The key to a good defense-
- Call Kimberly Tucker at 972-492-ATTY (2889) in the metro to schedule a consultation. Prior to coming in for your first consult, complete the Prospective Client Info - non-DWIs document.
- You should also prepare a detailed written statement of what happened (detail all events leading up to your arrest) as soon as possible. Determine whether you have any witnesses that could help you should you decide to go to trial. Get their contact information and have them draft a brief statement.
- These cases can have many suppression issues such as search and seizure issues, 5th amendment issues involving your right to remain silent, as well as, trial issues such as self-defense, defense of others, etc. We will discuss all these in order to determine whether it is best to plead or try your case.
- Often times, the victim does not wish to pursue charges for various reasons. In these cases, I recommend exploring that issue and reviewing whether an "Affidavit of Non-Prosecution" could benefit your case.
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Assault Family Violence... SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES
1. Enhancement IssuesIn the past, you could plea to deferred adjudication and be assured that the offense could never be used against you. Now deferred probations are routinely reported and can even be used as the basis of sentence enhancements and disqualifications as to employment and immigration... and mot importantly, they can be used to enhance new offenses from misdemeanors to FELONIES!
This includes a deferred for assault family violence. Even if your prior deferred for this offense was successfully completed and all terms of probation were met, this prior incident can be used to enhance a subsequent family violence (misdemeanor) to a third degree felony.
The law is found in the Texas Penal Code § 22.01. Assault:
a) A person commits an offense if the person:
1) intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly causes bodily injury to another, including the person's spouse;
2) intentionally or knowingly threatens another with imminent bodily injury, including the person's spouse; or
3) intentionally or knowingly causes physical contact with another when the person knows or should reasonably believe that the other will regard the contact as offensive or provocative.b) An offense under Subsection (a)(1) is a Class A misdemeanor, except that the offense is a felony of the third degree if the offense is committed against: . . . (2) a person whose relationship to or association with the defendant is described by Section 71.0021(b), 71.003, or 71.005, Family Code, if it is shown on the trial of the offense that the defendant has been previously convicted of an offense under this chapter, Chapter 19, or Section 20.03, 20.04, or 21.11 against a person whose relationship to or association with the defendant is described by Section 71.0021(b), 71.003, or 71.005, Family Code...
(f) For the purposes of Subsection (b)(2): (1) a defendant has been previously convicted of an offense listed in Subsection (b)(2) committed against a person whose relationship to or association with the defendant is described by Section 71.0021(b), 71.003, or 71.005, Family Code, if the defendant was adjudged guilty of the offense or entered a plea of guilty or nolo contendere in return for a grant of deferred adjudication, regardless of whether the sentence for the offense was ever imposed or whether the sentence was probated and the defendant was subsequently discharged from community supervision; and (2) a conviction
My philosophy on these assault/family violence cases:
If your plea offer involves a "straight probation offer", that means an automatic conviction. If this is your situation, you may have nothing to lose by trying your case. Because these situations ca also improve with time, it often best to set them for trial for that reason alone.
Please be sure to let me know if your case arose out of a divorce or child custody context.
If you are not a citizen of the United States, please be sure to let Mrs. Tucker's office know!
