The Wright Firm's Weblog

Going to the Dogs

Service animals such as seeing-eye dogs have long been permitted in courthouses across the country.  However the use of therapy dogs to assist children and the developmentally disabled in testifying has some defense attorneys barking mad.

A New York criminal court allowed Rosie, a specially trained golden retriever, to sit at the feet of a 15 year old rape victim at the witness stand as the girl testified.  When the witness seemed to be struggling, the dog would lean in or nudge her.  The witness and prosecution claimed that the only reason the girl was able to make it through the emotionally devastating testimony was because Rosie was there to encourage her.  The prosecutors firmly believe that canine assistance can be the difference between an acquittal and a conviction.

But that’s exactly the defense’s complaint.  Defense attorneys are now appealing the conviction.  There position is essentially that the dog by its inherent “cuteness” and innocence causes jurors to give undue credence to a witness’s testimony.  The therapy dogs are trained to detect stress, but the defense argues that the stress could be caused by the emotional nature of the testimony OR by the witness’s stress about giving false testimony.  Bottom line?  The jury believes the dog, not the witness.

The appeal is expected to go before the New York state Supreme Court.  The state of Washington already permits some therapy animals in the courtroom.  Here in Texas, the Children’s Advocacy Center of Johnson County has started a therapy dog program, and the Harris County District Attorney’s Office has a “Paws and Order: SDU” program; however the canines in these programs are for out-of-court interviews and not actually allowed to the witness stand.

The original article can be found here: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/44063161/ns/today-the_new_york_times/t/courtroom-dog-helps-young-rape-victim-testify/

For information on Texas law contact The Wright Firm at 972-353-4600 or visit us on the web at www.thewrightlawyers.com. 

Back to School Zones!

Parents across the Dallas – Ft. Worth area sent their kids back to school on Monday.  The parents and students (for very different reasons) have been counting down the days for a while now.  However, for some of us, the first alert we get that school is back in session is a flashing light on that “School Zone” sign on our morning commute.  Parent, student or otherwise, better heed those school zone signs!

Everyone (hopefully) knows that you have to obey the speed limit in a school zone when that zone is in effect.  However, there is still some confusion surrounding  the rules about using a cell phone while in a school zone.  The Texas Transportation Code says that a driver may not use a wireless communication device (cell phone) within a school zone unless the car is stopped or the communication device is being used “hands-free”.  (See Tex. Trans. Code §545.425)  The phrase “wireless communication device” most commonly refers to cell phones, but can include potentially any device that uses a wireless carrier.  So, it’s possible that your 3G/4G capable iPods, iPads and e-readers are included (but let’s hope you aren’t reading while you drive anyway).

You should also check on the city laws in your area about school zones and cell phone use.  For example the city of Austin, TX, has banned texting while driving – whether in a school zone or not.  Best rule of thumb?  Keep your eyes on the road, your hands on the wheel, and just call that person back later.

The Wright Firm wishes everyone a safe and happy school year!  For more information on Texas traffic laws contact The Wright Firm at (972) 353-4600 or check us out on the web at www.thewrightlawyers.com. 

 

Bieber is Back!

Caroline Gonzales, the 11-year-old “Mayor-for-the-Day” of Forney, Texas, received the good news that the street sign for Justin Bieber Way has been returned.  Naming a portion of the town’s Main Street after the teen pop sensation was one of the first ministerial acts performed by the mini-Mayor.  Gonzales won the honor of being Forney’s temporary mayor through a Facebook contest.

The town had intended to only leave the Bieber street sign up temporarily. Gonzales would then be allowed to keep the sign.  However, sometime Wednesday evening the street sign was stolen.  It has since come to light that two local teens were playing around and caused the street sign to break.  In what is being called an “uh-oh” moment, the teens bolted with the sign.  One of the perpetrators parents turned them in.

All the drama surrounding Justin Bieber Way has generated some unanticipated media attention for small-town Forney.  Local officials are now contemplating leaving the replacement street sign (now guarded by surveillance cameras) in place until a certain Teen Idol comes to town to autograph it!

Original stories can be found here: http://www.the33tv.com/about/station/newsteam/kdaf-main-street-in-forney-renamed-justin-bieber-way-20110816,0,4290128.story

Here: http://www.examiner.com/crime-in-dallas/forney-s-justin-bieber-way-street-sign-stolen

And here: http://www.dallasnews.com/news/community-news/ellis-kaufman/headlines/20110819-teens-return-sign-renaming-forneys-main-street-after-pop-star-justin-bieber.ece

 

For information on Texas law contact The Wright Firm, L.L.P. at 972-353-4600 or visit us onthe web at www.thewrightlawyers.com 

 

Once Bitten…

A man in Galveston, Texas, has been charged in a bizarre case of home burglary and assault, tinged with gothic horror.  The man, 19-year-old Lyle Bensley, broke into his victim’s apartment, slammed her against the wall and attempted to suck her blood.  He was later found hissing and growling in a parking lot by police.  Bensley, dressed only in his skivvies, informed police that he was a 500-year old vampire and need to “feed.”  Unsurprisingly, Bensley is now in jail awaiting a psychological evaluation.

The attack has sparked a discussion of pop culture’s fascination with Vampire lore.   Books like Anne Rice’s Vampires Chronicles, and most recently Stephanie Meyer’s Twilight Saga and Charlaine Harris’s Sookie Stackhouse series (as well as the movies and TV shows they respectively spawned) have certainly capture the popular imagination.  But has the fascination gone too far?

Bensley is not the first criminal to follow a “vampiric” pattern.  In 1996, a 16-year-old obsessed with a vampire role-play game enlisted 3 friends to attempt to kill the parents of his ex-girlfriend.  In 1998, a San Francisco man claiming to be a 2,000 year old vampire slit the throat of four homeless people.  Even as far back as 1949, an English serial killer reportedly drank a cup of blood from each of his victims.

Anne Rice is quoted as saying she believes, “the vampire is a metaphor for the outsider and the predator in all of us.”  While a little bit of fictional fantasy is probably ok, even healthy, if you are really feeling some dark or predatory urges – best keep your fangs to yourself.  The cops are not likely to believe you’re a thousand year old vamp, and going to jail?  Totally bites!

Original article can be found here: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/17/us-vampire-culture-texas-idUSTRE77G6I920110817

If you want additional information on Texas law, contact The Wright Firm, L.L.P. at 972-353-4600 or visit our website at www.thewrightlawyers.com 

Breakup Bling!

I would hazard to wager that most women have at least one or two pieces of jewelry left over from past fizzled relationships - be it a wedding ring still shoved in a dresser drawer post divorce, or that “Tiffany” necklace that turned out to be as true as the boy that gave it to you.  These days, new websites are popping up that allow women (and men) to turn that break-up jewelry into cash when, as one site put it, “You don’t want it, but he can’t have it back.”

Many people feel awkward walking into a pawn shop and hocking what was once a treasured item.  Not to mention, pawn prices are frequently not anywhere near as high as one would hope.  The sites give the broken hearted not just a place to sell their jewelry for closer-to-market prices, but also in some cases has the cathartic benefit of allowing the seller to tell his or her story.  One such site, www.exboyfriendjewelry.com actually requires those listing items for sale to include the breakup story in their listing.

It’s not just “regular” gals selling their jewelry either!  Celebrity exes like Jennifer Lopez and Ellen Barkin reportedly have had their breakup gems sold at auction. For those of us who don’t quite have enough of a collection to merit our own auction, or even for folks looking for a good deal on slightly used jewelry, these websites might be worth a look.

If you are going through your own break up, just a reminder – under Texas Family Law, anything that you receive as a GIFT or owned PRIOR TO the marriage (and engagement rings tend to fall into both categories) will fall under the definition of separate property.  Separate property is NOT subject to being divided up by a divorce court.

Need help with your Texas divorce?  The Wright Firm is here to help you!  Give us a call at (972) 353-4600 or check us out on the web at www.thewrightlawyers.com.

Video of the original Nightline story can be found here:  http://abcnews.go.com/nightline.  Text of the story can be found here: http://abcnews.go.com/US/lead-celebrities-ordinary-women-sell-break-bling/story?id=14307992

 

The Texas Small Estate Affidavit

Texas Small Estate Affidavits are authorized by Section 137 of the Texas Probate Code and are advantageous because the procedure allows the heirs to expeditiously transfer title to homesteads, automobiles, and pension/profit sharing plans, while avoiding costly probate proceedings. Small Estate Affidavits may be used in the following situations:

 1.       No petition for the appointment of a personal representative is pending or has been granted;

2.       Thirty (30) days have elapsed since the death of the decedent; and

3.       The value of the entire estate, not including homestead and exempt property does not exceed $50,000.

The Application for Small Estate Affidavit has strict requirements that must be met pursuant to the Property Code. If you need help filing a Small Estate Affidavit or simply have further questions regarding Small Estate Affidavits, please call the Wright Firm today at 972-353-4600 or visit our website at www.thewrightlawyers.com

 

Heartbreak Hotel!

A company in the Netherlands is now offering “Divorce Hotel” services.  The concept was created by Dutchman Jim Halfens.  As part of the divorce weekend package, a divorcing couple receives two nights in the nights in the hotel, legal counsel for each spouse, a notary public and a psychologist.  An estate planner, on-site child care and even a bottle of champagne to toast the divorce are available a la carte.

Halfens says that this is less like a weekend getaway for the couple and more like a structured business conference.  The first meeting begins bright and early Saturday morning after breakfast and continues with very little breaks until a deal is reached – even if that’s late into Sunday night.  The weekend divorce deal is not suited to complex property divisions or hotly contested custody cases.  However, for sensible couples who “won’t smash the furniture” and don’t want to miss work for court hearings or mediations, the “divorce hotel” offers an unusual solution.

No similar service is available stateside right now, but the Wright Firm is always open to creative ways of resolving your divorce case!  We have two family law attorneys trained in collaborative law, and we also offer flat-rate plans for uncontested divorces.  To learn more about these services, check out our websites at www.thewrightlawyers.com and www.NoFrillsTexasDivorce.com! 

Original article can be found here: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/lifestyle/news/article.cfm?c_id=6&objectid=10744656

 

Swatting?

In the U.S. and Canada, police agencies are seeing a rise in a type of hoax dubbed “swatting”.  Here’s how it works:  1) a caller reports a hostage situation to the police department [i.e. “I’ve killed two people and I have hostages!”], 2) SWAT Team shows up at reported hostage situation guns a-blazing, 3) no actual hostage situation is going on [ i.e. empty house/building, or prank victim’s home], 4) caller and his accomplices enjoy their “bragging rights”.

The typical swatter is a male in his 20’s or 30’s, and swatter groups tend to be behind multiple swatting hoaxes.  Even worse, when swatter groups receive media attention or brag about their exploits, police agencies have noted that it tends to spawn “copy-swats”. 

While these guys apparently find swatting quite amusing, they can face federal charges of conspiracy (max. penalty 5 yrs in prison) and fraud (max. 20 years in prison). Diverting police officers away from fighting actual crime puts innocent people in danger and is a massive waste of tax payer dollars. The Feds are not taking these offenses lightly.

If you are thinking swatting might be a good prank to pull on someone – don’t do it.  If you’ve gotten into other kinds of trouble with the law, give The Wright Firm a call at (972) 353-4600 or check us out on the web at www.thewrightlawyers.com!

Original article can be found here: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/08/10/SWAT-teams-responding-to-swatting-hoaxes/UPI-31561313022441/

 

Social Media “Unfriend”-ly to Kids’ Grades!

Most of us are already well aware of the highly distracting nature of Facebook, Twitter and other social media, but did you know that all this tech distraction could actually be causing your children to earn lower grades?  A recent study of middle school, high school, and college students has found that those students who checked Facebook at least once during a fifteen minute study period got lower grades.  Other studies have shown that student who are active social media users were less physically healthy, more prone to depression and had narcissistic tendencies as well as other psychological disorders. (It should be noted that the study could not confirm whether Facebook and similar sites merely attracted narcissistic individuals or actually created the narcissism.)

The findings were announced at American Psychological Association annual convention by Professor Larry Rosen.  Rosen remarked about a research assessment in which student were observed studying for 15minutes, “What we found was mind-boggling. About every 3 minutes, they are off-task.  You’d think…knowing that someone is observing you, that [the students] would be more on task.”

Parents, what do you think?  Have you noticed any depletion in your child’s attention span or lower grades when your child is permitted to use Facebook?

Social Media sites like Facebook, Twitter and Google+ are becoming more and more important in Family Law cases.  Family attorneys can use these sites as a gold mine of information both about the parents’ activity as well as a child’s.

If you need assistance with a Family Law case, give The Wright Firm a call at (972) 353-4600 or check us out on the web at www.thewrightlawyers.com!

See the full article here:  http://healthland.time.com/2011/08/08/kids-who-hang-out-on-facebook-do-worse-in-school/

 

Bar Exam Baby!

The taking of the Bar Exam is part of the metaphoric labor pains of being born into a career as an attorney.  However, for Illinois bar-taker Elana Dawson, those labor pains were much more literal.  On the second day of a two-day bar examination, Ms. Dawson went into labor with only 3 hours left to complete her exam!

Rather than give up and leave, Ms. Dawson actually hurried up and finished the examination.  She was then granted special permission to leave the exam early by proctors and walked to a hospital.  Ms. Dawson gave birth to a healthy son less than 2 hours after completing the exam.

When asked if she is concerned about her bar exam results, Ms. Dawson is quoted as saying, “The last hours of the exam were not my strongest moments in terms of focus, so I am perfectly content with what happens.”

Full article can be found here:  http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2011/08/06/Woman-finishes-bar-exam-gives-birth/UPI-45571312619400/  

 

If you need a lawyer in Texas contact The Wright Firm, L.L.P. at 972-353-4600 or visit our website at www.thewrightlawyers.com.