Matthew Watkins, Attorney at Law, LLC

04/16/2025

FYI, trying to explain yourself to the police never helps a criminal case.

02/21/2025

01/01/2025

Happy New Year my friends! This is your annual reminder that the Eugene Police Department is doing saturation patrols tonight. This means that there are way more cops on patrol and they are NOT happy to be working on a holiday. Stay safe, don’t drink and drive!

As always, if you do run into trouble remember to ask for a lawyer immediately, shut your mouth, and give me a call asap!

10/07/2024

¡Si usted está buscando abogado de derechos o herida personal llámeme ahora!

08/12/2024

Junk science in the American court system continues to allow innocent people to be convicted of crimes.

Charles Don Flores deserves a trial based on evidence, not on discredited science.

06/22/2024

I was quoted in the Eugene Weekly this week.

Seeking Protection Stalking and restraining orders and the justice system News by Camilla MortensenPosted on 06/20/2024Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)Click to share on Tumblr (Opens in new window)Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)Click to print (Opens in new win...

05/30/2024

Another one for the list of things not to do if you are a criminal defendant .

A defendant charged with driving with a suspended license appeared via Zoom while driving. “I don’t know why he would do that,” a perplexed judge said.

05/27/2024

Remember as you are celebrating today that there are cops working overtime. Don’t drink and drive. Make a plan, arrange for a ride if you are going to have a few. If you do find yourself on the wrong side of the law today remember to keep your mouth shut and call your attorney.

04/06/2024

When the police break the law it calls into question the actual guilt of the people that they have prosecuted.

Ray Rau also must give up his certification as a law enforcement officer that he has held since 1995. As a result, he can no longer work as a police officer in Oregon.

03/19/2024

61 years ago the right to public defense for indigent defendants was enshrined in law in Gideon v. Wainwright, the United Supreme Court, case that held “…in our adversary system of criminal justice, any person haled into court, who is too poor to hire a lawyer, cannot be assured a fair trial unless counsel is provided for him. This seems to us to be an obvious truth. Governments both state and federal, quite properly spend vast sums of money to establish machinery to try defendants accused of crime. Lawyers to prosecute are everywhere deemed essential to protect the public’s interest in an orderly society…lawyers in criminal courts are necessities, not luxuries. The right of one charged with crime to counsel may not be deemed fundamental and essential to fair trials in some countries, but it is in ours.” Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335, 344 (1963).

03/14/2024

Government expert witnesses are often the backbone of the state’s case. Situations like this one can lead to hundreds, or even thousands of wrongful convictions.

Yvonne “Missy” Woods intentionally manipulated evidence for years, calling into question all the criminal cases she worked on in her nearly three-decade career, according to a preliminary investigation.