What if the entire case against you was built on a fact that wasn’t true — and your own lawyer never challenged it?
That’s exactly what happened to me.
In my case, the government claimed I submitted an application to the Texas Veterans Commission by email — and used that to justify a federal wire fraud charge. But the Texas Veterans Commission doesn’t accept emailed applications. They never have. The agency’s own employee said it. Their website confirms it. The entire wire fraud theory was false from the start.
And yet, my defense attorney, Thomas McHugh, never challenged it.
He didn’t investigate the submission procedure. He didn’t ask for clarification from the agency. He didn’t call the right witness. He didn’t file a motion to dismiss. He didn’t raise it at trial. He didn’t raise it on appeal. He didn’t raise it at all.
That failure — to catch and confront the false foundation of the government’s indictment — wasn’t just a missed detail. It was a fundamental breakdown in the basic duties of criminal defense. And today, I filed a motion under Rule 60(b)(6) to correct it.
Because here’s the truth: I never sent a valid application by email. And even if I had, that method wasn’t authorized. The agency required applications to be mailed. No exceptions. No gray area. No confusion.
This wasn’t a gray-area conviction. It was a wire fraud case built on a wire that legally never existed — and a defense lawyer who never spoke up.
I had to do it myself. Years later. From a halfway house. With no legal degree. Because no one else would.
You can read more about McHugh’s deeper role — and the failures that stacked up around him — here.
But this post is about one thing:
The cost of silence from someone who was supposed to speak on my behalf.
And the fight to make sure the truth still gets heard anyway.