Case Results

Bryan negotiated with the ADA in advance of the court date. The ADA agreed to dismiss the assault charge once Bryan’s client showed proof of having completed an anger management course. The case was dismissed, expunged, and the client never had to fly back to Nashville to appear in court.

During the course of a four-day jury trial, Bryan exposed glaring inconsistencies in statements from witnesses, as well as police failure to properly investigate the evidence. The jury returned a unanimous verdict of “Not Guilty” on five of the counts, including the Attempted 1st Degree Murder charge, and came back with a lesser-included offense on one of his six remaining convictions. The remaining convictions and sentences were appealed.

In court, Bryan successfully explained to the prosecutor that the client’s car was having mechanical difficulties, causing it to drive in an erratic manner, and that therefore, the client should not be prosecuted. The case was dismissed.

Bryan’s plea negotiations with the prosecutor facilitated the client pleading guilty to one of the charges, while the other was dismissed. The sentence was to make restitution to the government and be placed on three year’s probation plus six months of home confinement (aka “House Arrest,” “Home Detention,” or “Electronic Monitoring”). No jail time was served.

Fortunately, the client had no prior criminal history. Bryan was able to work out a deal wherein she pled conditionally guilty to simple assault with just one year of probation and an anger management class. Aside from getting a felony knocked down to a misdemeanor, the best part of the deal is that the entire case is eligible for dismissal and expungement after probation is successfully completed. Thus, she can go about her life without a permanent criminal conviction hampering her ability to obtain employment and other privileges in life.

Bryan’s plea bargaining on behalf of his client resulted in a guilty plea to only three charges, being placed on probation for six years, and serving only thirty days in jail. Once the client successfully completed probation, the entire case became eligible to be dismissed and expunged from public record, pursuant to Tennessee’s Judicial Diversion law.

Bryan reviewed the case thoroughly, and it became apparent that the “victim” had actually instigated the assault. After Bryan shared his findings, the prosecutor agreed to dismiss the assault charge against the client, and to prosecute the first aggressor instead.

Bryan reviewed all the evidence. He noticed that one of the witness’ stories had changed, which meant there appeared to be no evidence corroborating the alleged victim’s story. Bryan presented the case law on accomplice corroboration in statutory rape cases to the court. The State decided to “nolle prosequi,” meaning, they dropped the case without prosecuting. The case was immediately eligible to be expunged from public records.

From this review and his knowledge of the law, Bryan raised the issue with the ADA, and also sent a photo of the client’s headlight configuration. Bryan’s proactive legal challenge to the case, his credibility with the DA’s office, and his willingness to comb through the evidence, meant that a fast dismissal of the case was granted by the ADA. The ADA agreed that the officer had unlawfully stopped the client, invalidating any evidence uncovered during the stop, and the issue of whether or not the client was under the influence never entered into the case resolution.

Bryan focused the jury on the inconsistent statements of the witnesses, and the overall failure of the prosecution to meet their burden of proof beyond a reasonable doubt. The evidence of guilt just wasn’t there.

At the trial, after closing arguments, the jury began deliberations. In less than 30 minutes, the jury came back with a verdict of “Not Guilty” verdict on both counts. The client’s charges were immediately eligible to be expunged, and he walked away from the courthouse without any of the mandatory minimum penalties that come along with a DUI.

Bryan obtained the dash cam video and reviewed it. The client had performed quite well on the field sobriety tests. Bryan knew that the uncontroverted evidence contained in the video would benefit his client, so he set up an appointment with the ADA. In this way, he could highlight some of the discrepancies between the video and what the police officer swore to in the affidavit. The ADA agreed that the case for DUI was weak, and the DUI charge was dismissed.

Bryan’s plea negotiations with the ADA resulted in the client having all four charges dismissed and expunged after attending AA meetings and completing community service work. The client was able to continue college, and his career, without a conviction on his record.

Bryan negotiated with the ADA to reduce the offense to Reckless Driving. The client received no jail time and did not have his license revoked.

The client hired an attorney for General Sessions Court. That attorney did not request the blood test results, did not have the blood independently tested by a private lab, and never obtained or reviewed the dash cam video of the client’s arrest. Perhaps worst of all, that attorney never had a preliminary hearing on behalf of the client, but instead advised the client to waive the right to a preliminary hearing and voluntarily send the case to Criminal Court. Once the client’s case got to criminal court, the client realized that this attorney had not been an effective advocate and had not advanced the case.

The client then hired Bryan.

Bryan quickly obtained the blood test results, and upon seeing that they were just barely over the legal limit, advised the client to have the blood independently tested by a private lab. The results came back just BELOW the legal limit. Bryan also obtained and reviewed the video of the incident. Presenting the newly obtained lab results and putting forth his best arguments about the case regarding margins of error and other facts to the ADA, Bryan got the ADA to agree to throw out the case completely. She entered a “nolle prosequi,” which means that the State declined to prosecute, making the case immediately eligible to be expunged from public record.

In addition to arguments about the police conduct in the case, Bryan brought certain medical conditions the client had to the attention of the ADA. The result of the negotiations was that the client plead guilty to a substituted charge of Reckless Endangerment with minimal jail time, one year of probation, and the use of an ignition interlock device on her vehicle. She completely avoided a DUI conviction and her license was not revoked.

When negotiating with the ADA, Bryan was able to use these two things to convince the ADA to dismiss the case after client completed boating safety and alcohol safety classes. His charges were expunged from public record.

Bryan got the charge retired in just one court appearance, with no penalties assessed against client. The entire case was subject to dismissal and expungement.

Bryan knew his client had a clean record. When they went to court, Bryan was able to enter into an agreement for judicial diversion, a special type of expungeable probation. The client was able to report by telephone to his probation officer since he lived out of state. He received no jail time. After one year, he was eligible to have his entire case removed from public record.

Bryan’s plea negotiations resulted in the client pleading guilty to the much lesser offense of Conspiracy to Deliver under .5 Grams (D-felony). The client received a two-year sentence, time-served.

Asserting that the police relied upon a defective search warrant, and thus the “fruits of the search” would likely be found inadmissible, Bryan made arguments on behalf of his client. The ADA agreed with the defense arguments and dropped the case, making it eligible for dismissal and expungement.

Once the client made restitution to the restaurant for the broken window, and completed some community service work, the ADA agreed to dismiss the drug paraphernalia and vandalism charges. The client was allowed to enter a six-month diversion program on the firearm charge, and was able to have it dismissed and expunged. He left the courthouse with no jail time and no convictions on his record.

Bryan convinced the ADA to dismiss the charge, because there was no way they could prove that he intentionally or knowingly had the gun in his bag. He had accidentally left it in there. Because of the swift resolution, he had no disruption to his job and never even had to appear in court.

Bryan argued to the DA that the knives were curios or collector items under the law, and were not intended to be used as weapons. The case was dismissed in just one court appearance, with no penalties, or even court costs, assessed to the client.

Bryan hired a Private Investigator to do some work on the case, find and interview witnesses, and assist in background checks. This evidence was then presented to the District Attorney. After the “victim” did not come to the first court appearance, Bryan convinced the Judge to dismiss the case with no objection from the District Attorney. The case was expunged from public record and the judge ordered the client’s gun be returned to him from police custody.

Bryan undertook an extensive investigation of the case, and began negotiations with the ADA. The result was that the client’s charges were dismissed and expunged upon completion of an anger management course. Additionally, the order of protection was dropped.

Bryan’s defense arguments in court were uncontroverted by the police and the ADA dismissed the charge completely. Bryan’s office submitted expungement paperwork the same day.

Bryan’s successful negotiations resulted in the client’s charge being “retired” for six months, without the need for a guilty plea or a trial. After six months, he was eligible to have the case dismissed and expunged.

When Bryan got onto the case, he interviewed the alleged victim; it was obvious that she left with the client voluntarily. Bryan got the detective to show him the video, which made it clear to Bryan that the police claim of kidnapping was an exaggeration of the evidence. Then Bryan asked the prosecutor to review the video with him, and pointed out all the factors that showed it was not a kidnapping. Once the ADA watched the video and heard Bryan’s arguments, the ADA decided not to prosecute the kidnapping charge, proving the adage, “Just because the police say something is true, does not necessarily make it so!”

A felony of this severity normally isn’t resolved for many months, or sometimes years, and usually must be transferred to criminal court. However, because of Bryan’s quick and thorough work, the case was resolved in less than three months, and it stayed in General Sessions Court.