Brief Recap

Normally, the cases that are tried in Judge Melton Cude's County Court at Law are DWI. I've been involved in a bunch of them and, quite frankly, I think I could try one in my sleep. (With my nightly nightmares, it would be a nice change of pace.) But today we tried something a little bit different: An "Assault - Bodily Injury - Family Violence" case. That's code for "wife beating." As mentioned earlier, it ended up in a "not guilty" verdict - which I will always attribute to the facts instead of my trial skills. (I normally tell new clients in our initial meeting that "I'm not a magician. If the facts indicate you are obviously guilty, I can can't stop a guilty verdict from happening.") Family violence cases normally drive me insane. Everyone pictures some crazed man coming home from a construction job and then beating his wife for over-frying the chicken fried steak. That is rarely the case. Women (but not all women) manipulate the system in a frightening manner. Dallas Police Chief David Kunkle was on the new Gordon Keith show about three months ago. Gordon asked him what to do if someone were to find themselves in a false domestic violence allegation. Gordon joked, "Be the first one to dial 911?" The Chief candidly admitted that's true. I can't tell you how true that is.