https://rthomas.law/blog/ Plain-English explainers on how criminal cases actually work in Texas state courts and in federal court. en-us https://rthomas.law/blog/what-a-cash-bond-does-to-a-man-with-no-cash.html https://rthomas.law/blog/what-a-cash-bond-does-to-a-man-with-no-cash.html Fri, 02 Oct 2026 09:00:00 +0000 A nonverbal man sat in a Texas jail on a $10,000 bond. One hundred miles away, in Harris County, a federal court order would have sent him home. https://rthomas.law/blog/your-license-plate-is-not-just-a-license-plate-anymore.html https://rthomas.law/blog/your-license-plate-is-not-just-a-license-plate-anymore.html Fri, 02 Oct 2026 09:00:00 +0000 A camera reading your plate is old news. One sheriff’s office in Texas running a single search across 83,345 of them is not. https://rthomas.law/blog/mental-illness-is-not-the-insanity-defense.html https://rthomas.law/blog/mental-illness-is-not-the-insanity-defense.html Fri, 02 Oct 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Texas asks a jury one question about a defendant’s mind at the moment of the offense, and it is not whether he was sick. https://rthomas.law/blog/who-has-the-burden-the-question-in-the-lindsay-clancy-case.html https://rthomas.law/blog/who-has-the-burden-the-question-in-the-lindsay-clancy-case.html Fri, 02 Oct 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Massachusetts makes the prosecution prove a defendant was criminally responsible. Texas makes the defendant prove he was not. Same facts, opposite question. https://rthomas.law/blog/the-arrest-affidavit-is-not-the-case.html https://rthomas.law/blog/the-arrest-affidavit-is-not-the-case.html Fri, 02 Oct 2026 09:00:00 +0000 The document the news prints the morning after an arrest is one officer’s sworn summary, written before anyone has investigated anything. https://rthomas.law/blog/probable-cause-is-not-proof.html https://rthomas.law/blog/probable-cause-is-not-proof.html Fri, 02 Oct 2026 09:00:00 +0000 A stop, an arrest, an indictment and a conviction are decided on four different standards, and only the last one is demanding. https://rthomas.law/blog/the-15-day-deadline-to-save-your-texas-drivers-license.html https://rthomas.law/blog/the-15-day-deadline-to-save-your-texas-drivers-license.html Thu, 02 Oct 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Your deadline runs from the day you were served, not from your arrest. If the police took blood, your clock may not have started. https://rthomas.law/blog/how-a-federal-sentence-actually-gets-calculated.html https://rthomas.law/blog/how-a-federal-sentence-actually-gets-calculated.html Wed, 16 Sep 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Everyone asks the same question, and the honest answer takes about ten minutes. Here it is in writing. https://rthomas.law/blog/why-there-is-no-bond-in-federal-court.html https://rthomas.law/blog/why-there-is-no-bond-in-federal-court.html Wed, 16 Sep 2026 09:00:00 +0000 The first thing families ask after a federal arrest is how much the bond is. Federal court does not work that way, and the reason matters. https://rthomas.law/blog/how-you-actually-get-released-in-a-federal-case.html https://rthomas.law/blog/how-you-actually-get-released-in-a-federal-case.html Wed, 16 Sep 2026 09:00:00 +0000 The detention hearing is a real contested hearing, and it is won with preparation rather than argument. What that preparation looks like. https://rthomas.law/blog/your-first-48-hours-magistration-in-harris-county.html https://rthomas.law/blog/your-first-48-hours-magistration-in-harris-county.html Wed, 16 Sep 2026 09:00:00 +0000 What the hearing is, what the magistrate has to tell you, and the one thing that changed in November 2025. https://rthomas.law/blog/what-changed-with-thc-in-texas-and-what-did-not.html https://rthomas.law/blog/what-changed-with-thc-in-texas-and-what-did-not.html Wed, 16 Sep 2026 09:00:00 +0000 Marijuana possession law did not move. Almost everything around it did. https://rthomas.law/blog/expunction-or-nondisclosure-clearing-a-texas-record.html https://rthomas.law/blog/expunction-or-nondisclosure-clearing-a-texas-record.html Wed, 16 Sep 2026 09:00:00 +0000 One erases the record. The other seals it. They are not the same thing, and the expunction statute was rewritten in 2025. https://rthomas.law/blog/what-the-odonnell-consent-decree-is-and-why-it-matters.html https://rthomas.law/blog/what-the-odonnell-consent-decree-is-and-why-it-matters.html Wed, 16 Sep 2026 09:00:00 +0000 A federal court order decides whether most people arrested on a Harris County misdemeanor go home the same day.