Individual Rights: Criminal Justice

The Criminal Justice Practice Area helps low-income people who are accused of criminal offenses to exercise their civil rights, particularly their Sixth Amendment right to counsel.

Attorneys
Paralegals
Links
About

Name	Office
David G. Hall	Weslaco
David Riojas	Eagle Pass
Irma Torres-McGregor	Corpus Christi Courthouse
Jerome W. Wesevich (Team Manager)	El Paso
Maricarmen Garza	Austin
Rebekah Estelle Herrmann Batot	Kerrville Office
Reneé Trevino	San Antonio

No paralegals are assigned to this team

Links in this group...
	Disability Rights
	Education
	Texas Foster Youth Justice Project
	Human Trafficking

The Constitutional Right to a Lawyer

Texas Fair Defense Information Texas’s Office of Court Administration describes how counties are to implement the “Fair Defense Act,” Texas’s new law on how and when lawyers must be appointed to represent poor people who are accused of crime. This site includes local rules and forms used to implement the Fair Defense Act in many counties, Frequently Asked Questions, and reference materials on indigent defense in Texas and the United States generally
Equal Justice Center Provides a complete history of the Texas Fair Defense Act and practical, timely information on its implementation
U.S. Department of Justice, Compendium of Standards for Indigent Defense Systems a comprehensive December 2000 study of indigent defense systems throughout the United States. In Adobe Acrobat
The Spangenberg Group, National Experts on Justice Delivery Systems for the Poor this site includes full reports on indigent defense systems in numerous states, including Texas
Texas Appleseed Center provides advocacy to improve indigent defense in Texas

Legal Writing Successweb-based service that connects to a network of lawyers available to perform research, writing, rewriting and editing.

The Individual Rights: Criminal Justice Team

The Criminal Justice Team works with judges, county officials, and local bar associations to ensure that local rules of court are adopted and implemented throughout Texas Riogrande Legal Aid’s (TRLA) service area in compliance with the Fair Defense Act, Texas’s new law describing how and when lawyers must be appointed to represent indigent defendants.

Other criminal justice issues that have a similarly broad impact on TRLA’s client community are also candidates for the Team’s attention. For example, the Team will evaluate civil legal strategies for reducing reliance on pretrial detention in jail as a means of responding to the treatment needs of low-income people who suffer from severe mental disabilities.