Carrazana, Christian

Mike Carnes brings four decades of experience as a federal prosecutor, state prosecutor, criminal defense lawyer and civil litigator to the Firm's white collar criminal defense team. Mr. Carnes is a graduate of the University of Texas, BBA, and the University of Texas School of Law, J. D. (1969). Upon graduation from law school, Mr. Carnes served as a trial attorney in the criminal division of the United States Department of Justice in Washington, D.C. and in New Orleans, Louisiana. He became an Assistant United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas in 1972 where he advanced to Deputy Chief of the Criminal Division and Chief of the Criminal Division before being appointed by President Ford as the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas. During his tenure with the United States Department of Justice and the United States Attorney's office, Mr. Carnes handled criminal appeals in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second, Fifth, and Seventh Circuits, and prosecuted numerous federal criminal cases in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi. A sample of the cases he prosecuted include bank fraud, mail fraud, tax fraud, wire fraud, fraud against the government, public integrity, gambling, drug, and kidnaping.

As the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Texas, he managed and supervised 28 lawyers and a support staff.

In 1977 Mr. Carnes joined the firm of Johnson Bromberg Leeds and Riggs in Dallas, Texas as a partner and handled civil litigation cases which included civil frauds and a variety of business litigation issues.

In 1981, Mr. Carnes left the firm of Johnson Bromburg Leeds and Riggs to open his own firm concentrating in federal criminal defense work. He represented citizens charged with tax fraud, mail fraud, fraud against the government, securities fraud, insurance fraud, bank fraud, kidnaping, narcotics distribution, contempt of Court, and impersonation of a federal agent. As a criminal defense lawyer, Mr. Carnes has tried cases in United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York, for the Western and Eastern Districts of Oklahoma, for the Western, Middle and Eastern Districts of Louisiana, for the District of Wyoming, and for the Northern, Western, and Eastern Districts of Texas.

Mr. Carnes returned to public service on January 1, 1999 to be the first assistant for the Dallas County Criminal District Attorney. He was involved in supervising 230 Assistant District Attorneys who prosecuted felony, misdemeanor and juvenile cases; felony and misdemeanor appeals; and civil cases.