The Legal Advice You Need
Murphy & Baker Law Firm
212 East Erwin St.
Tyler, Texas 75702
(903) 533-9000
Information Regarding Free Webinar
Information Regarding Free Webinar
Information Regarding Free Webinar
Clicking the button below will open a link that allows you to select a date and time for an upcoming webinar that will be held via Zoom. It's a simple way to gain information regarding the criminal justice system. This brief webinar is designed to help individuals who have been arrested (or their family members) understand the criminal process and what to expect. At the end of the meeting, it is our goal that attendees will gain a better appreciation of what they need to do to avoid additional problems with a goal of maintaining their liberty. Those attending this webinar will have an opportunity to schedule a consultation with an experienced lawyer who can help discuss issues specific to their situation.
You've been arrested. Now what?
Do you know that there are things you can do to help your attorney with the resolution of your case?
What do you have to do to make sure your bondsman does not ask to have your bond revoked (which will result in a warrant for your arrest)?
I was arrested for DWI, and they took my license. What do I do?
Do you know that there are deadlines and dates that are critical for you to know?
They weren't my drugs, and I didn't know they were there. How do I prove it?
Do you know whether you have conditions of bond, and that if you don't comply with those conditions, a warrant for your arrest is very likely?
Are you supposed to be reporting to Pretrial Supervision?
Arrested for drug or alcohol offense? Things you can do to prove yourself worthy of a good outcome.
How long will this process take?
What is the likely outcome of your case?
I didn't do it. How can I prove it?
So, you're out on bond for a felony offense. You are following all the rules. You've complied with your conditions of bond, and you're reporting regularly to Pretrial Supervision, and you've had no problems or violations. Do you know that this one thing could happen to you to send you back to jail before trial? Do you know how to be prepared?
Successful Outcomes
Information Regarding Free Webinar
Information Regarding Free Webinar
Murphy & Baker Law Firm receives second Not Guilty Jury Verdict in just over one month.
August 19, 2021
A Smith County jury returned a not guilty verdict after a four-day felony trial in the 241st District Court. Attorneys Joe Murphy and Joel Baker represented the defendant for more than two years until a jury trial could be held, and the jury’s finding of not guilty on the allegation of Continuous Sexual Abuse was delivered after less than an hour of deliberation.
Murphy & Baker Law Firm helps man stay out of jail.
A Smith County man was arrested in the Spring of 2021 for Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon for an incident involving the estranged mother of his children. After an altercation the alleged “victim” in the case told police that the man assaulted her with a hard object, and he was arrested at the scene despite his insistence that the woman lied. He told the police that he was the one who had been assaulted and that he did not use, possess or bring the deadly weapon to the fight. The attorneys of the Murphy & Baker Law Firm met with the “victim” in the case who admitted that she lied to the police, and she provided a sworn written statement saying that the man did not assault her with the deadly weapon. Murphy & Baker Law Firm provided this information to the prosecution, but despite the information suggesting that the woman had lied to the police, the prosecution submitted the case to the grand jury and the man was indicted. His initial bond of $30,000 was increased to $200,000 upon his indictment, and a warrant was issued for his arrest. Murphy & Baker Law Firm immediately filed a motion to reinstate his original bond and requested a hearing. At the hearing, the “victim” reiterated that she lied to the police, and that the man did not commit the offense. Murphy & Baker Law Firm was able to convince the judge to reinstate the man’s original bond and to recall the warrant for his arrest. The case remains pending despite the fact that the “victim” has recanted her original story.
Murphy & Baker Law Firm obtains reversal of school district’s decision to suspend student.
On Saturday, August 14, 2021, several students were accused of violations of the school district’s student code of conduct for an incident that was alleged to have occurred at a school event just two days before the beginning of the school year. Murphy & Baker Law Firm immediately began to work on the matter and 28 hours later, after many hours of legal work and hiring an expert witness with the expectation of filing a lawsuit, Murphy & Baker obtained a reversal of the decision to suspend the student.
Murphy & Baker Law Firm convinces prosecution to decline to prosecute.
A woman was arrested for the offense of Assault Family Violence after a verbal altercation with her niece. It was alleged that the niece broke off the handle of our client’s car and that our client assaulted the niece with the door handle. Murphy & Baker Law Firm conducted an investigation and after speaking to witnesses in the case and obtaining affidavits we were able to convince the prosecution to dismiss the case and decline further prosecution within two weeks of being retained in the matter.
Murphy & Baker Law Firm obtains good resolution for man on felony probation.
A Smith County man was on probation for the offense of Possession of Controlled Substance out of the 114th District Court for a period of 3 years, and he had only one year of probation remaining. The defendant tested positive for the consumption of alcohol, and he admitted using alcohol while on probation which was a violation of the terms and condition of his felony probation. The man faced prison time, but Murphy & Baker Law Firm was able to get the probation revocation dismissed, and the defendant’s probation was extended for a period of one year.
Murphy & Baker Law Firm obtains a good outcome for Smith County woman.
A local woman was charged with the second-degree felony offense of Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon and faced up to 20 years in prison for the crime, which was alleged to have occurred in 2019. The woman has been meeting regularly with a pretrial supervision officer and following the conditions of bond ordered by the court, and she has had no violations. The reality is that this case may have taken up to several years to be reached for trial due to the backlog created by the shutdown of the courts from the Covid pandemic. After many hours of investigation and negotiation with the prosecution, Murphy & Baker Law Firm was able to obtain a reasonable resolution, and the woman accepted a “plea bargain” which will allow her to plead to a misdemeanor offense and be placed on a short term of deferred adjudication probation without a criminal conviction on her record.
Murphy & Baker Law Firm receives NOT TRUE Jury Verdict in trial of two juveniles.
July 15, 2021
A Smith County jury found two of our juvenile clients not guilty after a two-day trial in County Court at Law Number Three. The boys, ages 12 and 14, were both charged with 1st degree felony criminal offenses. Attorneys Joe Murphy and Joel Baker represented the boys for more than a year until a jury trial could be held, and the jury’s finding of “not true” on allegations against the two boys was returned after only 30 minutes of deliberation.
Murphy & Baker Law Firm obtains victory for man facing life in prison.
A man was charged with Manufacturing / Delivery of a Controlled Substance in 2014 and later placed on probation for a period of 10 years. In 2020, the man was accused of “flicking” a cigarette at his then-girlfriend causing a burn on her neck and was arrested for the offense of Assault and released on bond the same day. About a month later, the defendant was jailed again for the same allegation due to the arrest being a violation of his conditions of probation. Murphy & Baker Law Firm requested that a bond be set by the court, and after more than a month in jail, the defendant was able to again make bail be released from jail.
The case remained in limbo for almost 18 months until the defendant was set for a probation revocation hearing, and the defendant faced a possible sentence of life in prison. Just prior to the hearing, Murphy & Baker Law Firm received a statement from the arresting officer that he believed that the complainant was lying and that he had previously advised the prosecution of his belief. Murphy & Baker Law Firm filed a motion with the court seeking exculpatory information from the prosecutor and we made reasonable requests to the court for time to obtain that information. The judge chastised and disciplined the attorney representing the defendant at the hearing for zealously representing his client. Ultimately, Murphy & Baker Law Firm succeeded in obtaining a dismissal of the probation violation matter AND the underlying Assault charge.
Murphy & Baker Law Firm resolves Driving While Intoxicated case for North Carolina woman.
Our client was stopped for speeding on Interstate 20, and after agreeing to field sobriety tests, she was arrested for suspicion of Driving While Intoxicated. At the jail, she consented to providing a breath specimen. Her results on the first test was a blood alcohol concentration of .081, and three minutes later the second test resulted in a blood alcohol concentration of .070. A person is considered to be intoxicated in Texas if their blood alcohol is .08 or higher. Murphy & Baker Law Firm was able to negotiate a plea agreement to allow our client to plead to Reckless Driving and receive only 90 days of non-reporting deferred adjudication probation.
Murphy & Baker Law Firm resolves Driving While Intoxicated case for local man.
A Smith County man was arrested for Driving While Intoxicated with a Child Passenger, a State Jail Felony offense. Law enforcement was originally dispatched to a report of reckless driving, but after their investigation, they believed that the defendant had been driving with his child and they believed he was intoxicated. Ultimately, he consented to the taking of a specimen of his blood for testing, and the results showed a blood alcohol concentration of .182 grams of alcohol per 100 milliliters of blood, more than two times the legal limit. Murphy & Baker Law Firm was able to negotiate an agreement for the defendant to accept a “plea bargain” whereby he would plead to the offense of Child Endangerment and receive a sentence of three years of deferred adjudication probation with no conviction.
Murphy & Baker Law Firm receives Not Guilty verdict for Henderson County man.
A Smith County jury in the 241st District Court found our client, age 23, not guilty of the felony offense of False Alarm or Report after about an hour of deliberation. The defendant was a passenger in a vehicle in March 2018 when he posted a video from the vehicle on the social media platform Snapchat. The video clip showed several guns inside the vehicle with a caption that read, “Coming to a school near you.” Shortly thereafter, our client deleted the post, but was subsequently questioned and arrested.
Attorneys Joe Murphy & Joel Baker represented the man for more than a year of negotiations and pretrial matters until the trial could be held. During the trial, the testimony showed that the defendant never intended to carry out any offense, and we are very pleased with the jury’s finding.
Murphy & Baker Law Firm receives Not Guilty verdict for Tyler man accused of Assault.
A Tyler man was arrested and charged with Assault following an altercation that occurred at “The Grove” in Tyler. There was a rush to judgment in this matter and our client was persecuted by many in the community who saw the reports from the local media and via social media. The man was accused of the assault following an altercation that occurred in the parking lot of the restaurant involving a man and his son, a band member who had performed at the restaurant earlier in the evening.
According to the testimony in court, the band member made an obscene hand gesture to our client as he was in his vehicle leaving the parking lot with his wife and friends. Witnesses testified that the man’s father motioned toward our client with his hand as if he wanted to speak with him. Our client backed up a short distance as the man met him at his vehicle and a fight ensued. The band member admitted that he then ran to our client’s vehicle and struck our client during the altercation, and the event was captured on the restaurant’s surveillance camera and a witness’ cell phone.
Attorneys Joe Murphy & Joel Baker represented the man, and after a three-day trial where the jury heard all the facts regarding the matter, the jury returned a “not guilty” verdict absolving the man of any criminal responsibility for the alleged assault.
Following the verdict, Attorney Joe Murphy said, “I know this was a difficult time for [our client] and his family, and there were many false accusations regarding this incident. But all of the evidence in this case was presented to a jury, and they reached the correct verdict.”
Murphy & Baker Law Firm receives Not Guilty for man accused of drug possession.
Our client was a passenger in a car who, along with three other people, was pulled over by Bullard Police. Our client was the only one in the vehicle who was arrested after a pill bottle with a half gram of methamphetamine was located on the floorboard of the car by his feet.
Attorneys Joe Murphy and Joel Baker represented the man during the trial, and the jury in the 114th District Court of Smith County found the man “not guilty” of possession of controlled substance after about 30 minutes of deliberation.
Murphy & Baker Law Firm obtains dismissal of felony offense.
A Smith County man was charged by indictment with Assault Family Violence with a previous conviction for the same offense and an enhancement due to a previous conviction for a felony Burglary of a Habitation. The man was on parole at the time of the offense, and he faced a possible prison sentence from 2 to 20 years.
The victim alleged that our client (her boyfriend) forced his way into her house after an argument and hit her on the mouth. Two weeks later, she contacted the Sheriff’s office and recanted saying that she was just trying to get him out of her house and admitting that she lied to the arresting officer. This information was available to the prosecutor who, for 11 months, continued to attempt to force the defendant to plead guilty to the felony by offering to allow a plea bargain to the minimum punishment. We continued to push for a trial, and the day of the scheduled jury trial, Murphy & Baker Law Firm was finally able to obtain a dismissal of the case.