If you have been charged with murder, or think that you may be, you need a Houston attorney on your side.  In Texas, capital punishment is prevalent, and the risk of being put on death row is very real.  The key is to get the help that you need to ensure that the charges are dropped as quickly as possible so that you are not at risk of receiving the death penalty.

Texas law states that anyone over the age of seventeen can receive death by lethal injection if found guilty of a capital homicide.  Those, that are insane, may not receive this punishment.  Otherwise, the prosecutor can ask for and often receive the death penalty when trying murder cases.

Typically, in order to receive the death penalty someone needs to be killed with one or several of these circumstances:

• The victim was a child.  If the person killed was under ten years old, the death penalty becomes a greater possibility.  If you have killed a child, even accidentally, make sure that you speak with a Houston attorney immediately to ensure that your risks are reduced.
• A fireman or police “peace” offer was killed.  If you purposefully or accidentally contributed to the death of an officer, you need to seek legal assistance immediately.  In these cases, the entire system of law enforcement and the prosecutors office will go to work to try and get you convicted.  With unlimited resources at their disposal, you cannot take anything for granted when trying to protect your freedom and your very life.
• It happened during a crime.  If you killed someone while robbing them, committing rape, kidnapping or arson, you could be sentenced to death.  In this scenario, two cases must be fought simultaneously since we need to demonstrate that you were not doing those activities in addition to fighting your murder charges.
• You hired someone.  You could be sentenced to death if you hired someone to commit murder, even if they didn’t follow through with it.  These cases require the prosecutor to connect a lot of dots for the jury, meaning that they may be willing to negotiate down from the capital homicide charges along with the potential of a death penalty verdict.
• You tried to break out.  If someone died while you were trying to break out of jail, you could receive the death penalty.  As with the case of the police officer, when you harm one of them, you are likely to face scrutiny and be investigated by several.  This makes it important to work with a Houston attorney before answering any questions or providing any information.
• More than one person died.  You can be tried and convicted of capital homicide if multiple people died.  For example, if you started a fire that killed people, you could be charged with this crime.

As a Houston attorney, we recommend that you do not speak with the police but rather, call us immediately.  We can come down to the station and be present during questioning to ensure that you are positioned correctly and that your rights are protected while going through the process.