Posts by Mary Beth Harrell

Kratom is an herbal supplement derived from a tropical tree called the Mitragyna speciosa. This tree, which is member of the coffee family, is native to Southeast Asia, where people have used its leaves as both a sedative and a stimulant for centuries. Today, people worldwide tout the benefits of kratom for treatment of opioid…

Thousands of people across the United States are in prison due to wrongful convictions. Many of these wrongful conviction cases are due to false confessions. It can be difficult to understand why someone would confess to a crime they did not commit, especially crimes like murder or sexual assault. However, there are a variety of…

Texas State Representative Brad Buckley, R-Killeen, has co-authored the “Second Look” Bill, legislation that would require the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles to give certain youth offenders a second look at parole at 20 years, instead of 30 or 40 years. It also requires the Board to look at the personal growth and maturity…

New Mexico is poised to legalize recreational marijuana, with two bills approved and headed to the governor’s desk for signing. The bills, which Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham has praised, will legalize recreational marijuana for adults 21 and older, and expunge arrest and conviction charges for certain offenses. Retail sales are set to begin no later…

Interactions with law enforcement can be stressful; especially if you are being arrested for a crime you may not have even committed. Not every police officer treats suspects gently, and it is natural to want to argue with or even resist the arresting officer in an overwhelming situation. However, resisting arrest here in Texas can…

Will Texas be one of the next states to legalize marijuana? Although it has long felt unlikely here in the Lone Star State, a variety of bills introduced into this year’s legislative calendar might make legalization a reality. With more than a dozen marijuana-related bills pre-filed at the end of 2020, Texas could be poised…

Being pursued by a police officer – for whatever reason – is enough to activate many people’s fight-or-flight response. When forced to make an instinctual choice between the two, it might feel like “flight” is the proper option, especially when resisting arrest is another charge in itself. However, fleeing from arresting officers comes with its…

Many people believe that strangulation, or choking, is a form of assault. And this is true – however, what many people are unaware of is that strangulation is a felony crime. Before 2009, choking or strangling was considered a misdemeanor assault, but legislature passed that year upped intimate partner strangulation and suffocation to a third-degree…

The online world gives people the opportunity to create entirely new personas and personalities. When someone can hide behind their laptop, creating a world that requires no proof that someone is who they say they are, they can create an environment rife for what’s called “catfishing.” Catfishing is using a false persona or identify to…

Violating your probation can cause you some big problems with the Texas criminal justice system. Being put on probation in the first place means that the court trusted you enough to sentence you to probation instead of jail, so any violation of those conditions won’t be taken lightly. If you’re facing criminal charges or have…

Here in Texas, deadly conduct is a criminal act committed when an individual engages in conduct that recklessly places others in immediate danger of serious injury or death. Typically this is reckless or careless use of a weapon and, depending on the circumstances, can be charged as either a misdemeanor or a felony. Texas criminal…

You may find yourself in a situation where you’re concerned that there may be a warrant out for your arrest. Perhaps you were involved in an assault, a domestic situation, or believe someone may have reported you for committing a crime. Many people believe that if there’s a warrant, the police or sheriff are going…

During these strange and confusing times, everything we know about procedures and precedents has changed. Facing criminal allegations is stressful enough without the uncertainty of how your case may be handled in court, especially if those allegations might involve felony charges. Is your trial even able to take place? Does this pandemic change the way…

Regardless of the state you live in, a capital offense is the most severe charge you can face, and therefore subject to the harshest of sentences. In Texas, there is only one capital charge: capital murder. If you are convicted, you can be put to death. In the state of Texas, for the crime to…

In April of 2020, a young Army specialist named Vanessa Guillén went missing from Fort Cavazos. In July, her remains were found in a shallow grave nearby. She had been beaten to death, and investigators suspected Spc. Aaron Robinson. As police closed in, he shot himself to death. Had Robinson lived, he would have faced…

Home to Fort Cavazos (Fort Hood), an Army base with its own notorious reputation (especially since the kidnapping and subsequent murder of Spc. Vanessa Guillen), Killeen has an unfortunate relationship with serious criminal offenses. Annually, more than 500 violent crimes occur in this city alone, with a rating of 19 on a crime index of…

What do you do when you’re in the wrong place at the wrong time and you’re accused and convicted of a crime you didn’t commit? What if it ends with a sentence of life in prison or worse, death? It’s a nightmare from which few innocent inmates believe they’ll ever wake up from. According to…

The last thing anyone facing a felony charge thinks about is what long-term consequences he or she might face other than how much time could be spent in prison. It is human nature to deal with the immediate problem before you rather than concerning yourself with the after-effects until they’re suddenly a problem. That’s why…

Being homeless can happen to anyone who runs across the wrong luck at the wrong time. When you’ve worked hard at being successful, losing it all can be devastating and even end in a mental breakdown. Many people who have experienced this can easily end up homeless living on the streets. Their new circumstances often…

It appears that off-post crime involving Fort Cavazos (Fort Hood) has gone underreported for quite some time, but now a number of servicemembers will find themselves in hot water. Stars and Stripes has named the Fort Cavazos the Army’s most crime-ridden post. An assessment was conducted of crime statistics and found that Fort Cavazos has…

Intoxication manslaughter charges are among the most serious in our state, with severe consequences upon conviction. Both prosecutors and organizations like Mothers Against Drunk Driving lobby for harsh penalties against offenders, and if you are facing intoxication manslaughter charges, you cannot underestimate what you are up against. What is intoxication manslaughter? Intoxication manslaughter falls under…

Here in Texas, if you are accused of a crime, you may face additional penalties if you are a repeat offender. What this means is that the court can lay down more serious punishments upon conviction than you might face if it were your first offense. Felony repeat offenders can face much more severe punishments…

In order to lawfully use self-defense as a legal strategy, a defendant must prove his or her justification in taking assaultive actions based on either threats of violence or actual violence on the part of the other individual. Under Texas law, a person is not guilty of assault if he or she committed actions for…