Ervin Law Firm, PLLC

12/29/2022

12/28/2022

05/09/2020

Clean sweep. In 2018 these officers were rightfully acquitted of eleven criminal charges. Austin Police Department Chief Manley doubled down and fired them anyway, finding they violated policy in not less than eighteen specific ways. Yet again we had to seek justice through litigation. The arbitrator obviously paid attention and issued his decision today: ZERO policy violations and a scathing indictment of their treatment by the Department and the Internal Affairs "investigation" that ignored all evidence that contradicted a pre-determined narrative. Full back pay, vacation time, sick time, retirement, everything. APD has been ordered to put them back in the positions they were in before any of this happened and expunge all trace of this from their personnel files.

I am incredibly thankful Officer Petraitis trusted me to defend him knowing I had been a defense attorney for about a week. And I have nothing but admiration for his fortitude and continuing belief that the truth would eventually be recognized by the people who mattered.

I've read the city's respose to the arbitrator's decision. When a total of thirteen unbiased members of the community say there were no crimes or policy violations and you continue to disagree, it means you don't trust the very system you are an important part of. Or it means you don't give a s**t and you're trying desperately to hold onto your job. Either way, I'll be closely monitoring whether the city honors its directive to reinstate these officers witih no further repurcussions.

The incident involving Donald Petraitis and Robert Pfaff was highly charged within the Austin Police Department.

07/17/2019

A good day at the office for me means a REALLY good day for my client. DWI 2nd. Crashed into a toll booth. Thought it was 7:00 a.m. when it was 7:00 p.m. Strong odor of alcohol. Admitted to drinking. Open bottle of vodka. Eight prescription drugs in her purse/car. Failed every field sobriety test. Acquitted today at trial.

P.s. client has been sober for 15 months and has a new lease on life.

06/28/2019

Thank you to James Wood Accident & Injury Attorney for inviting me to his fundraiser yesterday for the Police Activities League of Austin. This is a valuable organization within APD that seeks to prevent juvenile delinquency while also promoting respectful and positive interactions between police officers and young people. APD has three energetic officers devoted full time to this cause. These officers spend their time in schools, parks, and in the neighborhood providing athletic, educational, and wellness programs to at-risk youth. Too often when the police show up, sombody goin' to jail and somebody not happy with the police. APD PAL counteracts both by providing productive activities for young people and showing them the police officers are regular people who care about the community they work in.

SOCCER
BASKETBALL
BOXING
KICKBALL
GANG RESISTANCE
LEADERSHIP LIFE SKILLS
POP UP STREET GAMES
CAMPS
EVENTS

05/02/2019

Technology growing pains! DWI cases are now taking longer and longer to resolve. Digital transmission of evidence is great unless you're still using a 56k modem. (If you're under 30 and have no idea what that is, Google it.)

Two years ago, Travis County officials unveiled a $3.5 million software system to expedite the flow of evidence between local law enforcement agencies in