Upon meeting with his client, Jim
Sullivan explained how he intended to fight the case at the grand jury
level and try to get his case dismissed quickly. Like most people, his
client had never heard of this process, so it took a while for him to
understand it and the advantages. His client said that he previously
had talked to several other lawyers who were going to charge him a
minimum fee of $20,000 (which did not include a jury trial) and none
them had suggested this strategy to him. Jim Sullivan charged a
fraction of that amount and got his case dismissed in three months time.
About one year earlier, the client and
his wife noticed that their infant son was very irritable and fussy.
They did not know what was wrong with their child. The next day they
took their son to be examined at the local children’s hospital. The
doctor discovered that the child had a broken leg and several ribs that
had been fractured one to two months earlier and were in the process of
healing. The parents could not explain how the child received the
injuries, although the father was the only parent caring for the child
at the time of the injuries. The doctor opined that only the
coordination of an adult could have caused the leg fracture. CPS got involved and removed their three children from the home and placed them with grandparents.
About one year later, after the CPS case
was set for trial, the DA’s office charged the father with the serious
first degree felony of Injury to a Child. The father faced between five
years to a lifetime in prison. After posting bond, the father hired Jim
Sullivan to represent him. Jim Sullivan immediately called the
prosecutor to hold the case from the grand jury so he could prepare and
present a defense packet.
Attorney Jim Sullivan conducted extensive medical research and learned that osteogenesis imperfecta (O.I.) (brittle bone disease)
was a possible explanation for the child’s injuries. However, the
child was too young to be tested for it. Sullivan’s research also
indicated that the few medical tests that the doctor performed at the
hospital do not diagnose the condition.
One month after being retained, Jim Sullivan
turned in his 20 page defense packet for the grand jury. The
prosecutor was surprised to even receive it, believing that the case was
indefensible. Upon reading it, the prosecutor realized that she would
need to get the full medical records from the hospital in case the grand
jury had any questions. Because the hospital lost the first subpoena
for records, it took a full two months to obtain them and to then
present the case to the grand jury.
Both the client and his wife were willing to testify before the grand jury.
Without hearing from them, the grand jury did the right thing and voted
to no bill (dismiss) the case. Now, the father can get his criminal
records expunged.
The father has been forced to live
separately from his wife and children for over a year. He has had only
limited supervised visitation with them. CPS sought to terminate his
legal rights. Before Jim Sullivan
was hired, the father and mother were led to believe that their only
hope was for the father to relinquish his rights to his children so that
they could be placed with the mother. What an impossible choice to
make–to give up your children forever because of a false and heinous
accusation.
The father can now get his criminal
records expunged and the government ought to do the right thing and
dismiss the CPS case against them. The case was prosecuted in the 184th
District Court of Harris County. It was no billed on August 17, 2012.
Attorney Jim Sullivan regularly gets
felony cases no billed by the grand jury. Unlike other attorneys who
only try to negotiate the best plea bargain, Jim Sullivan fights to get
his clients’ felony cases dismissed at the grand jury level. If the
case has already been indicted, then he fights the case at trial. As
seen by this case, he thinks outside the box and seeks creative
solutions to his clients’ problems.
