Legal Ethics

Texas Lawyer Starts Trial as Counsel, Finishes Up as Defendant

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When Carlos Correa arrived in court on Monday, the 63-year-old criminal defense attorney was ready to go to trial.

Instead, he quickly found himself in handcuffs, and, as of that evening, remained in jail awaiting his own trial, in lieu of $50,000 bail, reports the Houston Chronicle. Correa is charged with aggravated perjury, accused of arranging for a friend to lie on the witness stand last year during a murder trial.

“We have to be able to rely on attorneys, as officers of the court, to present testimony they believe to be true,” Harris County Assistant District Attorney Mike Trent tells the newspaper. “And you certainly can’t be directing people who are parties to the case to commit aggravated perjury.”

Correa apparently was unavailable for comment.

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