Under the US Bill of Rights and the UN's Universal Declaration of Human Rights, all persons accused of a crime are presumed innocent unless proven guilty. This ensures that everyone enjoys the right to a fair trial and legal representation. Anyone taken into police custody should be read their Miranda rights, which says that they have the right to be represented by a lawyer.
Since 2003, Dallas-based criminal defense attorney John R. Teakell has successfully defended hundreds of individuals charged with felonies, both at the state and federal level. With his legal career stretching back to 1985, Teakell has a wealth of courtroom experience that allows him to successfully navigate the legal system on his client's behalf, ensuring that their rights are protected.
While there is no shortage of defense attorneys in Texas, particularly in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metro Area, what sets Teakell apart is his unique background and experience. He has broad experience as both a state and federal prosecutor, giving him expert insight into how the US legal system handles high-level criminal cases. Now a defense counsel, Teakell has handled thousands of cases, ranging from misdemeanors to federal death penalty cases.
Ever since his youth, Teakell has been interested in law enforcement. Teakell became a member of the state prosecutor's office, before becoming an Assistant US Attorney at the Northern District of Texas US Attorney's Office. There he prosecuted a wide variety of cases, including major white-collar crimes and drug trafficking. After around 10 years as a Texas federal prosecutor, he was recruited by the US Attorney's Office in Puerto Rico.
According to Teakell, Puerto Rico at the time was dealing with a cocaine epidemic, being a dumping ground of illegal drugs from South and Central America. There, he prosecuted major cases in drug trafficking, money laundering, and murders, including of government witnesses. After three years in Puerto Rico, Teakell returned to the mainland US as a trial attorney for the Securities and Exchange Commission in Miami before opening his private criminal defense practice in Dallas in 2003.
Now a criminal defense lawyer for more than 20 years, Teakell uses his extensive experience on both sides of the bar to defend his client's rights. Having been a federal prosecutor, he knows how investigations are conducted and can reasonably predict what the prosecution will try to do to secure a guilty verdict. This has led to significant positive results on many of the cases he handles.
"Criminal defense counsels are often underappreciated by the public," Teakell says. "But they serve an important purpose – which is to ensure that everyone accused of a crime has their rights respected and are treated fairly by law enforcement. For more than 20 years, I've been using my significant experience as both a prosecutor and a defender to see to it that justice is carried out with due process and equal protection for all."
