Thank You Toby Shook for Letting me Tag Along I had the privilege of sitting second chair with one of the State’s finest trial attorneys, Toby Shook. Until I showed up on the Collin County Courthouse steps, I’d not met Mr. Shook. I heard he was an exceptional trial attorney and a great guy. I can say after spending the day with him, the rumors are spot on. A mutual friend, Keith Harris, connected us to try a case together. I jumped at the chance. I sat taking notes during Toby’s voir dire yesterday. There was a factual issue in our case that some might characterize as “squirrelly.” Although the fact issue would not have been a silver bullet in
Read more →African Americans make up about 12 percent of the Texas general population. However, if you look at the percentage of male inmates from ages 20 to 24, you see that African Americans make up 42 percent of that prison population. Something is terribly wrong. Of course, I don’t believe its just one cause, but as a criminal defense lawyer I have to ask, “Is our criminal court system failing this group of our citizens?” I expect when this group is charged with a crime, most often they are represented by court appointed counsel. Some court appointed attorneys are fantastic and fight for their clients; however, some attorneys work simply as cogs in the machinery that conveys these people down to
Read more →The unfortunate fact about the criminal law system is that human errors are oftentimes unavoidable and leave huge flaws within the system. Unclear testimonies, poor eye witness accounts, and a less-than-great attorney are all things that could land an innocent person behind bars. Last week’s story about Dallas local, Michael Phillips, is a great example of these flaws and really shows the importance of criminal defense. When the front page of the newspaper reads “Man Arrested on Murder Charges”, most people automatically jump to the conclusion that the man was in fact the murderer. As a defense attorney, it is my job and passion to look at it differently. The sensitive and lengthy nature of criminal cases makes it possible
Read more →Parker County is a quiet place, and if you’re from Dallas or Fort Worth you might only know the county for its annual peach festival. Generally, however, Parker County, which includes the cities of Azle and Weatherford, flies under the radar of local news stations. On June 1, Mark Upchurch helped to change this. On the evening of June 1, Upchurch’s girlfriend came running down the driveway of their residential neighborhood screaming, “Mark set me on fire!” One of the neighbors drove her to the hospital after noticing severe burns covering her legs. After arriving at the hospital in Azle, the woman was then airlifted to Dallas with potentially life threatening injuries. Statements released by the hospital show that the
Read more →Without a doubt, trusting your attorney is of paramount importance. However, learning whether you can trust a person is a difficult task, and all of us know that we’ve had people in our lives we thought we could trust that let us down. One of the resources that I stumbled across actually suggests “people who don’t maintain eye contact usually have a problem with the truth.” So their recommendation is don’t retain an attorney that doesn’t make good eye contact. Most experts in non-verbal communication will tell you that evaluating someone’s trustworthiness based on the cue of bad eye-contact is about as scientific as allowing a groundhog to forecast the weather for you. The truth is, lawyers, like other people,
Read more →3rd Anniversary of Cofer Law February 7, 2014, has been 3 Years Three years ago I returned from my honeymoon and hung out my shingle. Married to my best friend and greatest supporter, I opened the doors of Cofer Law. I left my job at the Henderson County Attorney’s Office to come to a city that I had only visited to start my own firm. Jerry Loftin is a kind and generous man. He’d only just met me, but he was willing to work with me on the rent, so that I could make it my first few months. So, the little money I had: I spent on business cards (Printing Plus), $700 on coferlaw.com, $100 on a printer, $150
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Choose the Right Lawyer for Your Criminal Case Guerrilla Guide to Hiring a Lawyer I am often surprised by the questions I’m asked during initial consultations. Some people that come in have clearly done some research and are doing their best to vet me as an attorney. Unfortunately, often people are asking all of the wrong questions. This is likely do to the information people find on the internet related to choosing a lawyer. So, I reviewed the sites that Google chooses as the top results for how to choose the best lawyer. Many of the articles and checklists provided just don’t work for finding the best criminal defense lawyer. Criminal defense is definitely a very different animal from personal
Read more →Cody L. Cofer | Board Certified Criminal Law Texas Board of Legal Specialization We are proud to announce that managing trial attorney, Cody Cofer, is now board certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization in Criminal Law. Cody is the only attorney to obtain certification in Tarrant County in 2013. The certification process started in early 2013 with submission of a comprehensive application documenting the extensive trial experience and appellate experience. The Board also requires references from attorneys and judges that are familiar with the quality of representation Cody provides. In October, Cody sat for the day-long exam designed to evaluate a well developed understanding of criminal law. You can view the Standards for Attorney Certification. The Texas State
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