State of Texas vs. Matter Expunged

The client was an undergraduate student at SMU in Dallas. He fled from the Dallas Police Department in his late-model Corvette because he thought he had unpaid traffic tickets. After spinning out at the intersection of Royal and Luna, the DPD officer used deadly force against the client by shooting towards his vehicle. In his “Dear Chief” letter to explain why he fired his weapon, the officer stated that he feared for his life because the driver was attempting to run him down with his vehicle. The client was charged with aggravated assault on a police officer with a deadly weapon, which carries a penalty range of not less than 5 years or 99 years or life in the penitentiary. The client stated that he was fleeing the scene, and that officer, he thought, must have shot at the rear of the vehicle. Through independent investigation, Sasso learned that detectives called to the scene spent most of their time examining the rear of the vehicle.

Sasso went to Internal Affairs, who wanted a sworn statement from his client, which Sasso refused to give because he feared aggravated perjury charges against his client. Sasso persisted with Internal Affairs, but in the meantime, the officer stuck with his story with sworn testimony in both an examining trial and before a Dallas County Grand Jury. After indictment DPD requested that Sasso’s client take a police polygraph. Sasso agreed, but only after his client had secretly passed a private polygraph. The client passed the DPD polygraph. Only then was the officer required to take a polygraph. A refusal on his part would have been grounds for termination. The officer failed his polygraph, and only then did the officer admit he had lied from the beginning, at the examining trial, and before the grand jury. All charges except for one were dismissed against Sasso’s client. The officer, a 19-year veteran, was terminated. He was investigated for Official Oppression and Aggravated Perjury, and the case was referred to the grand jury. The officer was no-billed on both cases.

Two weeks later, the SAME grand jury indicted Victor Franklin for aggravated perjury in one of the most famous death penalty cases in Dallas history, involving the shooting death of a Dallas Police Officer. That case was successfully defended by Peter Lesser, but only after a Dallas Police Officer broke “The Code Of Silence” and told the truth, thus bringing integrity to the proceedings and the result, something we call JUSTICE.