A federal judge in Midland, Texas, allowed claims of malicious prosecution brought by four educators to proceed against the county’s district attorney and other parties on a finding the investigation was “objectively unreasonable.” Plaintiffs’ attorneys, Frank Sellers of Fort Worth and Allison Clayton of Lubbock said U.S. District Judge Jason Pulliam’s Tuesday memorandum opinion and order allows them to proceed with civil rights claims against District Attorney Laura Nodolf, Midland Police Department Jennie Alonzo, Midland County and the City of Midland.

Charges against four Midland Trinity administrators were dismissed following the testimony of the main detective in the case.

The trial came to an abrupt end after the main detective on the case, Jennie Alonzo, testified Tuesday.

MIDLAND, Texas — Barry Russell, Gregory McClendon, Matthew Counts, Jared Lee and Dana Ellis were all arrested two months ago and charged with failing to report harm to a child and intent to conceal. It has been two months, but their cases still haven’t gone before a grand jury.
In the meantime, the defense teams haven’t been able to do much other than wait because they had been waiting for a report to be submitted to the District Attorney’s office.

MIDLAND, Texas — The five Midland Christian employees who were accused of failing to report a sexual assault were no billed by a grand jury Wednesday, according to relatives of those involved in the case.
This means the grand jury did not think there was enough evidence to take the case to trial at this time, but they could be indicted later.

MIDLAND, Texas — It’s been a long three months for the Midland Christian community. There are five educators and their families who know that better than anyone.
However, a grand jury no-billed MCS superintendent Jared Lee, principal Dana Ellis, assistant principal Matt Counts, former athletic director Greg McClendon and baseball coach Barry Russell.

A Texas man who opened fire on a cop who was checking a security alarm at his house was acquitted of murder Wednesday.

Nearly three years of investigations and court proceedings all came down to 90 minutes of deliberation by a Midland County jury.

Texas Ranger, police trainee testified it was possible defendant didn’t hear officer identify himself from outside door

Ashley Culley. A misdemeanor charge against Culley of tampering with a government record was dropped Oct. 6. It was connected to her part-time …

Ashley Culley said accusations from the Clay County Sheriff’s Office left her life in tatters. Ashley Culley. A misdemeanor charge against Culley …

In the heat of trial, all trial attorneys fight vigorously for their DWI clients. In that fight, it’s understandable that you want to destroy the officer, destroy the Standard Field Sobriety Tests (SFSTs), and vindicate your client.

Together, House Bills 20482 and 35823 refashioned Texas DWI law and punishment—and finally abolished surcharges. Kind of.

Now, a person “finally convicted” of DWI “shall” pay a fine of $3,000 for a first conviction, $4,500 for a second, and $6,000 for all DWI convictions over 0.15. Presumably, a person is not finally convicted if they receive a newly created “deferred ad­judication” on their DWI. The legislature also slightly altered and expanded nondisclosure eligibility. This paper overviews the changes to the new DWI laws

SAN ANGELO, TX — 51st District Attorney Allison Palmer has been disqualified from prosecuting the Robert Lee murder trial of Jasmine Moreno by a visiting judge.

Judge Mike Freeman from Waco held a hearing in Tom Green County on a motion to disqualify Palmer filed by defense attorney Frank Sellers last Friday, Aug. 23.

Dr. Joseph Sonnier met his girlfriend Richelle Shetina at a dance class, and the two traveled to Paris together, just weeks before the unthinkable happened.

ROBERT LEE, TX — “This will happen again. Next time it could be worse,” is what murder suspect Jasmine Moreno remembers 51st District Attorney Allison Palmer told her when Jasmine requested the prosecutors help lift a court protective order against her husband, Cisco Moreno, who was accused of assaulting and choking her last March.

Vials that have been used for years by Fort Worth police to collect blood from suspected drunken drivers may be affecting the reliability of blood alcohol test results, according to a defense attorney and experts interviewed by the Star-Telegram.

To save money, the department has been using the smaller vials and assembling its own kits to test blood samples for alcohol concentration rather than buying ones already made.

Civil asset forfeiture refers to the right of law enforcement officers to take property from citizens if they suspect it is somehow connected to criminal activity. They may seize a weapon that was allegedly used in a robbery or a vehicle that might have been purchased with money earned through the sale of illegal drugs. Initially, it was developed to combat organized crime, but, today, civil asset forfeiture is used by many police departments as a way to generate revenue.

Frank Sellers representing defendants accused of voter fraud by the Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. However, the attorneys accuse the AG of suppressing the minority vote in Tarrant County ahead of the November 6th election.

Three years after being found guilty of a murder-for-hire scheme by a Lubbock Jury, Dr. Michael Dixon is granted a new trial by the Amarillo Court of Appeals.

Dr. Michael Dixon was initially represented in the capital case by defense attorneys, Dan Hurley and Frank Sellers. Dixon was convicted in November 2015 of ordering a hit to kill Dr. Joseph Sonnier.

The 7th District Court of Appeals has ordered the judgement of two life-sentences for Dixon to be reversed and remanded for a retrial.

Attorneys for John Young seeking a new trial put the prosecuting attorneys and investigator from the Texas Office of Attorney General on the stand Tuesday morning to testify in Young’s hearing for a new trial.

Defense attorney Frank Sellers called Assistant Attorney General Shane Attaway to the stand first. Sellers peppered the state prosecutor with questions about the law and the burden of prosecutors to turn over all evidence to the defense. The motion for a retrial was made after Katie Hartman, the ex-wife of Sweetwater attorney Chris Hartman, signed a sworn affidavit just five days after Young’s trial ended in November. In the affidavit, Katie Hartman swears she witnessed her ex-husband forge John Sullivan’s will in the back of a prayer book. That forged will left Sullivan’s estate to John Young.

Then there was another bizarre twist. San Angelo attorney Mark Brown was sitting in the courtroom taking notes. At one point, he passed a note to prosecutors. Sellers saw the note and literally stopped the proceedings demanding to see the note. Both prosecuting and defense attorneys were summoned to the bench before District Judge Brock Jones. The content of the letter was not disclosed.

Appellate attorneys for convicted Miles, TX man, Justin Riordan argued their case in front of the Texas Third Court of Appeals in San Angelo Thursday. Representing Justin Riordan, who was granted an appeal late last year, was Fort Worth criminal defense attorney Frank Sellers.

His client, Riordan, was convicted for having sexual intercourse in the early morning hours with a 13-year-old girl at a house party in Miles in 2014. The testimony of the girl, who by the time of the trial was 15 and still considered a child witness, would become the principal evidence in the trial.

The child witness’ testimony was inconsistent. Days after Riordan was convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison, a teenaged girlfriend of the witness came forward after reading of Riordan’s conviction on San Angelo LIVE! She signed an affidavit stating that the child witness told her she had lied about Riordan raping her. She is referred by her initials, “T.S.,” for the remainder of this article.

Local Defense Attorney Frank Sellers said college students returning to Lubbock could explain the rise in alcohol-related crashes.

“With all of the college students and being in Lubbock I think that there’s a trend here toward people drinking more than other places,” Sellers said. “Some of them six hours away from home for the first time and They don’t know any better even if they should.”

Sellers said Texas laws allow driving after drinking, but only if it stays under the legal limit.

“Responsible drinking is legal but to get to the point where you’re over the limit or at the limit is where people start running in to problems,” Sellers said.

If you cannot afford to hire a lawyer, one will be appointed to represent you. That’s called an indigent defense attorney.

Sellers said the contracted indigent defense attorney in the 106th Judicial District is assigned too many cases, preventing him from providing effective assistance of counsel as defined by bar guidelines and case law. Sellers is now representing Victor Vargas after he said Vargas’ court appointed attorney, Artie Aguilar, allegedly dropped the ball.

“What drew me to Victor was he said, ‘I had no choice,'” Sellers said.

Felony theft charges were dropped Thursday against a 37-year-old former UPS supervisor accused of stealing rifles and gun parts in March 2015 from a distribution center.

“Robert is a devout Christian and has never been in trouble before in his life,” said Luera’s attorney, Frank Sellers. “He made some very serious mistakes that, as soon as he was approached by police, he was 100 percent cooperative at all times throughout the investigation to help get back the property to the rightful owners.”