Some of our Successful Verdicts and Results

Jury Trials

• Client charged with Murder First Degree, two counts of Assault First Degree and three counts of Armed Criminal Action. Jackson County, MO, 2017. The State alleged that my client got into a fight at a night club, was subsequently thrown out, then returned with a gun shooting and injuring two people and shooting and killing a man who was working security at the club. This incident was all captured on video surveillance. When showed a photo line-up, two of the eight eye witnesses positively identified my client as the shooter. At trial, the Defense was able to demonstrate, through an expert witness, that the shooter was not my client, but another individual standing behind my client. We were able to completely discredit the State’s case against my client and the jury quickly returned a verdict in our favor; NOT GUILTY on all counts charged.
• Client charged with Assault First Degree, Robbery First Degree and two counts of Armed Criminal Action as a prior/persistent offender. Jackson County, Missouri 2015. State alleged my client confronted a man who owed him money. A fight ensued and the State alleged my client pulled out a gun and shot the man twice in the leg in front of numerous witnesses. After the shots, the alleged victim’s cousin ran out of the house and the State alleged my client pointed the gun at him and demanded money. My client was legally carrying his firearm and the defense put on evidence at trial that the defendant was acting in self-defense when the alleged victim was shot and that the cousin voluntarily gave the money to my client and that it was not a robbery. The jury deliberated and came back with a NOT GUILTY verdict on the Robbery First Degree and a NOT GUILTY verdict on Armed Criminal Action. My client was found guilty on count III Robbery First Degree and on count IV Armed Criminal Action. He received a sentence of probation on the Robbery and 36 months imprisonment on the Armed Criminal Action, which is mandatory.
• Client charged with Assault First Degree.  Jackson County, Missouri.  State alleged my client shot another individual with a shotgun.  Defense argued self-defense.  Jury Trial.  Verdict: NOT GUILTY
• Client charged with Murder First Degree.  Jackson County, Missouri.  State alleged my client shot and killed another with a pistol after an argument in a hotel room.    Jury Trial.  Verdict: NOT GUILTY
• Client charged with Rape.  Jackson County, Missouri.  State had DNA evidence implicating my client.  Defense argued it was consensual sex.  Jury Trial.  Verdict: NOT GUILTY
• Client charged with Rape.  Jackson County, Missouri.  State had DNA evidence implicating my client.  Defense argued it was consensual sex.  This was the second time this particular client was charged with rape.  Both cases went to trial.  Both NOT GUILTY.  Jury Trial.  Verdict: NOT GUILTY
• Client charged with Domestic Violence in the First Degree.  Jackson County, Missouri.  State alleged my client attacked and beat his significant other. Jury Trial.  Verdict: NOT GUILTY
• Client charged with Robbery First Degree.  Jackson County, Missouri.  State alleged my client robbed a river market grocery store at gun point.  Robbery caught on surveillance video tape. Jury Trial. Verdict: NOT GUILTY
• Client charged with Murder, Assault, and two counts of Armed Criminal Action.  Jackson County, Missouri.  State alleged my client produced a .45-caliber handgun, shot and killed one man and and wounded another man.  It was a clear case of self-defense.  Jury Trial.  Verdict: NOT GUILTY
• Client charged with Murder Second Degree and Armed Criminal Action.  Jackson County, Missouri.  State alleged my client shot and killed his girlfriend by way of putting a pistol in her mouth and discharging the weapon.  State’s evidence was circumstantial and the Defense proved to the jury that it was in fact an impulsive suicide and not a Murder.  Jury Trial.  Verdict: NOT GUILTY
• Client charged with Murder Second Degree.  Ray County, Missouri.  State alleged my client was responsible under Felony Murder for the self-inflicted shooting death of his friend.  My client and others were allegedly high on Methamphetamine when a friend shot himself in the head after making a reference to playing “Russian roulette”.
  Jury Trial.  Verdict: NOT GUILTY
• Client charged with Murder in the First Degree.  Jackson County, Missouri.  State alleged my client chased a man and shot and killed him after an argument.  Defense argued that the defendant was faced with a life or death situation and that my client’s use of deadly force was justified and was self-defense.  Jury Trial.  Verdict: NOT GUILTY
• Client charged with Robbery First Degree, two counts of Kidnapping and two counts of Armed Criminal Action.  Jackson County, Missouri 2011.  State alleged my client, along with two other individuals kidnapped, robbed and held a young woman and her child for ransom.  The alleged victim identified my client as one of the kidnappers.  The case goes to trial, my client testifies with a history of 17 prior criminal convictions, including a conviction for armed robbery.  Defense argued  that client was under duress and that he was coerced into participating in these acts by another individual. Verdict: NOT GUILTY
• Client charged with Assault First Degree.  Jackson County, Missouri 2012.  The State alleged my client Assaulted a woman he tutored while in college by punching and kicking her after she rejected his romantic advances towards her.  The alleged victim claimed my client became enraged after she rejected a kiss from him and that he reacted by punching her in the face and knocking her to the ground.  She then “pepper-sprayed” him, which made him angrier and more violent, which resulted in a broken nose and facial trauma.  The case goes to trial.  The defense maintained and argued that my client went to the alleged victims apartment upon her request for assistance with college homework and tutoring.  Prior to the incident, the alleged victim had sent graphic sexual text messages to my client and had invited him over for sex, via text messages, on occasion.  Said text messages were introduced at trial.  When my client went to tutor her, she made sexual advances,  he rejected her sexual advances and got up to leave, she sprayed him in the face with pepper-spray.  He then started striking out blindly in his own defense.  One of his blows, while lashing out blindly, connected, which resulted in the alleged victims facial injuries.  There were no bruises or other injuries found on the alleged victim although she alleged that my client violently kicked and punched her stomach and other areas of her body while she was down on the floor.  Prior to trial, the defense took the deposition of the alleged victim. Her testimony changed greatly from that of what she told police, and her testimony then changed again, when on the stand at trial. The defense also uncovered that the alleged victim was under the care of a Psychiatrist, was mentally unstable and receiving medication for such, at the time of the incident.  After 4 days of trial and 2 hours and 20 minutes of deliberation, the jury returned a verdict of NOT GUILTY for First Degree Assault.  In the end, my client was convicted of Third Degree Assault, a Misdemeanor, and received 2 years of probation.

Dismissals

• Client charged with Domestic Assault First Degree, Armed Criminal Action and two counts of Unlawful Use of a Weapon. Jackson County, Missouri, 2019. The State claimed my client shot at his ex-girlfriend multiple times, after they got into an argument, outside his residence. When questioned by KCPD Detectives, my client immediately invoked his right to legal counsel and refused to answer any questions. The Defense deposed the alleged victim, during which the alleged victim’s account of the alleged assault greatly differed than what she reported to law enforcement that night. Additionally, the alleged victim came to my client’s house in the early morning hours to fight with him, making her the initial aggressor. The Defense was able to show that the State’s case was weak and their victim would be unreliable at trial due to the inconsistencies in her statements.  CASE DISMISSED.
• Client charged with Domestic Assault Fourth Degree and Sexual Misconduct. DeKalb County, MO, 2019. The State alleged my client, a Police Officer, exposed himself and touched the hip of a teenage girl he and his wife were foster parenting. The State withheld discoverable material from the Defense, including but not limited to, the alleged victim had also accused another adult of similar sexual misconduct and had pending criminal charges herself. During her deposition, the alleged victim lied under oath. Additionally, my client had caught, on video surveillance, the alleged victim stealing personal items from him and his wife.  CASE DISMISSED.
• Client charged with First Degree Rape and First Degree Sodomy. Jackson County, MO, 2019. The State alleged my client raped and sodomized a woman on several occasions. My client maintained that the conduct was consensual. During the deposition of the alleged victim, the Defense was able to get the alleged victim to admit that the sexual conduct with my client was consensual and that she was not honest with police. CASE DISMISSED.
• Client charged with Assault First Degree, Armed Criminal Action, Discharging a Firearm and Resisting Arrest. Jackson County, Missouri, 2014. The State alleged my client was engaged in a verbal argument with another male, the alleged victim, in a parking lot of a downtown Kansas City, Missouri nightclub. The fight was broken up by Sheriff’s Deputies and the parties left in separate vehicles. The State alleges my client, after leaving the nightclub with a group of males in a red vehicle followed the alleged victim’s vehicle while driving down Main Street towards Westport. When the vehicles were stopped for a traffic signal at an intersection near Westport, it is alleged that my client in a red vehicle and another tan vehicle nearby, opened fire on the alleged victim’s white vehicle, hitting and wounding the driver, then fleeing the scene. The driver of the white vehicle identified my client in a photo line-up. The defense was prepared to try the case and was confident the defendant would be acquitted based on misidentification. CASE DISMISSED
• Client charged with five counts of Statutory Sodomy First Degree and one count of Statutory Rape First Degree. Jackson County, Missouri 2016. The State alleged my client sodomized and raped his girlfriend’s daughter. The alleged victim’s account of the alleged incidents changed throughout the duration of the case. The defense was able to show that the alleged victim’s mother had motivation to influence the daughter’s claims of sexual misconduct due to ongoing domestic and child custody issues with my client. There was no physical evidence of the alleged crime. CASE DISMISSED
• Client charged with two counts of Discharging a Firearm, two counts of Armed Criminal Action and Resisting Arrest in Jackson County, Missouri, 2014. My client allegedly did two drive-by shootings, shooting at both a vehicle and a home. The home was occupied by three individuals at the time. One of the occupants of the home, a witness for the State, allegedly told police who the shooter was by name, as he knew him/recognized him from the streets and also recognized the car to be the one that my client drove. Shortly after the drive-by shootings, police saw a car fitting the description of the car involved in the shootings near the scene of the alleged crime. As police pursued the vehicle, a gun was thrown from the window. After a short pursuit my client and another occupant of the vehicle were taken into custody by police. My client declined to give a statement and “lawyered-up”. Investigation by the defense revealed that the State’s witness who identified the shooter as being my client changed his story about who he recognized as the shooter. In his original statement to police he said he didn’t know who the shooter(s) was. It was in a later statement to police when he said my client was the one who shot. These inconsistent statements of the alleged victim provided the defense with impeachment material. There were other glaring problems with the State’s case. The defense was prepared to try the case and was confident the defendant would be acquitted. On the morning of trial the case was dismissed. CASE DISMISSED
• Client charged with Assault First Degree, Assault Second Degree and two counts of Armed Criminal Action in Jackson County, Missouri, 2014. My client and his brother were at a concert at Whiskey Tangos. While at the concert, an incident occurred as to someone sitting in seats that they did not have a ticket for. My client and his brother were asked to leave by the security guards at the bar. The State alleged that my client and his brother instigated a fight with the security guards once out in the parking lot, stabbing the security guards multiple times causing serious injuries to two of the three guards. My client maintained that he and his brother left the bar peacefully and that they were the ones who were assaulted by the security guards. The defense maintained that it was only after being assaulted that my client pulled his knife, which he always carried for protection, and defended himself and his brother, seriously injuring the security guards. My client and his brother were taken into custody. The defense argued that the incident was clearly self-defense, my client and his brother were the victims and were within their rights in defending themselves against three very large security guards who were the initial aggressors in the incident. CASE DISMISSED
• Client charged with Assault First Degree and Armed Criminal Action, Jackson County, Missouri, 2013. My client was driving down the interstate during the midday hours when four individuals in a vehicle began yelling and displaying aggressive behavior towards my client. My client then pulled over to the shoulder of the highway. The other vehicle pulled directly in behind my client’s and three males quickly exited. My client, who was alone in his vehicle, saw these three men coming towards his car yelling profanities and also saw one of the men reach for his waistband. My client grabbed a tire iron from the backseat and exited his vehicle. A physical altercation ensued and one of the three men who approached my client suffered significant head trauma. The State alleged my client attacked the victim in a “road-rage” incident. The Defense argued that my client was defending himself against three, crazed individuals who followed him and approached his vehicle giving him no other option but to defend himself. My client also feared at the time that one of the individuals may have had a weapon in his waistband. The Defense made repeated requests to depose the four individuals in the car. The State could never produce these individuals for deposition and did not disclose to the defense that one of their witnesses had pending criminal cases and also didn’t disclose all criminal convictions for their witnesses. The Defense pushed aggressively for a dismissal telling the State the defendant would not be accepting a plea and that the defense was prepared to take this matter to trial. CASE DISMISSED.
• Client charged with Robbery First Degree, Armed Criminal Action and Possession of a Controlled Substance. Jackson County, Missouri, 2013. The State alleged my client walked into a general store while wearing a disguise and directed the store employee to empty the safe at gunpoint and then fled on foot. At the scene, officers followed a set of foot prints in the snow from the general store to a nearby residence. Officers knocked on the front door then observed my client running out of the rear of the residence where he was then apprehended. Officers received permission to search the residence by a female who answered the door. Upon searching the residence officers found a general store plastic bag containing a large amount of money, a pistol, a baseball cap and a wig. My client had previously served a 10 year sentence for Robbery. The employee of the general store was shown a picture of my client by police and he said he could not be sure that my client was the person who robbed him. The Defense maintained all along that the State’s case was weak as the one eye witness in this case could not identify my client as the Robber. CASE DISMISSED.
• Client charged with Murder Second Degree and Armed Criminal Action. Jackson County, Missouri 2013.  The State alleged my client shot and killed a man during a verbal argument in front of a female witness.  The Defense brought it to the State’s attention that their one witness who allegedly saw the shooting had significant credibility issues and had changed her story about what happened the night of the incident and that their case was weak.  A plea offer of probation was made and my client declined maintaining he was innocent.  The Defense appeared on the morning of trial ready and prepared to proceed.  Apparently, the State had doubts in the strength of their case against my client and filed a dismissal the morning of trial.  CASE DISMISSED.
• Client charged with Robbery First Degree and Armed Criminal Action.  Jackson County, Missouri.  State alleged my client robbed a man and struck him in the head with a blunt object.  The victim could not identify my client as his attacker.  CASE DISMISSED.
• Client charged with two counts of Forcible Rape.  Jackson County, Missouri.  State alleged my client brutally raped a woman and hit her over the head with a brick.  My client was coming from his grandmother’s house and was riding his bike near the scene of the crime when someone pointed at him and yelled out “that’s him” he was arrested right then and there.  Police then showed his photo to another female who was sexually assaulted a week earlier and she picked him out as her attacker also.  The defense maintained it was a case of mistaken identity as they awaited the results of the DNA test.  When the DNA results came back they showed that the semen found at the scene of the crime did not match my client’s.  In fact, they were a match for another male in the felon database.  Jackson County Prosecutors waited over a week to disclose the DNA evidence which exonerated my client and proved his innocence.  CASE DISMISSED.
• Client was charged with Murder Second Degree. Jackson County, Missouri. State alleged she was involved in a shooting outside of a night club which resulted in the death of a female.  We maintained my client’s innocence and exposed that the State’s case was weak and circumstantial.  After pressure from the defense the State dismissed the case against my client due to the fact that they did not have enough evidence to prove my client was guilty.  CASE DISMISSED.
• Kansas City Municipal Court.  February 2011.  Client charged with Resisting Arrest, Hindering a Police Officer and Standing in Street Intoxicated Rendering Himself a Hazard.  Defense appears at first court appearance ready for trial. City’s witnesses which are KCPD officers do not show.  It is continued.  Second Appearance, Defense Counsel appears and announces ready for trial.  City’s witnesses which are KCPD officers do not show again although they have been subpoenaed.  All three cases dismissed.
• Client was charged with Assault First Degree and Armed Criminal Action. Jackson County, Missouri. March 2011.  State alleged my client shot a man during an altercation.  Defense maintained it was a clear case of self-defense.  Turns out the alleged victim had a long violent criminal history.  The Defense pressed for a dismissal based on the weakness of the State’s case and the violent past of the alleged victim. CASE DISMISSED.
• Client charged with Possession of a Controlled Substance. Jackson County, Missouri.  May 2011. My Client was inside a well known Kansas City night club and was detained and searched illegally by the club’s private security and later by KCPD.  Narcotics were recovered.  There was absolutely NO probable cause for his this search and seizure.  CASE DISMISSED.
• Client charged with Trafficking in Drugs in the Second Degree.  Jackson County, Missouri 2011. Police Officers claimed that they saw my client in his car in possession of narcotics and therefore made a traffic stop and searched the vehicle.  During the search officers found cocaine base. My client was arrested and charges were filed.  Defense argued that the stop was illegal based on the fact that officers could not have seen inside my clients vehicle due to extremely dark tinted windows.  Defense provided the State with photographs of my client’s vehicle taken just before the incident.  The photos proved that the officers could not have seen inside the vehicle thus making the stop, search and seizure illegal. CASE DISMISSED.
• Client was charged with two counts of Forcible Rape.  Jackson County, Missouri 2011.  State alleged my client Raped a twelve year old girl in 1990.  This was a cold case DNA hit.  Defense requested the State produce the alleged victim for deposition.  The State represented that they were having trouble producing her for deposition.  Since the State failed to produce the victim the defense hired a Private Investigator to locate the woman and interview her about the incident and inquire about her changing her story several times.  The woman was located by our PI and stated to him that she told the Prosecutors that she did not want to pursue any charges and that she would not testify on the State’s behalf.  The Prosecutors did not disclose this information to Defense Counsel, which is an ethical violation.  CASE DISMISSED.
• Client charged with Resisting Arrest by Fleeing and Unlawful Possession of a Firearm.  Jackson County, Missouri 2012. The probable cause statement alleged that KCPD observed a Dodge Durango traveling at a high rate of speed in the area of 60th and Wabash.  Officers then began following and activated their emergency lights in an attempt to make a traffic stop on the Durango.  The driver then pulled over. Officers exited their vehicle and state that they then recognized the driver as my client, let’s say, “Joe Davis”.  The driver of the Durango then sped off.  Officers returned to their vehicle and followed with lights and sirens activated but the driver would not stop.  Officers lost sight of the vehicle so they proceeded to an ally way, behind where my client lived. They then observed my client come out of his house and found the Durango involved in the chase parked nearby. They placed my client under arrest and searched the parked vehicle where a Glock 22 was found. My client did not talk to police and contacted his attorney. The Defense pushed for Dismissal of this matter based on the fact that my client was arrested coming out of his house, not in the driver’s seat of a vehicle.  The dash-cam in the police cruiser clearly showed that the officer, which claimed to visually identify my client, did not have a clear view of the driver of the vehicle at any time.  There is no way she could have made a positive ID.  We argued that the gun retrieved from the vehicle was not my client’s and in no way could reasonably be attributed to my client.  Additionally, my client had filed a citizen complaint against this specific police officer prior to this incident.  The Defense relentlessly pushed and the case was DISMISSED.

Plea Bargains

• Client charged with Murder Second Degree and Armed Criminal Action. Jackson County, Missouri 2016. The State alleged my client murdered his Mother’s husband by shooting him. My client confessed to shooting the alleged victim and his Mother who witnessed the shooting, also confirmed to police that her son shot and killed her husband. The deceased had multiple convictions for domestic violence related offenses and the defense maintained that the defendant acted in lawful self-defense as well as lawful defense of another, his Mother. We were ready and prepared to proceed to trial. The Friday before trial was scheduled to start, my client accepted a guilty plea to the lesser offense of Involuntary Manslaughter, a C felony.
• Client charged with Murder Second Degree and Armed Criminal Action.  State alleged my client shot and killed a man during a narcotics transaction.  When police arrived on the scene the alleged victim was still alive and in a “dying declaration” stated “Bubba did it”.  My client was charged based on this dying declaration.  My client pleaded to three years on the Armed Criminal Action and received probation on the Murder charge.
• Jackson County Missouri.  March 2011.  Client charged with three counts of Distribution/Possession of Controlled Substance and one count of Trafficking in Drugs in the Second Degree, an A felony.  Client has extensive criminal history including many drug convictions. My client allegedly conducted several “hand-to-hand” transactions with an undercover officer.  We get the Trafficking case dismissed and client pleads on other three counts. Client receives two years of probation with three year back up.
• Jackson County Missouri.  September 2010.  Client charged with Murder in the Second Degree.  Defense challenged the credibility of the State’s witness who allegedly witnessed my client shoot a man.  As a result of pre-trial motions and the defense’s discovery efforts my client plead to the lesser charge of Involuntary Manslaughter and received a suspended execution of sentence with three years of probation.
• Client charged with Larceny in United States Federal Court for the District of Kansas.  My client was Senior Project Manager for a Colorado based company who was providing construction services at a Military Base.  My client had authority to write checks for materials used at the job site.  My client wrote over $30,000.00 in checks to a company out of Kansas City for goods that were to be used for the construction project.  Turns out that this company was owned by my client, who was also the Senior Project Manager.  Therefore, he was essentially writing himself checks, and keeping the funds.  He was stealing from the Company he was working for.  My client was released pending trial and later plead, receiving PROBATION and was also ordered to pay the money back over time.  An excellent result considering my client was faced with significant time in Federal prison.
• Client charged with Theft of Government Property in the United States Federal Court for the Western District of Missouri.  My client’s mother was married to a Government employee who had passed away.  Thereafter, my client’s mother received her husband’s annuity checks.  When my client’s mother passed away, my client continued to cash her husband’s annuity checks and also falsified documents and forged signatures in an effort to keep the annuity checks coming resulting in him embezzling more than $90,000.00 from the Government.  My client plead, receiving PROBATION and was also ordered to pay restitution.  My client was looking at hard-time in federal prison.  Probation was a very favorable outcome and my client was very relieved.
• Client indicted on charges of Assault on Law Enforcement Officer Second Degree, Armed Criminal Action, Unlawful Use of a Weapon and Resisting/Fleeing Arrest.  Jackson County, Missouri 2012.  State alleged my client pointed a black handgun at officers while being chased by police.  My client was taken into custody by officers after a foot pursuit.  Officers found a gun behind a tree in the area of the chase with a live round in the chamber.  Defense negotiated a plea to three of the four counts getting the Armed Criminal Action dismissed.  Client was placed in the Department of Corrections shock incarceration 120 day program.

*Please check back often as we will continue to add to the list of  Jury Trials, Dismissals and Pleas.  Past results do not afford any guarantee of future results.  Each and every case is unique and different and must be judged on its own merits.