Josh Schaffer

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EDUCATION 

Josh graduated from St. John’s School in Houston in 1995.  He received a BA with honors from Duke University in 1999, where he was a student member of the Board of Trustees.  He received a JD from the University of Texas School of Law in 2002, where he was selected as the only student representative to the Alumni Association.  His wife, Emily, is a civil lawyer.

COURTS

Josh is licensed to practice before the United States Supreme Court; the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit; the United States District Court for the Southern, Northern, Eastern, and Western Districts of Texas; and the Texas state courts.

ORGANIZATIONS

Josh is a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers (NACDL), Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Associations (TCDLA), Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association (HCCLA), American Bar Association (ABA), and Houston Bar Association (HBA).

HONORS

Josh has been recognized as a Texas SuperLawyer Rising Star, one of the top Texas criminal defense lawyers under the age of 40, in 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010.

CONTRIBUTION TO LEGAL EDUCATION

Josh has taught criminal litigation as an adjunct professor at the University of Houston Law Center.

PUBLICATIONS AND SPEECHES

Josh presented a speech on “Being Effective in Your Defense:  Avoiding Common Mistakes in Drug Cases,” at NACDL’s seminar on Defending Drug Cases in Las Vegas, NV, on November 20, 2009.

CASES

Josh joined the firm in September 2002.  He has assisted Randy in jury trials and post-conviction cases and has already distinguished himself in the trial and appellate courts.

Josh has had tremendous success in jury trials, as demonstrated by the following cases:

• a parolee was acquitted of assaulting his wife; had he been convicted, his parole would have been revoked, and he would have returned to prison to complete a 25-year sentence for murder;

• a fireman who was hunting doves without a license and ran from the game warden was acquitted of evading detention;

• a waiter who drove through a police roadblock, had an open can of beer in his car, and blew a .14 intoxilyzer test was acquitted of DWI;

• a NASA scientist who caused a car accident and drove away from the scene was acquitted of DWI, second offender;

• a businessman who caused a car accident and refused to cooperate with the police was acquitted of DWI;

• a businessman was acquitted of DWI; and

• juries deadlocked at two other DWI trials, and the State dismissed both charges.

Josh has presented packets to the grand jury that resulted in no-bills for the following clients:

• a school teacher charged with injury to a child;

• two store clerks charged with tampering with a governmental record after they made identification cards that resembled driver’s licenses;

• a businessman charged with indecency with a child after he was mistakenly identified as the man who exposed himself to children at an apartment complex; and

• a high school student charged with burglary after he entered a friend’s home while the family was on vacation. 

Josh has obtained dismissals of drug charges because of illegal detentions and/or searches; family violence assault charges filed by vindictive spouses; possession of child pornography charges filed on a businessman who had illegal images and video files on his computers and a CD; a burglary of a motor vehicle charge filed on a college student who, while intoxicated and disoriented, entered someone else’s vehicle; a drug charge filed on a college student in violation of the statute of limitations; an indecency with a child charge filed on a high school student for allegedly fondling another student in a hallway; a DWI charge with a .13 intoxilyzer test filed on a businessman who had pulled over on the shoulder of the freeway to rest; and an assault on a peace officer charge filed on a retired businessman who was beaten by jail guards after being arrested for DWI.

While many of Josh’s appeals and habeas corpus cases are pending, he obtained a significant decision from the Fifth Circuit in a case of first impression.  Josh Bagwell, serving a life sentence for capital murder, escaped while his habeas corpus petition was pending in the federal district court.  The court dismissed the petition because of the escape.  The Fifth Circuit heard argument, overturned that decision and, in essence, remanded the case to the district court for a decision on the merits.  He also successfully argued in the Court of Criminal Appeals that a particular jury instruction in a capital murder case constituted an impermissible comment on the evidence.

Josh has obtained post-conviction relief for the following clients:

·        Evangelica Aguilar, sentenced to 25 years in prison for murder, was represented by counsel who opened the door to, failed to object to, and elicited inadmissible, prejudicial evidence; failed to object to improper argument; and failed to request limiting instructions.  Habeas corpus relief was granted, and the conviction was set aside.  She was acquitted at a retrial.

·        Raymond Murray was charged with the felony of making a false statement to obtain credit.  He pled guilty to misdemeanor forgery.  Josh moved to withdraw the guilty plea alleging that the trial court did not have jurisdiction to convict Murray because forgery is not a lesser included offense of making a false statement to obtain credit.  The trial court denied the motion and sentenced him to six months in jail.  The court of appeals held that the plea was void because misdemeanor forgery is not a lesser included offense of making a false statement to obtain credit and that Murray could challenge the conviction on appeal even though he agreed to the plea bargain.  The Court of Criminal Appeals granted the State’s petition for discretionary review but reversed the conviction in a published opinion.  The State dismissed the charge.

·        Joseph McVey, the rap artist known as “Z-Ro,” was sentenced to four years in prison for possession of a controlled substance.  The trial court found that his guilty plea was involuntary because his lawyer and the judge incorrectly advised him that the indictment alleged a second degree felony, when in fact it alleged a third degree felony.  The trial court granted a motion for new trial, and the conviction was set aside.

·        Mr. Adelaja, convicted of insurance fraud, was represented by counsel who failed to object to police opinion testimony that Adelaja’s story was not credible and to records of other insurance claims.  Habeas corpus relief was granted, the conviction was set aside, and the State dismissed the charge.

·        Mr. Rosnow was convicted of failing to stop and give information at the scene of an accident.  The State failed to disclose that its key eyewitness had prior convictions, was on parole when he testified, and had pending charges when he gave the police a written statement.  The trial court granted a motion for new trial based on prosecutorial misconduct, and the State dismissed the charge.

·        Ms. Idoko, convicted of delivery of a dangerous drug, was represented by counsel who had a conflict of interest and failed to advise her of a defense to the charge.  Habeas corpus relief was granted, and the State dismissed the charge.

·        Mr. Ferguson, convicted of desecration of a venerated object, was represented by counsel who failed to advise him of defenses to the charge.  Habeas corpus relief was granted, the State dismissed the charge, and the arrest was expunged from his record.

·        Mr. Steen, sentenced to two years in prison for possession of a controlled substance, was represented by counsel who gave him incorrect advice regarding the consequences of pleading guilty.  Habeas corpus relief was granted, and the conviction was set aside.