Joe James Sawyer

STATE V. VICTOR PERALTA (Cause No. D-1-DC-04-904161, 167th District Court, Travis County, Texas 2004)

CHARGE:  MURDER. Client was tried for the killing of an unarmed man by stabbing him to death on the street in front of the home of the Accused.

VERDICT:  NOT GUILTY

 

STATE VS. SAMUEL HERNANDEZ (Cause No. 06-026-K26, 26TH District Court, Williamson County, Texas, 2006)

CHARGE:  SEXUAL ASSAULT OF A CHILD.  Client was tried for aggravated sexual assault of a child on September 18, 2006.  The child, extremely articulate, testified in graphic detail to the jury.

VERDICT:  NOT GUILTY

 

STATE V. KENNETH WAYNE KNOTTS (Cause No. D-1-DC-06-302047, 390th District Court, Travis County, Texas)

CHARGE:  AGGRAVATED ASSAULT.  Client was tried for Aggravated Assault w/Deadly Weapon on April 9, 2007.  The Client could not testify because of prior convictions. The alleged victim was an elderly woman who testified.

VERDICT:  NOT GUILTY

 

STATE V. ROBERT SPRINGSTEEN (Cause Nos. D-1-DC-99-996015, D-1-DC-99-996016, D-1-DC-99-996017, D-1-DC-99-996018, 167th District Court, Travis County, Texas, 2009)

CHARGE:   CAPITAL MURDER (4 Counts) - 167th District Court of Travis County, Texas. The Client confessed to the killings on videotape, as did his co-defendant.   This case was tried once to a jury, then after conviction, reversed. 

ULTIMATE RESULT: all four counts of Capital Murder were dismissed.  These cases have come to be known as the Yogurt Shop Murders.

 

STATE V. THOMAS WHITEHEAD (Cause No. D-1-DC-98-981017, 147th District Court, Travis County, Texas, 1998)

CHARGE: Possession of a Controlled Substance.  Client arrested with 600 hits of LSD, 42 pounds of marijuana and a loaded SKS assault rifle. 

RESULT:  JURY COULD NOT REACH A VERDICT.  Pled to probation

 

STATE V. HAROLD HARVEY (147th District Court, Travis County)

CHARGE:  SEXUAL ASSAULT OF A CHILD.  Six separate felony acts of sexual assault of a child.  The child testified to the jury that she was repeatedly sexually assaulted by the Accused. 

VERDICT:  NOT GUILTY on every charge

 

STATE V. REGINALD BROWN (299th District Court, Travis County)

CHARGE:  CAPITAL MURDER.  The Client was arrested 45 minutes after an alleged murder-robbery while driving the deceased’s car with the gun used to kill the victim under the front seat.  The Accused was alone in the car.

VERDICT:  NOT GUILTY

 

STATE V. GARZA (167th District Court, Travis County)

CHARGE:  SEXUAL ASSAULT OF A CHILD.   Client confessed in writing to sexual assault of a child.  The confession was admitted into evidence before the jury.

VERDICT:  NOT GUILTY

 

STATE V. OSCAR ROMELIAN (167th District Court, Travis County)

CHARGE:  INJURY TO A CHILD.  Client confessed in writing to shaking the brain-dead baby.  Confession admitted into evidence before the jury. 

VERDICT:  NOT GUILTY

 

STATE V. CAREY JANUARY (299th District Court, Travis County)

CHARGE:  MURDER. Client’s father, the only eyewitness, testified that his son had committed cold-blooded murder in the shooting death of the singer/songwriter, Blaze Foley.  Foley was unarmed and sitting in a chair when he was shot and killed.

VERDICT:  NOT GUILTY

 

STATE V. MCFADDEN (331st District Court, Travis County,)

CHARGE:  MURDER.  Client shot an unarmed man two times in the chest killing him in front of three eyewitnesses who testified at trial.  The shooting occurred in a parking lot at an apartment complex. 

VERDICT:  NOT GUILTY

 

STATE V. RICHARD HAYES (299TH District Court, Travis County)       

CHARGE:  FELONY AGGRAVATED ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY WEAPON.  The jury found that the Client stabbed the victim through the heart with a fish knife.

RESULT:  JURY FAILED TO FIND A DEADLY WEAPON USED. THE ACCUSED ENTERED A PLEA TO MISDEMEANOR ASSAULT, 8 DAYS JAIL.

 

STATE V. GUTIERREZ (Caldwell County District Court,)

CHARGE:   INJURY TO A CHILD.  Client confessed to the jury that he had beaten his teenage daughter with a leather belt.  Client was enhanced by two prior felony convictions and faced a minimum of twenty-five years in prison.

VERDICT:  NOT GUILTY

 

STATE V. MAXWELL (County Court at Law No. 4, Travis County)

CHARGE:   ASSAULT/FAMILY VIOLENCE.  Client on parole was charged with Assault/Family Violence against his wife, whom officers testified was bleeding from the mouth when they arrived. 

VERDICT:  NOT GUILTY

 

STATE V. CHESTER DAVIDSON (147th District Court, Travis County,)

CHARGE:   SEXUAL ASSAULT. Client was on federal parole for bank robbery when he was accused of raping and beating a female friend. 

RESULT:  JURY UNABLE TO REACH A VERDICT.  CASE DISMISSED 

 

STATE V. RAY LEMES (437TH District Court, Bexar County, Texas, 2007)

CHARGE:      MURDER.  The Client shot and killed an unarmed nineteen year old college student, shooting him multiple times with a Glock Model 23 loaded with .40 caliber hollow points.  The Client was outside of his home and the young boy was in the street when he was killed.  The victim had no criminal history.  Jury was unable to reach a verdict in the first trial. Retried on murder and manslaughter.

VERDICT ON ALL COUNTS:  NOT GUILTY

 

STATE V. JACKSON (390TH District Court, Travis County, Texas)

CHARGE:      AGGRAVATED ROBBERY.  The Client was accused of holding up a convenience store with a handgun.  Client could not testify because of a prior robbery conviction in which he shot the victim, who survived.  During this robbery the robber wore a stocking mask.  However, the store video revealed a man wearing identical clothes and watch enter the store earlier, in an apparent attempt to prepare for the robbery (case the joint).  Even the client’s mother thought the picture was of her son. 

RESULT:  Jury could not reach a verdict.  The Client entered a guilty plea to unaggravated robbery for a five year plea bargain. 

 

STATE V. WHITE (299th District Court, Travis County, Texas)

CHARGE:  MURDER AND MANSLAUGHTER.  Client’s sister testified that she helped her brother clean up the murder scene at his house and saw him wrap the dead man’s body in a blanket before the body was dumped on a lonely stretch of a public road in Austin, Texas. 

VERDICT ON BOTH COUNTS:  NOT GUILTY

 

STATE V. ANGELO LOVE (299th District Court, Travis County, Texas)

CHARGE:  AGGRAVATED SEXUAL ASSAULT OF A CHILD.  The client testified to the jury that he was a pimp and that the child had lied about her age.  The defense’s theory was that it was a job interview gone wrong. 

VERDICT:  HUNG JURY

RESULT:  Client entered a plea to misdemeanor assault for three days in jail