Filed on: August 8, 2025
In Ward County, Sara Spector and David Phillips defended a client charged with Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon. The case came out of a violent moment inside a long pattern of abuse. Our client was trying to leave in her car when her husband forced the situation to a crisis point. He opened her door, blocked her exit, and put his hands on her while she pleaded for space. What mattered most at trial was not rumor or hindsight, but the immediate danger she faced and the choices she had in that instant.
The defense presented the full context the State tried to strip away. The jury saw that this was not an act of aggression. It was a response to a threat. Texas law allows a person to protect herself when she reasonably believes she is in danger of serious harm. Sara and David stayed focused on that standard. They walked the jury through the timeline, the physical imbalance between the two people, and the way a history of control and violence shaped what a reasonable person would fear. Self defense is not a technical trick. It is a right, and it applies when the evidence shows a person had no safe path out.
The State chose to push the case to a jury anyway. The panel deliberated for hours, worked through the evidence late into the night, and returned the next day still taking the decision seriously. After another round of careful review, they came back with a Not Guilty verdict.
This outcome protected our client from a felony conviction and affirmed something bigger. When a survivor is put on trial for defending her life, the courtroom must be a place where the whole truth is allowed to surface. At Dunham and Jones, we do that work with care and with resolve. We fight to make sure juries hear what really happened, not what is convenient for a charge sheet.
If you are facing a violent crime accusation in Texas and self defense is part of your story, our defense attorneys are ready to stand with you and present that truth in court.
