Warren • Healy Notes & News

When attorney Josh Healy picked jurors for death penalty cases, he used Lauren Kavanaugh, “The Girl in the Closet,” as his poster child for mitigating circumstances. The victim of horrific sexual abuse, starvation and torture as a child, she had the background to make jurors consider a lesser punishment, were she ever accused of a crime. Now Kavanaugh is 25 and in the Denton County Jail, accused of sexual assault of a child. Lewisville police said she admitted sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl. The girl told police she had been in a sexual relationship with Kavanaugh for two months. Denton...

Can I Get Off Probation Early?

11 Jul 2018

Warren • Healy

Is it possible to either get off probation early or have it reduced? The short answer is, yes, it is possible; however, it is not mandatory and/or guaranteed. Let me explain. Section 20 of Article 42.12 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure (entire section below) states that once a probationer has SATISFACTORILY completed one-third of the original community supervision period or two years of community supervision, whichever is less, their period of community supervision MAY BE reduced or terminated by the judge. However, the language of the statute is clear that the determination whether your probation will be reduced...

A tragic fight between college-bound basketball stars changed lives forever

22 Sep 2015

Warren • Healy

DALLAS — The last steps of Troy Causey’s life led him out of the south Dallas home where he’d been staying, past the gated front door, past the tattered basketball hoop and onto the asphalt to fight his roommate, Johnathan Turner. What happened next? Those awful moments have been the subject of debate and heartbreak here for more than a year. A few minutes later, a group of men carried Troy back inside the house. His skull was fractured and his ears were bleeding. Around 9 p.m., he was carried out by Dallas Fire Rescue, which had responded to a...

Victim’s mother after Madison High basketball star gets probation: ‘This is not justice’

06 Jul 2015

Warren • Healy

A former Madison High School basketball star won’t go to prison for killing a student athlete from a rival Dallas ISD high school. Johnathan Tramaine Turner received seven years’ probation Monday for fatally beating Wilmer-Hutchins High School basketball player Troy Causey Jr. in March 2014, two weeks after Turner helped his team win a state championship. Turner, 20, pleaded guilty to manslaughter in exchange for deferred adjudication, a type of probation that allows him to avoid formal conviction if he completes it successfully. His attorney says Turner plans to enroll in school, with the hope of playing college basketball now...

Nick Van Exel’s Son Receives a 60-year Prison Sentence

02 Feb 2013

Warren • Healy

February 2, 2013 | Posted by Jacobi Eaves Former NBA player Nick Van Exel sat motionless as a Texas jury handed down a 60-year prison sentence to his son on Friday in connection to the shooting death of a longtime friend. Nickey Maxwell Van Exel, 22, received his punishment after he was found guilty of murder on Thursday for killing 23-year-old Bradley Bassey Eyo. The younger Van Exel fatally shot Eyo in December 2010 and dumped his body in Lake Ray Hubbard on the eastern outskirts of Dallas. Van Exel’s attorney claimed that his client and the victim were playing with a...