This is a working document, the kind of thing I'd hand to a new associate attorney who's never managed a defense investigation. It's organized around the questions I get most often from Austin defense counsel, from retained attorneys handling serious felonies to appointed counsel working through Travis County's public defender programs.
When to Engage
☐ As soon as you take the case, not when trial is approaching. The earlier I'm in, the more evidence is still available and the more time I have to develop witnesses before they become unavailable or their memories deteriorate.
☐ When your client mentions any witness, location, or event they can't fully document, that's an investigation task, not a paralegal task.
☐ When the prosecution's evidence has any component that hasn't been independently verified, surveillance footage, witness identification, forensic analysis, cell phone data. I've seen all of these challenged successfully when a defense investigator looked closely.
☐ When your client has an alibi that hasn't been fully developed, an alibi is only as good as its documentation. I can turn "I was at HEB" into timestamped video, a cashier who remembers them, and a cell tower record.
What to Provide at Briefing
☐ Police report, complete, including supplements and arrest report
☐ Any available body cam or dash cam footage
☐ The charging document and complaint
☐ Your client's statement in as much detail as they're prepared to give
☐ Names of known prosecution witnesses and any information about them
☐ Names of known defense witnesses and last known contact information
☐ Any known physical evidence and its current location
☐ Critical deadlines, suppression hearing dates, trial setting, any upcoming motions
☐ Any concerns about law enforcement conduct you want investigated
Work Product and Privilege
☐ Engage me in writing as a consultant retained in anticipation of litigation.
☐ Direct all communications through you, not your client, this maintains work product protection over my notes and reports.
☐ Identify at the outset which deliverables will stay internal and which may need to be produced.
☐ Don't share my work product with your client or with third parties without legal analysis of the privilege implications.
Witness Work
☐ Give me every name in the police report, not just the ones you plan to use. I investigate prosecution witnesses for impeachment material as a matter of course.
☐ Tell me which witnesses you've already attempted to contact and what happened. I approach witnesses differently when I know there's been prior contact.
☐ I provide written summaries of witness interviews that are formatted to support cross-examination preparation. Tell me upfront if you need a particular format.
☐ For witnesses who are reluctant or hostile, I have approaches that don't create confrontations that could blow back on your case.
Travis County Specifics
☐ I'm a Travis County Approved Vendor. For appointed cases, my work may qualify for county compensation through the appropriate request process.
☐ I have experience with APD, TCSO, and DPS investigations, and I know the documentation and handling practices of each. Let me know which agency made the arrest.
☐ For cases with a significant Austin geography component, my local knowledge matters. I can tell you things about locations, traffic patterns, and surveillance camera placements that a PI unfamiliar with Austin can't.
Deliverables
☐ Investigation summary memo, a narrative of findings organized for attorney review, with all supporting documentation indexed.
☐ Witness summaries, separate memoranda for each significant witness, formatted for cross-examination preparation.
☐ Photographic and video documentation, organized chronologically and authenticated with metadata.
☐ Timeline reconstruction, for complex cases, a documented reconstruction of the relevant events with supporting evidence for each point.
☐ Billing records, itemized activity logs suitable for fee petition if applicable.
Final Note
If I think the investigation is going in a direction that isn't helping your case, I'll tell you. If I find something that cuts against your theory, I'll tell you that too, better to know before trial than to have the prosecution raise it. The job is to find the truth and give you the full picture. What you do with it is your call as counsel.
For more on working with a PI as defense counsel, see our guide on working with a PI as a Texas attorney. References from Austin-area defense attorneys available upon request. 512-801-9754.
