Photos by Candor Pictures
Exercise your constitutional right to remain silent. It’s advice worth gold from top Fort Bend criminal defense attorney David Hunter. Even if an officer has not read you your Miranda rights. In fact, the idea that you must always be read those rights in every situation is one of the most common misconceptions about the criminal justice system and how it operates. David Hunter knows, because he’s spent the past 35 years building his professional career through work as a judge, prosecutor, and law professor. Currently in private practice as a Fort Bend County criminal defense attorney, he went straight to the point in our short phone interview.
“The way a fish gets caught is by opening its mouth. Never say anything. You have the constitutional right to remain silent — always exercise that right,” he told us. You can be polite, and you should be polite, but you should never say anything without an attorney present. In Hunter’s line of work, he’s come to understand a simple truth about those who offer information to police. They’re attempting to explain themselves. “Defendants always think they’re going to talk themselves out of it,” he said. It never works. In his more than three decades of experience, he’s never once opened a file that said anything along the lines of “the defendant cooperated with me, so go easy on them.”
The average person has a lot to learn about how the nation’s court system works. When they’re caught up in it, they need someone with experience in the courts in which they’ll be charged and tried. Hunter works with defendants accused of drug possession, DUI, DWI, assault, and domestic violence. As a dedicated, experienced Fort Bend criminal defense lawyer, Hunter starts working with every client from a presumption of their innocence. We asked him why he does it.
“Defendants need strong, effective advocacy because the state of Texas has all the power and unlimited resources available to it, and defendants rarely do,” he said.
Choose Your Fighter
David Hunter is quick on his feet and speaks with the reassuring authority of a man who rarely confronts a legal situation he cannot tackle. His clear, firm voice commands attention, and his increasingly silver hair lends an air of wisdom to his words. More than rhetoric, though, Hunter has the credentials and the local credibility in the courts most defendants will want on their side. Who better to represent a client charged with a criminal offense than someone with deep familiarity with local judges and prosecuting attorneys? You’re going to want an insider.
“In a Fort Bend criminal case, I always strongly recommend going with a local Fort Bend lawyer. One who is out here every day and who is in these courts every day; whose practice is out here. Not someone from another county or city. When you practice here every day, you have relationships with these judges and prosecutors that develop over a lifetime, and we know the ins and outs of the courts here,” said Hunter.
As described on his website, David Hunter is a member and former president of both the Fort Bend Bar Association and the Fort Bend County Criminal Defense Bar Association. As a judge, he sat on the bench for Fort Bend County Court at Law #1. He was also chief prosecutor for the City of Katy, trial prosecutor for Jersey Village, associate judge for the City of Fulshear, and general counsel to the Fort Bend Commissioners Court.
He’s chosen to serve in Fort Bend County where his roots are. Before his role as an adjunct professor at Houston Community College and the University of Houston at Clear Lake, he first attended Houston institutions of higher learning. At the University of Houston, Hunter earned a bachelor’s degree in economics before going on to earn master’s degrees in finance, marketing, and management at the University of Houston at Clear Lake. He later attended Houston’s South Texas College of Law, where he was on the Dean’s List and received the SBA President’s Award.
Trust and Tribunals
Times have changed, and Hunter understands why. Today’s police are required to justify their budgets and time spent in the community. Arrests are a great way to do that, and police will quickly arrest anyone caught on the wrong side of the law. Even those perceived to be guilty of minor infractions could end up in handcuffs. Hunter illustrates the point with an example of juvenile offenders. Where children could be – and often were – released to their parents for questionable decisions in days gone by, today’s youth are not as easily let off the hook for minor infractions. However noble the reasons and justifications for equal application of the law resulting in great application of the law, most people are pushed through the court system.
We asked Hunter what to do if you’re caught up in an unexpected legal bind with no attorney to speak of. He told us you should use your phone call to get in touch with a reliable family member and have them find you a Fort Bend County criminal defense lawyer. For those who choose Hunter, they choose someone who is highly rated and experienced in criminal defense.
One of the first things David Hunter does once being retained on a case is to determine whether there was even a crime committed. Often, the officers rushed to judgment or were mistaken in the facts. After that, Hunter will discuss the facts of the case with the DA and aggressively move toward exoneration or dismissal when appropriate.
For more details on criminal defense options in Fort Bend County, such as defense against DWI charges, drug charges, assaults and more, you can explore Hunter’s website, or call to set up a consultation.
CONTACT
345 Commerce Green Boulevard, Suite 200
Sugar Land, Texas 77478
(281) 265-1515
DavidHunterLawFirm.com
