Meet Charles A. Banker, III
Mr. Banker is a Board-Certified Specialist in Criminal Law with over 30 years of legal experience. He is dedicated to the best interest and well-being of those he represents, and with whom he is a true “brother in arms” (see “The Defense Attorney” below). As such, he advocates for the success of his clients in courts of law all over Texas and the United States.
A native Texan, Mr. Banker graduated with Honors from the University of Texas at Austin and received his Law degree (J.D.) from the University of Houston Law Center. In between these degrees, Mr. Banker achieved a Master’s degree in Theology from Regent College and a Master’s in U.S. Legal and Constitutional History from Rice University. Additionally, Mr. Banker has traveled extensively throughout Mexico and Latin America and is fluent in Spanish.
All this training and education has prepared Mr. Banker for what he believes is his vocational “calling” in life: To stand with and defend those who have found themselves in the very difficult circumstance of facing judgment in a court of law. He believes that helping people through difficult times is a natural outworking of his Christian faith. Additionally, he often encourages his clients to consider looking to God for strength and see that adversity often produces stronger character and greater faith in Him.
Mr. Banker also believes the U.S Constitution is one of the greatest documents ever written in human history. The freedoms it preserves should never be taken for granted. As he fights for these freedoms in courts of law for his clients, he is often reminded of the personal costs of those who have fought on battlefields all over the world to protect those same freedoms. As a patriot, Mr. Banker has a profound respect for our veterans and understands the special circumstances that many veterans and their families face upon their return to civilian life.
On a personal note, Mr. Banker has been happily married to his wife Rose for over 25 years, and he has been actively involved in the lives of their children: Stevan, Faith, and Joshua. Both of his sons attended Marine Military Academy High School in Harlingen, Texas which Mr. Banker believes was one of the best investments he made in their young lives. They’ve become honorable men.
“Freedom is a fragile thing and never more than one generation away from extinction. It is not ours by inheritance; it must be fought for and defended constantly by each generation, for it comes only once to a people. Those who have known freedom, and then lost it, have never known it again”
– Ronald Wilson Reagan, 40th President of the United States of America.
THE DEFENSE ATTORNEY
Perhaps the greatest calamity that can befall a human being in our society is to be charged with a criminal offense. Based on mere accusations, the government, through this machinery of criminal prosecution, focuses its formidable powers against the individual. Amassed against the accused will be the prosecutor, the police and often times the general public.
The process may rend apart the accused’s family, alienate his friends and destroy his own feelings of self-worth. He will be forced to undergo public proceedings, many of which he may not understand, and which the prosecution will constantly point this accusatory finger as if to say “By his deeds, he is no longer one of us.”
Very often the stakes are high. A judgment against the accused may require him to forfeit his property, his freedom, even his life. Into this breach steps defense counsel.
Sworn to protect the client’s interests to the best of his ability, defense counsel, too, may incur this wrath of public disapproval, but his solemn oath will require him to provide the best defense the law will allow no matter what the personal costs. Armed with little more than his wits and his knowledge of the criminal law, he will become the voice through which the accused will, in effect, do battle with the awesome powers of his own government. Our adversary system requires no less than that defense counsel to become a “brother in arms” to the accused in his battle.
Defense counsel must be prepared to stand and fight for his client against public outcry: he must stand and fight for his client at the same final judgment is entered. Such a system is not efficient. It is not designed for “swift justice.” Indeed, some would say that it is not designed for “justice” at all.
But if posterity judges a free society by how it treats its individual members, it should be of considerable consolation to us all that our system does not require an accused, to stand alone.
– Author Unknown
