for the original offense.

The next court date for the matter is December 15, 2012. At this court appearance, Mr. Bryant (or counsel appearing on behalf of Mr. Bryant) will appear and must have proof of Mr. Bryant's participation in Intensive Individual Counseling with an approved provider.

As you can see, the dismissal is not a guarantee by a long shot. It's not impossible, but Mr. Bryant will have his work cut out for him by sticking with the counseling and staying out of trouble.

By Bo Kalabus
bo@kalabuslaw.com
www.rosenthalwadas.com
www.kalabuslaw.com

Office: 972-562-7549
24 Hour Jail Release 214-402-4364

The client was arrested for the offense of theft. Unfortunately, this was his second theft offense in a very short period of time. The charge, based on the facts of the case, was a Class B misdemeanor--punishable up to 180 days in jail and a $2,000 fine. The State of Texas believed it had a relatively easy case to prove and based on the facts it did.

I went to work on the case to develop some helpful legal points and my client went to work as well by going to counseling and completing other conditions that would show a change in life choices. After a few months we were able to gain leverage in negotiations due to this good work and prosecutor agreed to reduce the Class B misdemeanor charge to a Class C misdemeanor theft charge. Also, my client received deferred adjudication on this charge as part of the negotiation, which will be very important down the road when it comes time for him to clean up his criminal record. This reduction of the offense made it the equivalent of a traffic ticket--a Class C misdemeanor is punishable by up to a $500 fine and no jail time.

Following a 6-month non-reporting probation period (basically just keep your nose clean during the probation period) and a waiting period, my client will be able to get the charge off his record because of the deferred disposition of the case. This is why the reduction to the Class C level offense is so important--you can remove a Class C deferred off your record, but you can't remove a Class B misdemeanor deferred from your record completely, so this reduction was a huge relief for my client.

So what began for my client as a serious case with serious consequences ended up as something he can expunge off his record--as if the arrest never occurred. As you can expect, my client was relieved and very happy with the result.

By Bo Kalabus
bo@kalabuslaw.com
Office: 972-562-7549
Collin County 24 Hour Jail Release 214-402-4364
www.kalabuslaw.com
www.rosenthalwadas.com

If you decide to plead guilty to a criminal offense in order to take a deal (plea agreement) from the State of Texas, you are also giving up some very important rights. Usually a plea agreement comes as a result of negotiations between your lawyer and the prosecutor. Like any negotiation, usually an agreement has been struck after both sides give something up. In exchange for the plea agreement, a Defendant in a criminal matter must read and sign a document entitled "Defendant's Waiver of Rights" which is exactly what it is--a list of rights that you waive if you take the deal. If you are charged with a crime and want to take a plea agreement you will give up the following rights:

1. Identity and Waiver of Reading of the Charging Document
a. You admit you are the same person named in the charging document that is charged with the crime and that the name used in the charging document is your true and correct name.
b. You give up your right to have the charging document (either an indictment-felony or information-misdemeanor) read in open court.

2. Waiver of Jury Trial, Confrontation, and Presentation of Witnesses
a. You give up your right to have the case tried before an impartial jury on the issue of guilt or innocence and on the issue of punishment if applicable.
b. You give up the right to confront witnesses against you.
c. You give up the right to subpoena witnesses to testify on your behalf, and the right to 10 days notice to prepare for trial or hearing.

3. Reasonable Doubt
a. The State of Texas has to prove its case against you by proof beyond a reasonable doubt if you go to trial. Essentially, this is State's burden of proof at trial--proof beyond reasonable doubt. You give up your right to hold the State of Texas to its burden of proof to prove the case against you with your plea agreement.

4. Non-Citizens
a. If you are not a citizen of the United States, entering a guilty plea or no contest plea could have serious immigration consequences, including, but not limited to, deportation, denial of naturalization under federal law and exclusion from admission to this country.

As you can see, there are many pitfalls to taking a deal and pleading guilty. In the process you waive many important rights that should not be taken lightly. Before you make any decisions regarding a plea agreement, you should consult with an experienced criminal lawyer to ensure you make the correct decision.

bo@kalabuslaw.com
www.kalabuslaw.com
www.rosenthalwadas.com
972-562-7549
214-402-4364 (24 hour jail release)

The client was alleged to have called in a false report of person with a knife threatening another person to 911, which initiated a response from the Plano Police Department. Based on the initial facts in the offense report it looked like a certain conviction for the State of Texas, but the State still has the burden to prove its case at trial.

After listening to a copy of the 911 call my client was alleged to have made while at a neighborhood party, it became very clear that the State was going to have a difficult time proving it was my client's voice on the call--several witnesses would testify my client was intoxicated at the time of the alleged call--the caller's voice had no slurred speech, or other indicators of intoxication. Knowing it would have issues proving that it was my client that made the false call to 911, especially since there were other people present at the party at the time the call was made that could have also made the call, the State ultimately dismissed the case against my client.

In the final analysis, this was a rushed decision to prosecute the case against my client. The State finally realized after negotiation that the evidence just did not support going forward with the case. The client was relieved and very pleased with the result.

By Bo Kalabus
bo@kalabuslaw.com
www.rosenthalwadas.com
www.kalabuslaw.com
Office: 972-562-7549
24 Hour Jail Release 214-402-4364

The client was arrested for burglary of a building along with another person. This was a very serious situation considering the client was young and now staring at a criminal charge that carries State Jail Felony penalties that are a minimum of 180 days to up to 2 years in jail and up to a $10,000 fine. Plus my client was also staring at all the baggage that comes with a felony conviction--no right to vote, no right to carry firearms, no right to buy ammunition, etc. There was no maneuvering room either considering the facts of the case pretty much had my client in a box. This is a pretty heavy burden for anyone to carry, much less a young person that may have suffered from a lapse of judgment due to addiction rather than being destructive in nature.

After several weeks of hard work on the case to gain some leverage to negotiate with the State, the prosecutor agreed to lower the charges from the felony level to the misdemeanor offense level. This dropped the potential punishment range down to 0 days to 1 year in jail and $0 up to a $4,000 fine from which the client received no fine and deferred adjudication, so no final conviction for the offense if the client completes probation. Better yet, the client will not have her rights cut in half and have to deal with the stigma of being a convicted felon.

As you can expect, my client was relieved and very pleased with the result-and also a little wiser from an experience that could have turned out to be much worse.

By Bo Kalabus
bo@kalabuslaw.com
Office: 972-562-7549
Collin County 24 Hour Jail Release 214-402-4364
www.kalabuslaw.com
www.rosenthalwadas.com

I've blogged before about how difficult probation can be. Probation can be very technical and it can get on top of you before you know it. As I have written before--to survive on probation you have to be organized, disciplined, and have a little bit of luck. People do make it through probation, but for many the road through probation is hard.

Let's say you plead guilty to a possession of marijuana charge in Collin County Texas and were put on probation in the fall of 2011. The deal you took was 90 days jail probated for 12 months and a $600 fine plus court costs. The terms and conditions of your probation were to take a substance abuse evaluation, complete a drug class, submit to random drug checks, and complete 45 hours of community service.

Fast forward to the summer of 2012 with 3 months to go on probation. You forgot to report to your probation officer in May, but no big deal. You are also behind on your community service and payment of your fine and court costs. You meet with your Collin County probation officer the next month in June and the first thing he hits you with is a drug test--which you fail because it was your best friend's birthday last week....And BAM, the probation officer files a motion to revoke your probation for failure to report in May, failed drug test in June, failure to pay fine and court costs, and failure to complete community service.

What happens next?--a warrant will be issued for your arrest and you will have to turn yourself in. If it is a motion to revoke misdemeanor probation, you will be entitled to a bond, so you will have the ability to be bailed out.

The next step will be going to court. This process will mirror the court appearances you had with the original case--you will have a first appearance that will allow your lawyer to take a look at the motion to revoke and the State's punishment recommendation. Yes, get a lawyer. A motion to revoke is a tricky process and I highly recommend you get a lawyer on board to represent you considering the State will most certainly take the position that you have already been given a chance and screwed it up and it will be very difficult for you by yourself to argue otherwise to the prosecutor.

What's going to happen? On a typical motion to revoke, you will either be extended on probation, or you will receive a jail sentence and be done with probation. If you do not like the State's recommendation you can set the motion to revoke for hearing and make the State prove-up the allegations in their motion. Here's the hitch--take the example above--the State need not prove up every allegation in the motion to revoke to win, but only one. If they can prove you failed to report in May, the State has won the motion to revoke. As you can see, there is very little room to maneuver here if your probation is being revoked for legitimate allegations.

After reviewing the facts and negotiating with the State, a lawyer can advise you of your chances of winning the motion to revoke at a hearing. Or perhaps buy you some time to get caught up on the items the State wants to revoke you on to get your probation extended or the get the motion dismissed outright.

Probation revocation is a difficult time. You should have competent counsel review your case that can put the most options on your table based on the specific facts of your case.

By Bo Kalabus
bo@kalabuslaw.com
Office: 972-562-7549
Collin County 24 Hour Jail Release 214-402-4364
www.kalabuslaw.com
www.rosenthalwadas.com

Being on probation usually sounds good, especially if the alternative is jail. But is it? Probation is hard, and in my opinion probation can be very dangerous if the probationer is careless or has a lapse in judgment--we are all human and we all make mistakes. To survive on probation you have to be organized, disciplined, and have a little bit of luck. People do make it through probation, but for many the road through probation is hard.

Take this for example--let's say you ended up on DWI probation either through an agreed plea, or you lost your case at trial. The deal you ended up with was 120 days jail probated for 15 months. What this means is you have 15 months probation, but if you mess up on probation, the State will try to put you in jail for 120 days.

One of the conditions of your probation is no alcohol during the duration of probation. You've been good through the first 10 months of probation, but then you decide to go to a comedy club for your friend's birthday. You have a beer and think it's not a big deal, until a little pushing and shoving starts in the club on the way out. The bouncers break things up, but the police show up. You are a little punchy because you were shoved around in the altercation and say something smart to the police. The police are not amused because they are a little on edge themselves because they expect the place to erupt into riot mode at any minute. The police deal with you by arresting you for public intoxication.

Well guess what? You are now in deep trouble with your probation officer. As a condition of your probation, you had agreed to not commit crimes against the State of Texas. The public intoxication ticket violates that condition and since it alleges you were intoxicated this violates the no alcohol provision of your probation. And you can't hide--you have to report the arrest to your probation officer within 48 hours or you are in violation of yet another condition of your probation. In the blink of an eye you have thrown your first 10 months of being a good probationer in the trashcan.

What happens next? The probation officer will either call you in and tell you they are going to revoke your probation and ask for jail time, or they want to play lets make a deal. This is where things get really hairy and it goes like this--the probation officer will say in lieu of jail, they will graciously extend you probation 6 more months, have you do 24 hours more community service, and get you signed up to take an outpatient drug treatment program that you get to pay for yourself. You think, "Wow, what a guy" and take the deal by signing the paper. The probation officer then submits the new agreement to the judge for him to sign.

As a result, you have just added more stuff to do during your probation because you were afraid of going to jail and this is natural. But you may have just set yourself up to fail. What you need to keep in mind is the probation officer has no power to do anything but make recommendations to the judge. In some cases the probation officer will use the threat of jail to get you to agree to additional conditions that may be very difficult to complete and you may end up getting revoked anyway.

Remember, probation is tricky. You don't have to go it alone if you run into trouble along the way. Consult with a lawyer if you think you have violated your probation before you meet with your probation officer and sign away more of your rights.

By Bo Kalabus
bo@kalabuslaw.com
www.kalabuslaw.com
www.rosenthalwadas.com
Office: 972-562-7549
24-Hour Jail Release 214-402-4364

Sure, police can, but only if they were properly motivated. Why? It's called the community caretaking function. As part of a police officer's duty to "serve and protect" an officer may stop and assist an individual whom a reasonable person, given the totality of the circumstances, would believe is in need of help.

Community caretaking may be used in situations where:
• A vehicle has a flat tire
• Stopped in the middle of the road
• Pulled over on the side of the road
• Hitting a curb
• Reckless driving
• Weaving outside a lane of traffic
• Vomiting out a window
• Driving under the speed limit
• Etc....

It's sounds like community caretaking may be an easy excuse for police to pull people over or approach a parked car to start a DWI or other type of investigation without actually having reasonable suspicion. Well, the courts appreciate that this could happen and the Court of Criminal Appeals held in Wright v. State, 7 S.W.23rd 148 (Tex. Crim. App. 1999) that the community caretaking function in Texas will have narrow applicability--Only in the most unusual circumstances will warrantless searches of private, fixed property, or stops of persons located thereon, be justified under the community caretaking function.

What this means is when a court is reviewing a stop based on the community caretaking function, it must first ask a threshold question: Was the officer primarily motivated to make the stop out of concern for the welfare of the individual? If the answer to the question is NO, then the community caretaking function cannot be used as reason for the stop--remember, a police officer may not properly invoke his community caretaking function if he is primarily motivated by a non-community caretaking purpose.

If it is determined that an officer was primarily motivated by his community caretaking function, the next question is whether the officer's belief that the defendant needed help is reasonable. To help make this determination, the Court in Wright gave us a list of factors:

• The nature and level of the distress exhibited by the individual--this factor is given the most weight by the reviewing court;
• Location of the individual--was the vehicle in an isolated spot, near a neighborhood, in a dangerous location, etc.;
• Whether the individual was alone and/or had access to assistance independent of that offered by the officer--was the individual alone, did they have access to a phone, etc.; and
• To what extent the individual-if not assisted-presented a danger to himself or others--would a reasonable person believe there was a danger?

As you can see, community caretaking is an issue that may come up when defending a criminal case. If you find yourself facing charges that stem from a detention based under the guise of the community caretaking function, you should obtain counsel that will aggressively explore the true motivations of the officer for the detention.

By Bo Kalabus
bo@kalabuslaw.com
Office: 972-562-7549
24 Hour Jail Release 214-402-4364

"Look officer, if I could just explain..." Stop right there! Police officers love it when a person they have pulled over or a suspect they are investigating just opens up and starts to talk. The reason the police love it so much when you talk is it saves them a lot of time--because the talking usually results in an admission of guilt from you. "Oh no!" you think, "I would never do something like that!" Trust me, it happens all the time and you don't know the damage you have done to yourself until...you know.

For example, lets say you have just been pulled over by the police and the officer walks up and asks if you know why he is stopping you--almost everyone that has ever been pulled over has heard this. What do you say?--"Well officer, I rolled through that stop sign back there, I'm really sorry, and it will never happen again." Bam, you just admitted you disregarded a stop sign and in the best scenario you will get a ticket for it. The police don't really care if you are sorry, or if this is the first time you have been in trouble.

Let's make it a much worse scenario--let's add that while you made that statement to the officer, he smelled alcohol on your breath. Let's also add the officer thought you rolled through the stop sign, but from where he was parked he could not see you at the intersection because his line of sight of your vehicle was obstructed by trees. Although this is the case, he stops you anyway. Finally, let's add that as a result of your performance on the field sobriety tests you are arrested for DWI.

Continuing with the scenario--you are now facing criminal charges and hire a criminal defense lawyer. That lawyer goes to the scene and looks over the intersection and sees the problem with the officer's line of sight--if the officer did not see you roll the stop sign then he lacked reasonable suspicion based on our example to stop you in the first place. The now excited lawyer files a motion to suppress the stop (because the lawyer has the State right where he wants them) and sets the motion for hearing. This is a big deal because if the lawyer gets the stop thrown out then the case will be over because all evidence obtained after the bad stop would also be tainted. Well, at the hearing the judge and the now shocked lawyer learn all about how you admitted to the police officer that you ran the stop sign. And with that testimony from the police officer (and the in-car video evidence which shows your admission of just how it happened), the judge denies the motion and a great chance to get the case tossed is lost. This may sound extreme to you, but this type of scenario gets played out over and over again.

Every criminal offense has elements to it. It's been my experience that if an officer or detective is asking you questions he/she is fishing for information to meet the requirements of the charged offense. And people fall into the trap just about all the time. Why? Simple--most folks are taught from an early age to respect authority and want to cooperate with the police even though it is to that person's detriment. Why would a person do that?--most people just don't comprehend how serious the trouble is that they are in. Also, the deck is stacked against the individual big time because the police officer is highly trained in questioning, which results most times in people talking themselves into more trouble than they can talk themselves out of.

So if one day you find yourself in a situation where you are being questioned or in a "friendly talk" with a police officer, remember that you have the right to remain silent and I highly recommend you exercise that right.

In the state of Texas, an adult who wishes to change his or her name must be a resident of Texas for at least six months and must file a Petition in the District Court of the county where he or she resides and must be a resident of said County for at least ninety days as detailed above. The Petition informs the Court of the Petitioner's name, the name the Petitioner wishes to assume, the reasons for the change and other personal information required by statute. The Petition must be verified.

The party filing the Petition for the name change of an adult shall present to the District Court, upon filing of the Petition, a set of fingerprints of the person whose name is to be changed--the purpose of the fingerprints is so that a background can be conducted. The Petitioner shall be responsible for the costs of obtaining fingerprints and other costs which may be incurred upon filing.

Once the Petition for name change is filed, the next step is to set it for hearing, to ask the Judge to approve the name change. At the hearing, the Court will hear and determine all matters raised by the Petition and to render final judgment or decree thereon. The Court may then proceed to enter an Order of approval of name change.

The granting of a Petition for change of name is discretionary with the Court, and the Court may deny a Petition on grounds, which would not constitute lawful objection. For an Order of name change to be granted, the Court must find sufficient reasons for the change and also find the name change in the interest or to the benefit of the Petitioner and in the interest of the public. A person is not allowed to change their name in order to avoid judgments or legal actions against him or her, or to avoid debts and obligations. A person cannot change their name to defraud another person.

The law which governs name changes in Texas is Texas Family Code, chapter 45.

Although a non-lawyer can petition the court for a name change, there are various procedural hurdles to clear before the name change can be granted by the court and a lawyer should be retained to ensure the process goes smoothly with the least amount of time wasted.

So, you think you violated an FAR. Or you know you violated an FAR--like busting into Bravo airspace while you were trying to get that sectional map under control. Now, what do you do next?--this is where the ASRS "NASA" report comes into play.

What is a ASRS "NASA" report?

ASRS stands for Aviation Safety Reporting System, which was put into place by the FAA and it uses NASA as a independant third-party to receive the safety reports. Believe it or not, the FAA is more interested in figuring out why a problem happend then in going after the pilot, so the ASRS was born. The ASRS NASA report is basically a anonymous confidential safety report that a pilot, ground crew, air traffic controller, etc., can use to report they violated a FAR--unintentionally.

Why you want to file a ASRS "NASA" report

In the interest of safety and getting to the root of the problem, the FAA won't suspend or revoke your certificates if they investigate you and decide to take enforcement actions.

Of course there are a few catches:

1) You must have filed your ASRS "NASA" report within 10 days of the event. You must also keep the reciept of your filing the report as that will be the only proof you filed it.

2) The violation must not have been intentional.

3) You must not have been found guilty of violating an FAR in the last 5 years.

4) If there is illegal activity involved--think drugs and terrorism--the information will be forwarded to the authorities.

Back to our Class B airspace bust example, the next day you file a NASA report within the 10 deadline and to keep this simple, you have not been found guilty of an FAR violation within the last 5 years. Next you'll receive a reciept back in a few days or weeks that says you filed the report (it won't go into specifcis since it is anonymous, it will just say you filed the report). A couple months later, you receive the registered letter from the feds that indicates the FAA is investigating your Bravo bust and asks if you have anything to add--usually at this point it's a good time to contact an aviation lawyer to discuss how to respond to the FAA because there may be some strategy as to what point you want to let the FAA know you filed a NASA report. In the end, if you are found guilty of the violation the FAA will waive the enforcement action of suspending or revoking your certificates--this is assuming they do not think it is intentional or for drugs or terroism. The violation will still go on your record, but you will still have your certificates and will most likley still be flying.

Use it or Lose it

As a wise old airline pilot once told me when I asked about when to file a NASA report, "Hell, I file a ASRS/"NASA" report after every flight!" The moral to the story, If ever in doubt, file your NASA report. There is no limiti on the amount of NASA reports you can file. Of course, if you are found guilty of violating a FAR you'll need to take a 5 year break from filing one, but until that time....