Title: "Dallas Family Violence Defense Lawyer John Helms Interview on Coffee With Q - YouTube"
Transcript: "welcome to the subject matter expert experts interview uh again today we have the the privilege of speaking with Dallas domestic violence defense lawyer John M Helms Mr Helms is a distinguished criminal defense lawyer who specialized in crimes against family members and loved ones on average one in three women and one in four men have experienced some form of physical violence by an intimate partner in America our Our Guest brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in navigating the complexiti es of this intriguing field of criminal defense law and and without any further Ado let's dive into the discussion and uncover John's valuable insights into domestic violence crimes welcome John and thanks for being part of this subject experts discussion on crimes against family members and loved ones how are you doing today I'm great thanks thanks for having me it's going to be insightful like always I'm sure we have a number of different questions that I'm going to ask you and I'm looking for ward to your answers I guess the first one is can you provide an overview of how Texas law defines domestic violence and its classifications sure um we call it Family Violence in the Texas penal code and it means uh some sort of violence involving uh a family member and that is defined to include someone that you're in a dating relationship with um and as as far as family members it's F it's defined pretty broadly um so if anyone is arguably in your family or if you're in a dating relationship w ith someone or if you are engaged or something like that it's going to come within the definition of family so uh we Define family broadly and then you also asked about the different types of Family Violence and that basically depends on how serious um any injury is or what kind of violence was involved um if there was no actual injury then it's going to be a Class C misdemeanor which is basically the same thing as a traffic ticket if there was some injury uh then it's going to be a Class A misd emeanor where you can get up to a year in jail um and uh if there was choking involved it's going going to be a felony and if there was serious bodily injury involved or death then it's also going to be a felony okay well that that clarifies I didn't realize it was classified as family uh violence in the penal code it's good to know um what are the key factors that determine the severity of domestic violence charges in Texas well again that's the um that's going to be the um the nature of the in jury and the violence um in particular uh one thing that the police are looking for a lot is whether there was something that might be called choking because even just the smallest um inhibition of someone's breath can bump it up from a Class A misdemeanor to a felony and so the police will ask the person they think is the victim whether the other person's hands were ever around their throat or their arm was around their neck or something like that and then the last well at any point did you hav e any trouble breathing and if they say that they did then boom it's a felony charge um and then like I said if it's serious bodily injury or death then it's going to be a felony I don't know if this is if this is a myth or if it's actual reality but uh in the criminal Penal Code domes IC or Family Violence is probably one of the number one uh categories of crimes would that be accurate yeah I mean as far as uh the number of crimes committed yes um unfortunately uh it's it's just very common and at might happen when going through uh the Texas Criminal Justice System sure um one of the things that normally happens is that the police are called um by someone uh it could be by the person who claims to be a victim it could be by a neighbor but the police are called and they will typically arrest someone um who they think was the aggressor and the reason they're doing that is because they want to separate the people um for a period of time so that they can cool down they don't want to just l ere a judge orders someone not to be around the other person for 60 days and um that can be very difficult if there are children involved or if there are reasons why the people need to see each other and so sometimes those things have to be worked out sometimes you may have to try to ask a judge to modify the protective order but while that's going on there'll be a criminal case and the criminal case will be just like any other criminal case where um at the end of the day um if the case is not d ep people away from each other so that they have a chance to cool off uh so that uh the the victim the alleged victim is not in any immediate danger um hopefully so that things don't escalate again um it is possible to ask a judge to modify protective orders to some extent if there's a need for it um they are the judges are are not just going to modify a protective order because it's what you want uh they will have to see that there's some sort of overriding Need for some sort of limited contact thing that a judge can grant without uh giving you the uh ability to contest it they can do it without you or your lawyer present because it's temporary um if you're going to fight it you have to consider whether it's really worth fighting and it may not be for a couple of reasons number one um fighting it may show that you're in some sort of denial about the seriousness of what happened and so it may not look good uh also fighting it may require you to testify about what happened and if you're same place day in and day out and somebody got a protective order against you would that be an instance where you might want to fight it or because you couldn't you couldn't again I don't want to call it fighting it um fighting it sounds like uh you are resisting the whole thing you don't want to fight it that will make you look like you're beligerant and that you don't accept the seriousness of the allegations you can uh try to have a judge modify it um if it was in a working situation what I arate well that that shows a lot of common sense how you're addressing that are there any specific defense strategies that are commonly employed in domestic violence cases in Texas sure I mean each case depends on the facts of the case and so each case is different but um a common defense is self-defense um very often um one person is um accused of some sort of of violence when what they're trying to do is defend themselves from the other person so self-defense is one um another may be uh just q ements of fact uh you know what can and cannot be due in the future okay well first let's talk about affidavits of non-prosecution because that's really important to understand it is a myth that the person who claims to have been a victim can simply drop the case um that's a myth it's not true um the decision does not belong to the person who claims to be the victim the decision about whether the case is going to go forward is up to a prosecutor not to the alleged victim and so um it's also comm don't want it to be prosecuted and so they call the the District Attorney's office and they saywell why don't you come on down here and we'll talk about it so they go down to the district attorney's office and they say look I really don't want this prosecution to go forward um I really want the case to be dismissed and then the prosecutor will say something like okay well um you should sign an Affidavit of non-prosecution now notice the prosecutor didn't say if you sign an Affidavit of non-prose case prosecuted doesn't mean anything that's their decision so they've just locked in your testimony if they decide to subpoena you for a trial um to a statement under oath and you haven't gotten the case dismissed so uh I tell people to be very careful about those um I mean I can't I can't counsel someone who's not my client uh about what to do but I tell them to be very careful F and I tell them that if they would like uh for me to draft a sworn statement that will actually have a better chanc at doesn't mean that your rights have been violated or anything it just means they're not doing it um and they will they will talk to the people and the one that they think is the victim will be asked to to write out a written statement in their own words in in writing about what happened and then to sign it um if you are being questioned um about possible domestic violence by you um you are probably going to be arrested regardless of what you say unless you can really show with self-defense uh guess it always comes back to uh be careful when you're making any kind of statement uh with law enforcement present because it can and could be used against you in a court of law so absolutely that's great advice uh fact sorry don't think you're gonna be able to talk your way out of it a lot of people think they can what factors uh should someone consider when deciding between pleading guilty and fighting a domestic violence charge Court well when you say fighting a domestic violence charge in lawyer will be able to give you a pretty good assessment of what your chances would be at trial if it looks like you're going to be found guilty then you're going to be better off uh with a plea bargain that gets you a better sentence a better result um for the punishment part of it um if there's a weak Case by the state then you may be better off um having a trial on it so it depends on what kind of a case the state could put on and whether it really looks like they could prove you guilty in a ive you advice on whether a jury or a judge would be the best thing for that um but um you know it's possible to get prison time depending on your criminal history and whether you have a history of violence and how serious this violence was um if you're found guilty how bad were the the victim's injuries um and um other factors like what have you done to try to uh try to avoid having those kinds of things happen in the future are you have you taken anger management classes have you done things t ere there is an issue about whether you will be able to possess a firearm um if you um successfully complete your for adjudication you won't technically have been convicted under Texas law but under Federal firearm law that's a kind of an open question and um I wouldn't advise uh somebody to uh possess a firearm even if they've gotten deferred adjudication until there's more clarity in the law uh because you're just taking a big risk um and so uh there are a lot of consequences uh to a domestic th it's it's going to be a felony and then also the choking part um if there was choking it bumps it from a Class A misdemeanor to a felony okay um can you discuss the potential impact of of having a prior criminal record on a domestic uh or a family violence case in Texas sure I mean um it it's pretty easy to understand how um if you have a criminal record and then you commit another crime um the law and a judge and a jury would say okay this person has committed crimes before and then this per estic violence and then you've committed in the past crimes of violence whether it's an assault whether it's a robbery um anything like that if it if it's a crime of violence and you continue to commit crimes of violence then uh the system is going to look at that very negatively um because we don't want people committing crimes of violence and then doing it again and again and again and it not stopping and so um that can have very serious consequences so it does depend on on what your criminal her it's domestic violence or not um some people are maybe not very well suited for deferred adjudication by that I mean um some people just have a problem uh staying on the right side of the law and deferred adjudication gives you an opportunity to avoid having a conviction on your record because if you if you complete the process successfully the case is dismissed so you don't actually have a conviction so it gives you that opportunity but the problem is if you violate your conditions if you d conditions a judge could really Hammer you so that's a a risk that you are taking if there's a chance that you may have an issue staying on the right side of the law and it can be anything it can be a DWI if you violate your conditions by having a DWI or something like that many judges will Hammer you so you have to be really careful if you're on deferred to avoid something like that happening if you do complete it successfully like I said there's no conviction and the case is dismissed and then ed in front of a judge and a prosecutor and a probation officer saying that you violated your terms of probation because then you could get thrown in jail for a long time well it sounds like it's froth with Jeopardy uh so you should think twice or clearly before taking it yeah I mean it's it it can be a really good thing um for for people who don't have a problem um avoiding breaking the law uh it can be a really good thing but there are some people who you just know are going to have trouble go nse attorney for more than 30 years out of law school he clerked for the Federal Chief Justice of the fifth Circuit Court of Appeals uh the fifth circuit is charged with handling all lower court cases from Texas Louisiana and Mississippi and uh after uh completing that he went into the United States attorney's office as an assistant United States Attorney a USA and as a a USA Federal Criminal prosecutor for the nor Northern District of Texas he never lost a trial or an appeal um John is committe ndants and legal PR Professionals in this field uh we appreciate your time and look forward to seeing you again in the near future and uh don't forget to subscribe and stay tuned in for more thought-provoking interviews with subject matter experts until next time uh take care and John again thanks for coming on the show thank you to the subject matter"
Transcript: "welcome to the subject matter expert experts interview uh again today we have the the privilege of speaking with Dallas domestic violence defense lawyer John M Helms Mr Helms is a distinguished criminal defense lawyer who specialized in crimes against family members and loved ones on average one in three women and one in four men have experienced some form of physical violence by an intimate partner in America our Our Guest brings a wealth of knowledge and experience in navigating the complexiti es of this intriguing field of criminal defense law and and without any further Ado let's dive into the discussion and uncover John's valuable insights into domestic violence crimes welcome John and thanks for being part of this subject experts discussion on crimes against family members and loved ones how are you doing today I'm great thanks thanks for having me it's going to be insightful like always I'm sure we have a number of different questions that I'm going to ask you and I'm looking for ward to your answers I guess the first one is can you provide an overview of how Texas law defines domestic violence and its classifications sure um we call it Family Violence in the Texas penal code and it means uh some sort of violence involving uh a family member and that is defined to include someone that you're in a dating relationship with um and as as far as family members it's F it's defined pretty broadly um so if anyone is arguably in your family or if you're in a dating relationship w ith someone or if you are engaged or something like that it's going to come within the definition of family so uh we Define family broadly and then you also asked about the different types of Family Violence and that basically depends on how serious um any injury is or what kind of violence was involved um if there was no actual injury then it's going to be a Class C misdemeanor which is basically the same thing as a traffic ticket if there was some injury uh then it's going to be a Class A misd emeanor where you can get up to a year in jail um and uh if there was choking involved it's going going to be a felony and if there was serious bodily injury involved or death then it's also going to be a felony okay well that that clarifies I didn't realize it was classified as family uh violence in the penal code it's good to know um what are the key factors that determine the severity of domestic violence charges in Texas well again that's the um that's going to be the um the nature of the in jury and the violence um in particular uh one thing that the police are looking for a lot is whether there was something that might be called choking because even just the smallest um inhibition of someone's breath can bump it up from a Class A misdemeanor to a felony and so the police will ask the person they think is the victim whether the other person's hands were ever around their throat or their arm was around their neck or something like that and then the last well at any point did you hav e any trouble breathing and if they say that they did then boom it's a felony charge um and then like I said if it's serious bodily injury or death then it's going to be a felony I don't know if this is if this is a myth or if it's actual reality but uh in the criminal Penal Code domes IC or Family Violence is probably one of the number one uh categories of crimes would that be accurate yeah I mean as far as uh the number of crimes committed yes um unfortunately uh it's it's just very common and at might happen when going through uh the Texas Criminal Justice System sure um one of the things that normally happens is that the police are called um by someone uh it could be by the person who claims to be a victim it could be by a neighbor but the police are called and they will typically arrest someone um who they think was the aggressor and the reason they're doing that is because they want to separate the people um for a period of time so that they can cool down they don't want to just l ere a judge orders someone not to be around the other person for 60 days and um that can be very difficult if there are children involved or if there are reasons why the people need to see each other and so sometimes those things have to be worked out sometimes you may have to try to ask a judge to modify the protective order but while that's going on there'll be a criminal case and the criminal case will be just like any other criminal case where um at the end of the day um if the case is not d ep people away from each other so that they have a chance to cool off uh so that uh the the victim the alleged victim is not in any immediate danger um hopefully so that things don't escalate again um it is possible to ask a judge to modify protective orders to some extent if there's a need for it um they are the judges are are not just going to modify a protective order because it's what you want uh they will have to see that there's some sort of overriding Need for some sort of limited contact thing that a judge can grant without uh giving you the uh ability to contest it they can do it without you or your lawyer present because it's temporary um if you're going to fight it you have to consider whether it's really worth fighting and it may not be for a couple of reasons number one um fighting it may show that you're in some sort of denial about the seriousness of what happened and so it may not look good uh also fighting it may require you to testify about what happened and if you're same place day in and day out and somebody got a protective order against you would that be an instance where you might want to fight it or because you couldn't you couldn't again I don't want to call it fighting it um fighting it sounds like uh you are resisting the whole thing you don't want to fight it that will make you look like you're beligerant and that you don't accept the seriousness of the allegations you can uh try to have a judge modify it um if it was in a working situation what I arate well that that shows a lot of common sense how you're addressing that are there any specific defense strategies that are commonly employed in domestic violence cases in Texas sure I mean each case depends on the facts of the case and so each case is different but um a common defense is self-defense um very often um one person is um accused of some sort of of violence when what they're trying to do is defend themselves from the other person so self-defense is one um another may be uh just q ements of fact uh you know what can and cannot be due in the future okay well first let's talk about affidavits of non-prosecution because that's really important to understand it is a myth that the person who claims to have been a victim can simply drop the case um that's a myth it's not true um the decision does not belong to the person who claims to be the victim the decision about whether the case is going to go forward is up to a prosecutor not to the alleged victim and so um it's also comm don't want it to be prosecuted and so they call the the District Attorney's office and they saywell why don't you come on down here and we'll talk about it so they go down to the district attorney's office and they say look I really don't want this prosecution to go forward um I really want the case to be dismissed and then the prosecutor will say something like okay well um you should sign an Affidavit of non-prosecution now notice the prosecutor didn't say if you sign an Affidavit of non-prose case prosecuted doesn't mean anything that's their decision so they've just locked in your testimony if they decide to subpoena you for a trial um to a statement under oath and you haven't gotten the case dismissed so uh I tell people to be very careful about those um I mean I can't I can't counsel someone who's not my client uh about what to do but I tell them to be very careful F and I tell them that if they would like uh for me to draft a sworn statement that will actually have a better chanc at doesn't mean that your rights have been violated or anything it just means they're not doing it um and they will they will talk to the people and the one that they think is the victim will be asked to to write out a written statement in their own words in in writing about what happened and then to sign it um if you are being questioned um about possible domestic violence by you um you are probably going to be arrested regardless of what you say unless you can really show with self-defense uh guess it always comes back to uh be careful when you're making any kind of statement uh with law enforcement present because it can and could be used against you in a court of law so absolutely that's great advice uh fact sorry don't think you're gonna be able to talk your way out of it a lot of people think they can what factors uh should someone consider when deciding between pleading guilty and fighting a domestic violence charge Court well when you say fighting a domestic violence charge in lawyer will be able to give you a pretty good assessment of what your chances would be at trial if it looks like you're going to be found guilty then you're going to be better off uh with a plea bargain that gets you a better sentence a better result um for the punishment part of it um if there's a weak Case by the state then you may be better off um having a trial on it so it depends on what kind of a case the state could put on and whether it really looks like they could prove you guilty in a ive you advice on whether a jury or a judge would be the best thing for that um but um you know it's possible to get prison time depending on your criminal history and whether you have a history of violence and how serious this violence was um if you're found guilty how bad were the the victim's injuries um and um other factors like what have you done to try to uh try to avoid having those kinds of things happen in the future are you have you taken anger management classes have you done things t ere there is an issue about whether you will be able to possess a firearm um if you um successfully complete your for adjudication you won't technically have been convicted under Texas law but under Federal firearm law that's a kind of an open question and um I wouldn't advise uh somebody to uh possess a firearm even if they've gotten deferred adjudication until there's more clarity in the law uh because you're just taking a big risk um and so uh there are a lot of consequences uh to a domestic th it's it's going to be a felony and then also the choking part um if there was choking it bumps it from a Class A misdemeanor to a felony okay um can you discuss the potential impact of of having a prior criminal record on a domestic uh or a family violence case in Texas sure I mean um it it's pretty easy to understand how um if you have a criminal record and then you commit another crime um the law and a judge and a jury would say okay this person has committed crimes before and then this per estic violence and then you've committed in the past crimes of violence whether it's an assault whether it's a robbery um anything like that if it if it's a crime of violence and you continue to commit crimes of violence then uh the system is going to look at that very negatively um because we don't want people committing crimes of violence and then doing it again and again and again and it not stopping and so um that can have very serious consequences so it does depend on on what your criminal her it's domestic violence or not um some people are maybe not very well suited for deferred adjudication by that I mean um some people just have a problem uh staying on the right side of the law and deferred adjudication gives you an opportunity to avoid having a conviction on your record because if you if you complete the process successfully the case is dismissed so you don't actually have a conviction so it gives you that opportunity but the problem is if you violate your conditions if you d conditions a judge could really Hammer you so that's a a risk that you are taking if there's a chance that you may have an issue staying on the right side of the law and it can be anything it can be a DWI if you violate your conditions by having a DWI or something like that many judges will Hammer you so you have to be really careful if you're on deferred to avoid something like that happening if you do complete it successfully like I said there's no conviction and the case is dismissed and then ed in front of a judge and a prosecutor and a probation officer saying that you violated your terms of probation because then you could get thrown in jail for a long time well it sounds like it's froth with Jeopardy uh so you should think twice or clearly before taking it yeah I mean it's it it can be a really good thing um for for people who don't have a problem um avoiding breaking the law uh it can be a really good thing but there are some people who you just know are going to have trouble go nse attorney for more than 30 years out of law school he clerked for the Federal Chief Justice of the fifth Circuit Court of Appeals uh the fifth circuit is charged with handling all lower court cases from Texas Louisiana and Mississippi and uh after uh completing that he went into the United States attorney's office as an assistant United States Attorney a USA and as a a USA Federal Criminal prosecutor for the nor Northern District of Texas he never lost a trial or an appeal um John is committe ndants and legal PR Professionals in this field uh we appreciate your time and look forward to seeing you again in the near future and uh don't forget to subscribe and stay tuned in for more thought-provoking interviews with subject matter experts until next time uh take care and John again thanks for coming on the show thank you to the subject matter"
