Hand, Robert

JAMES G. RYTTING concentrates on criminal appellate matters, representing clients on appeal in state and federal courts. His federal appellate practice includes representation in habeas corpus proceedings.

James Gregory Rytting handles the Firm's appeals.  Mr. Rytting specialized in the area of U.S. Constitutional challenges known as federal habeas corpus claims, which not only requires mastery of direct appellate issues, but also investigation outside of the record for new evidence and new claims that can result in reversal and acquittal.

In federal habeas proceedings, Mr. Rytting successfully litigated numerous high profile death penalty cases: Mr. Rytting obtained relief in Miller v. Dretke and Moody v. Quarterman, from the federal district court. In Fratta v. Quarterman, Mr. Rytting won his client a new trial.  In Swearingen v. Thaler, a case that recently was the subject of an hour long documentary by television news journalist, Paula Zahn, (Discovery Investigates) Mr. Rytting fought off two execution dates by discovering new evidence that his client was actually innocent, and secured a the rarely granted right to contest his client's case in a second (or successive) federal petition for habeas corpus.   In Aldridge v. Thaler, Mr. Rytting secured a new trial for a client who had been incarcerated for 20 years on death row.  Finally, in Prible v. Thaler, Mr. Rytting prevailed in federal district court to take the unusual step of halting federal proceedings to allow his client to file a second State application for relief.  Mr. Rytting also handles complex white collar criminal appeals.   

Recently, Mr. Rytting has won appeals for Texas death row inmates Larry Swearingen, Robert Alan Fratta, and Anibal Rousseau, all high-profile cases that have garnered national media attention.

Mr. Rytting graduated from the University of Houston Law Center in 1997 and became licensed to practice law in the State of Texas that same year.  He is also admitted to practice before the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.

He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Cornell University in 1983 and earned his Masters of Arts degree from Indiana University in 1986. Prior to law school, Mr. Rytting taught courses in ethics, history of philosophy and logic at the university level.

Mr. Rytting has also co-authored several publications including Can Constitutional Error Be Harmless for the University of Utah Law Review alongside Professor D. Dug and The Possible Expansion of Anti-Retaliation Protection to Corporate Whistleblowers for the ABA Publication on Securities Fraud.  He is admitted to practice before the United States Court for the Southern District of Texas, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court of Texas.  Mr. Rytting is an associate with the Firm.