Mario Del Prado., Author at Del Prado Law

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What to Do If You’re Accused of Sexual Assault in Texas

October 11th, 2026 | Sexual Assault 11th, October at 6:38 PM

A sexual assault accusation moves fast, and it can upend your life before you’ve had time to process what’s happening. Within hours you may be facing police questioning, an arrest, a forensic exam request, or a call from a detective who already seems to have made up their mind. The decisions you make in those first hours and days often matter more than anything that happens later in the case.

This guide walks through how sexual assault charges work in Texas, what to expect as a case unfolds, and the steps that actually protect you if you’ve been accused.

How Texas Law Defines Sexual Assault

Sexual assault in Texas is governed primarily by two statutes: Section 22.011 of the Penal Code, which covers sexual assault, and Section 22.021, which covers aggravated sexual assault. Broadly, sexual assault involves non-consensual penetration or contact, while aggravated sexual assault involves additional factors, such as the use or exhibition of a deadly weapon, serious bodily injury to the victim, or a victim younger than 14.

Consent, and the lack of it, sits at the center of most adult sexual assault cases. Texas law defines several circumstances under which an act is considered to be without consent, including when a person compels participation through physical force, threats, or the use of fraud, or when the complainant was unable to resist due to intoxication or a mental or physical condition. Cases involving a minor are evaluated differently, since Texas law treats any sexual contact with someone under 17 as a crime regardless of apparent willingness.

Penalties for Sexual Assault in Texas

The consequences of a conviction are severe, which is exactly why the early stages of a case matter so much.

Sexual assault is generally a second-degree felony, punishable by two to twenty years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. In certain circumstances, such as cases involving specific family relationships, it can be charged as a first-degree felony.
Aggravated sexual assault is a first-degree felony, punishable by five to ninety-nine years or life in prison, with some circumstances triggering a mandatory minimum sentence as high as 25 years and no parole eligibility.

A conviction, or in most cases even deferred adjudication, also triggers mandatory sex offender registration, which carries its own long-term restrictions on housing, employment, and daily life well beyond the criminal sentence itself. If you want to understand exactly what that looks like, our guide on sex offender registration in Texas breaks down the ten-year and lifetime tracks in detail.

Statute of Limitations for Sexual Assault in Texas

How long prosecutors have to bring a case varies depending on the offense and the age of the complainant at the time. For most adult sexual assault cases, Texas law generally sets a ten-year limitation period, with exceptions that can extend or eliminate that window, including cases where DNA evidence later identifies a suspect. For cases involving a child victim, there is generally no statute of limitations at all, meaning a case can be brought regardless of how much time has passed. This is one of the reasons sexual assault allegations sometimes surface years, or even decades, after the incident is alleged to have occurred, and why evidence preservation matters even in cases that feel like they’re part of the distant past.

What Happens Immediately After an Accusation

The period right after an accusation surfaces, whether through a police report, a forensic exam, or a direct confrontation, sets the tone for everything that follows.

Police contact. Investigators often reach out to the accused directly, sometimes framing the conversation as routine or as a chance to “tell your side of the story.” In reality, anything said during this contact becomes part of the evidence against you.
Forensic examination. If the accusation is recent, law enforcement may request a Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) exam of the complainant, which can produce physical and DNA evidence that becomes central to the case either way.
Arrest or warrant. Depending on the evidence available at the time, police may make an arrest immediately or continue investigating and seek an arrest warrant later, sometimes weeks or months after the initial report.

Emergency protective order. If the accusation involves a family or dating relationship, a magistrate may issue an emergency protective order at the time of arrest, restricting contact and, in some cases, firearm possession, separate from the criminal case itself. If you’re dealing with one of these, our guide on how to fight a protective order in Texas explains how that separate process works.

Because evidence, especially physical and digital evidence, degrades or disappears over time, waiting to get legal representation involved puts the defense at a real disadvantage.

The Investigation Process: What to Expect

Sexual assault investigations in Texas typically unfold over weeks or months, even when an arrest happens quickly. Investigators generally gather:

Forensic and medical evidence from any SANE exam, including DNA, injuries, and other physical findings.
Digital evidence, such as text messages, social media activity, location data, and dating app records.
Witness statements from anyone who had contact with either party before, during, or after the incident.
The complainant’s recorded statement, often taken shortly after the report and sometimes revisited later as the case develops.

Because this evidence is being gathered whether or not the accused is aware of it, having an attorney involved early allows for independent investigation, preservation of exculpatory evidence, and early engagement with the prosecutor’s office before charging decisions are finalized.

Common Defenses in Sexual Assault Cases

Every case is different, and the right defense strategy depends entirely on the specific facts. Common approaches include:

Consent. In many adult cases, the central dispute isn’t whether an encounter happened, but whether it was consensual. Text messages, witness accounts, and the broader context of the relationship often become critical evidence.
Mistaken identity. In cases involving a stranger or an unfamiliar assailant, DNA evidence, surveillance footage, or alibi evidence can directly challenge whether the accused was even involved.
False or exaggerated allegations. Motive, inconsistencies in the complainant’s account, and corroborating or contradicting evidence can all be relevant where an allegation doesn’t hold up under scrutiny.
Insufficient evidence. Because these are serious felony charges, the State bears the burden of proving every element beyond a reasonable doubt, and a case built primarily on an uncorroborated account can be vulnerable to challenge.
Constitutional and procedural issues. Improper interrogation tactics, lack of probable cause, or mishandled forensic evidence can sometimes lead to evidence being excluded or a case being weakened substantially.

Steps to Take If You’ve Been Accused

What you do in the early days of a case can shape the entire outcome.

Say nothing to police without an attorney present. Politely decline to answer questions and ask to speak with a lawyer before any interview, recorded or otherwise.
Do not contact the accuser. Even a well-intentioned message asking to talk things through can be used as evidence or, if a protective order is in place, lead to a separate criminal charge.
Preserve your own evidence. Text messages, call logs, location history, and witness contacts can all matter, and they’re far easier to gather before memories fade or data gets deleted.
Avoid discussing the case on social media or with mutual acquaintances. Statements made casually can resurface in an investigation in ways you don’t expect.
Contact an attorney immediately, even before an arrest happens. Early legal involvement can sometimes influence charging decisions before a case is formally filed.

Common Mistakes People Make

Agreeing to a police interview without a lawyer. Investigators are trained to elicit statements that can later be used against the accused, even in a conversation that feels informal or friendly.
Trying to clear things up directly with the accuser. This almost always backfires, whether or not a protective order is in place.
Assuming a lack of physical evidence means the case will go away. Prosecutors can and do pursue cases built on testimony and circumstantial evidence alone.
Waiting until after an arrest to get legal help. Some of the most important opportunities to influence a case happen during the investigation, before charges are ever filed.
Posting about the situation online. Anything written publicly can be retrieved and used during an investigation or at trial.

How a San Antonio Sexual Assault Criminal Defense Attorney Can Help

Because these cases move quickly and carry some of the most serious consequences in Texas criminal law, having an experienced san antonio sexual assault criminal defense attorney involved from the earliest possible point can make a meaningful difference. That help typically includes:

Advising you on exactly what to say, and what not to say, to police and investigators.
Launching an independent investigation, including locating witnesses and preserving digital evidence before it disappears.
Engaging with the prosecutor’s office early, sometimes before formal charges are filed, to present context or evidence that affects the charging decision.
Identifying weaknesses in the State’s forensic, digital, or testimonial evidence.
Building the strongest possible defense strategy for trial, while also exploring negotiated resolutions where appropriate.

Del Prado Law has defended clients against sexual assault and aggravated sexual assault charges throughout San Antonio and Bexar County for more than 39 years. As a Board-Certified criminal defense attorney san antonio tx residents turn to for serious felony matters, Mario Del Prado’s background as former Chief of the Bexar County District Attorney’s Criminal Trial and Major Crimes Divisions gives him a detailed understanding of exactly how prosecutors build and evaluate these cases.

Frequently Asked Questions

Should I talk to the police if I’m accused of sexual assault?

No, not without an attorney present. Even a conversation that feels routine or like an opportunity to clear your name can produce statements that are later used against you.

What’s the difference between sexual assault and aggravated sexual assault in Texas?

Sexual assault is generally a second-degree felony. It becomes aggravated sexual assault, a first-degree felony, when certain factors are present, such as serious bodily injury, the use of a deadly weapon, or a victim younger than 14.

Will I have to register as a sex offender if convicted?

In most sexual assault cases, yes. A conviction, and in most instances even deferred adjudication, triggers mandatory registration, generally for life for the more serious offenses.

What should I do if I’m served with a protective order along with the charge?

Treat it as a completely separate legal matter with its own hearing and its own rules. Avoid any contact with the protected person and speak with your attorney about how to respond before the hearing date.

Can charges be dismissed if the accuser recants or stops cooperating? It’s possible, but the prosecutor, not the accuser, controls whether a case moves forward. A change of heart can be a meaningful factor, but it doesn’t guarantee dismissal, especially in cases with other supporting evidence. Our guide on whether domestic violence charges can be dropped in Texas covers this same dynamic in more detail, since the rules around who controls a case are similar across family violence and sexual assault matters.

Is there a time limit on when sexual assault charges can be filed?

For most adult cases, Texas generally allows ten years from the date of the offense, with certain exceptions. For cases involving a child victim, there is typically no time limit at all, which means these cases can be filed many years after the alleged incident.

Protect Your Future Starting Now

A sexual assault accusation is one of the most serious situations a person can face in the Texas criminal justice system, and the choices made in the earliest hours often shape everything that follows. You don’t have to navigate this alone, and you shouldn’t try to.

If you or someone you love has been accused of sexual assault in San Antonio or Bexar County, contact Del Prado Law immediately. As a Board-Certified san antonio sexual assault criminal defense attorney families have trusted for more than three decades, Mario Del Prado is ready to start building your defense from the very first call.

Call 210-663-3750 now for a confidential consultation.

How to Fight a Protective Order in Texas

October 7th, 2026 | Assault & Domestic Violence 7th, October at 7:36 PM

Being served with a protective order can feel like the ground shifting under you overnight. Suddenly there are rules about where you can go, who you can talk to, and whether you can keep your firearms, sometimes before you’ve even had a chance to tell your side of the story. The good news is that a protective order isn’t automatically permanent, and in most situations, you have a real opportunity to contest it before a judge.

This guide explains the different types of protective orders in Texas, what the person requesting one actually has to prove, and how to build an effective response if you’ve been named as a respondent.

Understanding the Three Types of Protective Orders in Texas

Not every protective order works the same way, and knowing which one you’re dealing with changes what your options actually are.

Magistrate’s Order of Emergency Protection (MOEP). Often issued at the time of a family violence arrest under Article 17.292 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, this order takes effect immediately, without a hearing, and typically lasts between 61 and 91 days. It usually prohibits contact with the protected person, bars going near their home or workplace, and can restrict firearm possession. Because it’s issued by a magistrate rather than through the civil protective order process, there is no hearing to contest it. It simply expires on its own schedule.
Temporary ex parte protective order. This is a short-term order a judge can issue under Family Code Chapter 83 without notice to the respondent, based solely on the applicant’s sworn statements, if the judge finds there is a clear and present danger of family violence. It’s meant to bridge the gap until a full hearing can be held, generally within 14 days.

Final protective order. This is issued under Texas Family Code Chapter 85 after a full hearing where both sides can present evidence. This is the order that carries long-term consequences, and it’s also the one respondents have a genuine opportunity to fight.

Can You Contest a Protective Order?

Yes, when it comes to the final protective order. Unlike the emergency order issued at arrest, a final protective order requires a hearing, and as the respondent, you have the right to attend, be represented by an attorney, cross-examine the applicant and any witnesses, and present your own evidence.

This hearing is where most protective order cases are actually won or lost. If you don’t show up, or you show up unprepared, the court is left with only the applicant’s version of events.

What the Applicant Has to Prove

To obtain a final protective order, the applicant must prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, two separate things: that family violence has occurred, and that it is likely to occur again in the future. That second element, the “likely to occur again” requirement, is often the most contested part of the hearing, and it’s frequently where a well-prepared defense can make the biggest difference.

Judges typically consider evidence such as police reports, photographs, medical records, text messages, witness testimony, and the history of the relationship between the parties. A single isolated incident, particularly one with conflicting accounts or without independent corroboration, doesn’t automatically satisfy this standard.

The Protective Order Hearing: What to Expect

Protective order hearings in Texas move fast compared to other civil proceedings, sometimes scheduled within weeks of the application being filed. A typical hearing includes:

Notice and service. As the respondent, you must be personally served with the application and notice of the hearing date. Service by publication isn’t allowed, so if you were never properly served, that can itself become an issue.
The applicant’s case. The applicant, sometimes represented by an attorney or a victim advocate, presents evidence and testimony intended to show that family violence occurred and is likely to happen again.
Your opportunity to respond. As the respondent, you can cross-examine the applicant and any witnesses, present your own evidence and witnesses, and testify on your own behalf if you choose to.
The judge’s ruling. The judge decides whether to grant the final protective order, and if so, what specific terms and duration apply.

Because these hearings often happen quickly, preparation has to start the moment you’re served, not the week before.

Defenses and Strategies for Fighting a Protective Order

Several strategies commonly come into play when contesting a protective order, depending on the specific facts of the case:

Challenging the “likely to occur again” element. Even where an incident is not seriously disputed, evidence of changed circumstances, no contact since the incident, or the absence of any pattern of behavior can undercut this required element.
Highlighting inconsistencies in the applicant’s account. Contradictions between the original police report, prior statements, and hearing testimony can weaken the applicant’s credibility.
Presenting your own witnesses and evidence. Text messages, witnesses who were present, or other documentation can provide context the applicant’s version leaves out.
Addressing procedural defects. Improper service, a hearing held outside the required timeframe, or other procedural issues can sometimes affect how a case proceeds.
Demonstrating the order is being used for improper leverage. In some cases, particularly during a divorce or custody dispute, a protective order request may be motivated more by litigation strategy than an actual safety concern, and evidence of that context can matter to a judge.

What Happens If a Final Protective Order Is Granted

If the court grants a final protective order, it can include a wide range of restrictions, such as prohibiting contact or communication with the protected person, requiring the respondent to stay a specified distance from their home, workplace, school, or childcare facility, restricting firearm possession, and, in cases involving children, addressing temporary custody or support. A final protective order also triggers a federal firearms prohibition for its duration under federal law, separate from any state-level restriction.

These consequences extend well beyond the relationship at the center of the case. A protective order can affect housing, employment eligibility for certain jobs, and, in family law matters, custody and visitation arrangements going forward. And if the protective order grew out of a pending criminal case, it’s worth reading our guide, Can Domestic Violence Charges Be Dropped in Texas?, since the two proceedings run on separate tracks with different standards of proof.

How Long Does a Protective Order Last in Texas?

Most final protective orders last up to two years, but Texas law allows for longer, and in some cases lifetime, protective orders under certain circumstances, such as when the respondent has violated a prior protective order, has two or more prior protective orders on record, or the underlying offense involved serious bodily injury or a deadly weapon. A protective order can also be renewed if the applicant later shows a continued need for protection.

What Happens If You Violate a Protective Order?

Violating a protective order in Texas is treated as its own separate criminal offense, regardless of the outcome of any underlying criminal case. Depending on the circumstances and any prior violations, a violation can range from a Class A misdemeanor to a state jail felony, and repeated or aggravated violations can escalate further. This is one of the most important reasons to understand exactly what a protective order prohibits, since even well-intentioned contact, a text message, a chance encounter, or a mutual friend passing along a message, can be treated as a violation.

Common Mistakes People Make When Facing a Protective Order

Ignoring the hearing notice. Failing to appear typically means the court only hears the applicant’s side, making it far more likely the order will be granted as requested.
Contacting the applicant to “clear the air” before the hearing. This can itself be treated as a violation if a temporary order is already in place, and it rarely helps your position.
Assuming the order will just expire and it won’t matter. A protective order carries real, immediate restrictions on firearms, contact, and, in many cases, custody, from the moment it’s issued.
Not gathering evidence early. Text messages, witness contact information, and other documentation can be harder to gather the longer you wait after being served.
Treating the hearing like an informal conversation. This is a civil proceeding with formal rules of evidence, and an unprepared respondent is at a real disadvantage against a represented applicant.

How a Domestic Violence Defense Lawyer Can Help

Because the “likely to occur again” standard is often where these cases are decided, and because the hearing typically happens on a short timeline, getting an experienced domestic violence defense lawyer san antonio residents trust involved as soon as you’re served can make a significant difference. That help typically includes:

Reviewing the application and any supporting evidence to identify weaknesses or inconsistencies before the hearing.
Gathering and preparing your own evidence and witnesses to present a complete picture, not just a denial.
Cross-examining the applicant and any witnesses to test the reliability of their account.
Identifying procedural issues, such as improper service or scheduling defects, that may affect the case.
Advising you on what contact and behavior to avoid while any order, temporary or final, is in place, so a civil matter doesn’t turn into a new criminal charge.

Del Prado Law has represented respondents in protective order hearings throughout San Antonio and Bexar County for more than 39 years. Board-Certified Criminal Law Specialist Mario Del Prado is also a criminal defense attorney san antonio families turn to when a protective order is tied to a pending criminal case, and his background as former Chief of the Bexar County District Attorney’s Criminal Trial and Major Crimes Divisions gives him a detailed understanding of how these cases are built and argued from both sides.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I fight a protective order in Texas, or is it automatic once requested?

You can fight it. A temporary ex parte order can be issued without a hearing, but a final protective order requires a full hearing where you have the right to contest the applicant’s claims and present your own evidence.

What does the applicant have to prove to get a final protective order?

They must show, by a preponderance of the evidence, that family violence occurred and that it is likely to happen again. The second part is often the most contested issue at the hearing.

What happens if I miss my protective order hearing?

If you don’t appear, the judge typically hears only the applicant’s side, which significantly increases the likelihood that the order will be granted as requested.

How long does a protective order last in Texas?

Most final protective orders last up to two years, though longer or lifetime orders are possible in certain circumstances, such as repeat violations or offenses involving serious injury or a weapon.

What happens if I accidentally violate a protective order?

Any violation, intentional or not, can lead to a separate criminal charge, ranging from a Class A misdemeanor to a state jail felony depending on the circumstances and any prior violations. It’s important to understand exactly what the order prohibits and avoid any contact it restricts.

You Have the Right to Tell Your Side

A protective order can feel like a decision that’s already been made about you, but the final hearing exists precisely because Texas law recognizes that both sides deserve to be heard. With the right preparation, a contested hearing gives you a genuine chance to challenge the applicant’s account and protect your rights.

If you’ve been served with a protective order in San Antonio or Bexar County, contact Del Prado Law right away. As a Board-Certified domestic violence defense lawyer san antonio residents have trusted for more than three decades, Mario Del Prado can help you prepare a strong response before your hearing date.

Call 210-663-3750 today for a confidential consultation.

Can Domestic Violence Charges Be Dropped in Texas?

October 3rd, 2026 | Assault & Domestic Violence 3rd, October at 9:00 PM

It’s one of the most common questions we hear, often from the accused, sometimes from the alleged victim themselves: if she doesn’t want to press charges anymore, can’t this just go away? The honest answer surprises a lot of people. In Texas, the person who called the police or was named as the complaining witness doesn’t actually control whether charges move forward. That decision belongs to the State.

Understanding how that decision gets made, and what can realistically get a domestic violence charge dismissed, is the first step to building an effective defense. This guide breaks down how the process actually works in Texas, and what options exist even when it feels like the case is out of your hands.

How Texas Classifies Domestic Violence Charges

Not all family violence cases carry the same weight, and understanding where a case falls matters for both strategy and stakes. Texas generally charges family violence offenses under the Texas Penal Code assault statute along a few different levels:

Class C misdemeanor assault, involving offensive or provocative contact without injury, punishable only by a fine.
Class A misdemeanor assault causing bodily injury to a family member, which can carry up to a year in county jail and a fine of up to $4,000.
Third-degree felony continuous violence against the family, which applies when a person commits family violence assault two or more times within a 12-month period, even against different family members.
Aggravated assault family violence, a second-degree or first-degree felony, which applies when the assault involves serious bodily injury or the use or exhibition of a deadly weapon.

The classification of the charge affects everything from bond conditions to the prosecutor’s willingness to negotiate, which is another reason a case built around “the victim doesn’t want to press charges” alone is rarely a complete strategy.

Who Actually Decides Whether Charges Are Dropped?

Under Texas law, a criminal offense is treated as a crime against the State, not simply a private dispute between two people. Once police make an arrest or a prosecutor files charges, the case belongs to the State of Texas, represented by the district or county attorney’s office. That prosecutor, not the alleged victim, decides whether to continue pursuing the case, offer a plea agreement, or dismiss it.

This structure exists deliberately. Texas lawmakers and prosecutors’ offices have long recognized that domestic violence victims often face pressure, fear, or even threats to recant their statements, so the law is built to prevent a single change of heart from automatically ending a case.

Can the Victim Drop the Charges?

Not on their own, no. A common misconception is that the alleged victim can simply “drop the charges” the way they might withdraw a civil complaint. In reality, once law enforcement or a prosecutor files a case, the alleged victim becomes a witness for the State rather than a party who controls the outcome.

What the alleged victim can do is formally express that they no longer wish to pursue the case. That’s typically done through a legal document called an affidavit of non-prosecution.

What Is an Affidavit of Non-Prosecution?

An affidavit of non-prosecution, often shortened to ANP, is a sworn, notarized statement in which the alleged victim tells the court and the prosecutor that they do not want the case to move forward. It may explain that the incident was a misunderstanding, that the parties have reconciled, or that the alleged victim does not feel threatened.

An ANP can be a meaningful piece of the picture, and defense attorneys often use it as leverage in negotiations with the prosecutor’s office. But it is not a court order, and it does not obligate the prosecutor to do anything. The prosecutor reviews it alongside everything else in the file: police reports, photographs, 911 calls, medical records, and any other independent evidence, before deciding how to proceed.

Why Some Prosecutors Refuse to Drop Charges Even With an ANP

Many Texas counties, including several in the greater San Antonio area, maintain what are informally called “no-drop” policies for family violence cases. These policies don’t legally prevent a case from ever being dismissed, but they set a strong internal expectation that prosecutors should not simply drop a case because a witness recanted or stopped cooperating.

These policies exist because domestic violence cases often involve recantation under pressure, whether from fear, financial dependence, or a desire to keep a family together. Prosecutors are trained to look past a single ANP and ask whether the case can still be proven with the evidence that already exists, independent of the alleged victim’s continued cooperation.

In practice, this means that even a fully cooperative alleged victim who wants the case dropped may not be enough on its own, particularly in cases involving visible injuries, prior incidents, or corroborating witnesses.

What Can Actually Get Domestic Violence Charges Dismissed?

Because the decision rests with the prosecutor, the more realistic path to dismissal usually comes from weaknesses in the State’s case itself, not just the alleged victim’s wishes. Common factors that lead to dismissal or reduced charges include:

Insufficient evidence. If the case relies almost entirely on the alleged victim’s statement and that statement is inconsistent, recanted, or contradicted by physical evidence, the prosecutor may conclude they can’t meet the burden of proof.
Constitutional and procedural issues. Improper searches, a lack of probable cause for the arrest, or violations of the defendant’s rights during questioning can all undermine a case, sometimes leading to evidence being excluded entirely.
Self-defense evidence. Texas law allows a person to use reasonable force to protect themselves, and evidence showing the defendant was responding to an attack rather than initiating one can shift how a prosecutor views the entire incident.
False or exaggerated allegations. Text messages, witness statements, or inconsistencies in the original police report can sometimes show that an allegation doesn’t hold up under scrutiny.
Completion of a pretrial diversion or intervention program. In some cases, particularly for first-time offenders without aggravating factors, a prosecutor may agree to dismiss charges after the defendant completes counseling, community service, or another agreed-upon program.

None of these outcomes happen automatically. They require an attorney who knows how to identify weaknesses in the State’s case and present them persuasively to the prosecutor, often well before a case ever reaches a jury.

How Common Is It for These Charges to Get Dropped in Texas?

Dismissals do happen, more often than many people expect. Data on family violence prosecutions across Texas suggests that roughly 15 percent of felony family violence cases and closer to 30 percent of misdemeanor family violence cases end in dismissal. That’s a meaningful percentage, but it also means most cases don’t simply go away on their own. The cases that do get dismissed are typically the ones where a defense attorney has actively worked the case, challenging evidence, negotiating with the prosecutor, and presenting mitigating information rather than waiting to see what happens.

What Happens If Charges Aren’t Dropped?

If the prosecutor decides to move forward despite an ANP or a lack of victim cooperation, the case proceeds like any other criminal matter. That can include plea negotiations, pretrial motions to challenge evidence, and ultimately a trial if no resolution is reached. Domestic violence convictions in Texas can carry serious consequences beyond a criminal record, including firearm restrictions under both state and federal law, mandatory batterer intervention programs, and, in cases involving prior convictions or serious injury, felony-level penalties.

This is exactly why waiting to see whether the alleged victim “changes their mind” is not a defense strategy. A case needs to be actively defended from the moment charges are filed, regardless of what the complaining witness says they want.

It’s also worth noting that a domestic violence case can trigger consequences outside the criminal courtroom entirely. Even before a conviction, an arrest for family violence can lead the alleged victim, or in some cases the State, to pursue a separate protective order, which carries its own restrictions on firearms, housing, and contact that exist independently of how the criminal case turns out. If you’ve also been served with one, it’s worth reading our guide on how to fight a protective order in Texas, since that process runs on its own timeline and its own rules of evidence.

Common Mistakes People Make

Assuming an ANP guarantees dismissal. It’s a factor, not a finish line, and prosecutors are not legally bound by it.
Contacting the alleged victim directly to ask them to sign an ANP or change their story. This can violate a protective order or bond condition and lead to new charges, even if the intent was reconciliation.
Waiting passively for the case to resolve itself. Prosecutors don’t dismiss cases out of inactivity; dismissals typically result from active defense work.
Talking to police or prosecutors without an attorney present. Statements made early in a case, even well-intentioned ones, can be used against the defendant later.
Assuming a first-time offense won’t be taken seriously. Many Texas counties treat family violence cases as a priority regardless of the defendant’s criminal history.

How a Domestic Violence Defense Attorney Can Help

Because the outcome depends on how the State’s case holds up, not simply on what the alleged victim wants, having an experienced domestic violence defense attorney san antonio residents trust involved early can meaningfully change the trajectory of a case. That help typically includes:

Reviewing police reports, 911 calls, and any body camera footage for inconsistencies or procedural issues.
Communicating with the prosecutor’s office on the client’s behalf, including presenting an affidavit of non-prosecution if the alleged victim chooses to provide one.
Identifying self-defense evidence, witness inconsistencies, or constitutional violations that could support a dismissal or reduced charge.
Exploring pretrial diversion or intervention programs where appropriate, particularly for clients without a prior record.
Preparing the case for trial from day one, rather than waiting to see whether it resolves on its own.

Del Prado Law has defended clients in family violence cases throughout San Antonio and Bexar County for more than 39 years. Board-Certified Criminal Law Specialist Mario Del Prado is also a criminal defense attorney san antonio families turn to for the full range of criminal matters, and his background as former Chief of the Bexar County District Attorney’s Criminal Trial and Major Crimes Divisions gives him firsthand insight into exactly how these cases are built and evaluated by the prosecution.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can my spouse or partner just drop the domestic violence charges against me?

No. Once charges are filed, only the prosecutor has the authority to dismiss them. The alleged victim can submit an affidavit of non-prosecution expressing their wishes, but the prosecutor is not required to follow it.

What is an affidavit of non-prosecution, and does it work?

It’s a sworn statement from the alleged victim saying they don’t want the case to continue. It can influence a prosecutor’s decision, especially when combined with other weaknesses in the case, but it does not guarantee dismissal on its own.

Why won’t the prosecutor drop the case if the victim wants it dropped?

Many Texas counties have informal “no-drop” policies for family violence cases, reflecting concern that victims sometimes recant due to fear or pressure rather than because the allegation was false.

What actually gets these charges dismissed in Texas?

Dismissals usually come from weaknesses in the State’s evidence, procedural or constitutional issues with the arrest or investigation, credible self-defense evidence, or completion of an approved pretrial program, not simply from the alleged victim’s wishes.

Should I talk to the alleged victim to try to work things out?

No. Contacting the alleged victim, even with good intentions, can violate bond conditions or a protective order and lead to additional charges. Any communication about the case should go through your attorney.

Don’t Wait to Build Your Defense

A domestic violence charge in Texas isn’t resolved by hoping the alleged victim changes their mind. It’s resolved by actively challenging the State’s case from the earliest possible stage, whether that means identifying weak evidence, negotiating with the prosecutor, or preparing for trial.

If you’re facing a domestic violence charge in San Antonio or Bexar County, contact Del Prado Law. As a Board-Certified domestic violence defense attorney san antonio families have relied on for more than three decades, Mario Del Prado can evaluate your case and help you understand the strongest path forward.

Call 210-663-3750 today for a confidential consultation.

Mario Del Prado Listed Among Leading Criminal Defense Lawyers in San Antonio, Doyle’s Guide 2026

September 27th, 2026 | Blog 27th, September at 6:18 PM

The short version. Doyle’s Guide has listed me in the Leading band of its 2026 list, Leading Criminal Defense Lawyers – San Antonio, 2026. Doyle’s Guide states that its rankings are compiled through an independent peer-review methodology and cannot be purchased. I am grateful for it, and I want to be straight with you about exactly what it means and what it does not.

What the list is

Doyle’s Guide publishes ranked listings of lawyers by city and by practice area. Its San Antonio criminal defense listing for 2026 sorts lawyers into three bands: Preeminent, Leading, and Recommended. I am listed in the Leading band.

You can read the list yourself. I would rather you check it than take my word for it: Leading Criminal Defense Lawyers – San Antonio, 2026, at doylesguide.com.

The band above mine is occupied by lawyers whose names anyone who has spent time in the Bexar County Courthouse would recognize, including Gerry Goldstein, Cynthia Eva Hujar Orr, John A. Convery, Michael Gross, and Mark Stevens. I have tried cases in the same courthouse as those lawyers for most of my career. Being listed on the same page as them is not a small thing, and I am not going to pretend otherwise.

Why a peer-review list is worth something

Most lawyer rankings a person finds online are advertising. You pay, you appear. Some of them will sell you a plaque for the wall on the same call.

A peer-reviewed listing works differently, and the difference is who is asked. Lawyers know which lawyers actually try cases. Prosecutors know which defense lawyers make them prepare. A ranking built on that is worth more than one built on a credit card, because the people answering the survey have watched the work.

That is the whole of the claim I am making here. Not that I am the best criminal defense lawyer in San Antonio. Nobody can honestly say that, and under the rules governing Texas lawyers I could not say it even if I believed it. What I can tell you is that a group of people who do this work for a living were asked, and my name came back.

What a ranking cannot tell you

Here is the part most law firm announcements leave out.

A ranking is not evidence about your case. It does not know what you are charged with, what the video shows, whether the search was lawful, or what your criminal history looks like. It cannot predict an outcome and neither can I, and any lawyer who tells you otherwise in a first meeting is telling you something important about himself.

A ranking is also not a substitute for the three things you can verify yourself in about five minutes. Is the lawyer Board Certified in Criminal Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, which you can look up free by name. Has he actually tried cases to a jury verdict in the county where your case is filed, and how many. And will the lawyer you are paying be the lawyer standing next to you when it matters.

Those three questions will tell you more than any list will. I wrote a longer piece on this, including the eleven questions I think you should ask every lawyer you meet with, including me: how to choose a criminal defense lawyer in San Antonio .

What I would rather be judged on

Recognition is pleasant. Results are the job.

In November 2025 a Bexar County jury returned not-guilty verdicts on every count for three former San Antonio police officers charged in the death of Melissa Perez. I represented Eleazar Alejandro, who faced murder, aggravated assault, and deadly conduct. That case is written up here, with the news coverage cited .

Earlier in 2026 I obtained a full dismissal, before trial, of charges of aggravated sexual assault of a child, indecency with a child, and improper relationship between educator and student in Guadalupe County. The lead count alone carried five to ninety-nine years or life and lifetime sex offender registration.

Those outcomes came from reading every page of the file, watching every minute of the video, and finding the proof problem. Not from a listing. The case results page has more, along with an honest account of what a results page can and cannot tell you.

If you need a criminal defense lawyer in Bexar County

Call 210-663-3750 . I answer my own phone. Have the cause number, the court, and the date of your next setting if you have them.

More about my background and certifications , the criminal defense practice , and where I practice .

Recognition

Listed in the Leading band, Leading Criminal Defense Lawyers – San Antonio, 2026, Doyle’s Guide. Doyle’s Guide states that its rankings are compiled through an independent peer-review methodology and cannot be purchased. .
Board Certified in Criminal Law, Texas Board of Legal Specialization.
Board Certified in Criminal Trial Law, National Board of Trial Advocacy.

A listing or ranking by any organization is not a guarantee or prediction of the outcome of any legal matter.

Accused of a Sex Offense in San Antonio? The Most Important Work Happens Before Trial

September 27th, 2026 | Sexual Assault 27th, September at 6:11 PM

The short answer. A sexual assault accusation in Bexar County is not one problem. It is two. The first is the prison range, which for aggravated sexual assault is five to ninety-nine years or life and can carry a twenty-five year minimum. Tex. Penal Code § 22.021(f). The second is sex offender registration, which for most of these offenses lasts until you die. Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 62.101(a). A trial can answer the first question. Only a dismissal, or a reduction to the right offense, answers the second. That is why I go after both, and why I start before an indictment is ever returned.

Most people find me on one of three days.

The day a detective leaves a card in the door. The day a text arrives that says we need to talk about what happened. Or the day the handcuffs go on in a parking lot at six in the morning, in front of the neighbors.

Whichever day it is, the same thing is true. You have already lost something you are not going to get back, and there is a window open right now that is going to close.

What you are actually facing

Texas sorts these accusations into offenses that sound similar and are not remotely the same.

Texas sexual offenses, punishment ranges, and registration

Offense	Statute	Range	Registration
Continuous sexual abuse of a young child or disabled individual	§ 21.02	First degree, 25 to 99 years or life. No parole.	Life
Aggravated sexual assault	§ 22.021	First degree, 5 to 99 or life. Minimum rises to 25 years if the child was under 6, or under 14 in certain circumstances.	Life
Sexual assault	§ 22.011	Second degree, 2 to 20 years	Life
Indecency with a child by contact	§ 21.11(a)(1)	Second degree, 2 to 20 years	Life
Indecency with a child by exposure	§ 21.11(a)(2)	Third degree, 2 to 10 years	10 years, unless there is another reportable conviction

Look at the last two rows. Same statute. One subsection apart. The difference between them is the difference between reporting to a police department for the rest of your life and reporting for ten years and then being finished.

Hold onto that. It is the single most important thing on this page, and I will come back to it.

Registration is the real sentence

People fixate on the prison number. I understand why. But I have watched men walk out of the penitentiary and discover that the sentence they are actually serving started the day they got out.

Under article 62.101(a), the duty to register for a sexually violent offense ends when you die. For other reportable offenses it runs ten years, and not ten years from the offense. Ten years from the later of the day the case is dismissed and you are discharged, the day you leave a penal institution, or the day you finish community supervision.

What it means day to day is this. Your address, your employer, your school, your vehicle, your photograph, and your fingerprints in a public database. Employment restrictions under article 62.063. Residence restrictions under article 62.064. A notification requirement if you set foot on a school campus under article 62.065. And under article 62.102, failing any one of those duties is its own felony, running from a state jail felony to a second degree felony, and it goes up a level if you have been convicted of it before.

That last part is worth reading twice. Registration is not a passive status. It is a standing opportunity for the State to charge you again, for the rest of your life, over a paperwork deadline.

A jury verdict of not guilty is a magnificent thing. I have gotten them. But a verdict comes after two years of your name in the newspaper. A dismissal comes before that. When a family asks me what I am aiming at, the honest answer is that I am aiming at the outcome that gives them the most life back, and that outcome is usually not a trial.

The window almost everybody wastes

The most valuable period in one of these cases is the period before charges are filed, and it is the period most people spend making things worse.

Here is what typically happens. A detective calls. He is calm and he sounds reasonable. He says he just wants your side, that this is your chance to clear it up. The accused person, who has never been in trouble and believes that innocent people explain themselves, goes down and talks for ninety minutes on video without a lawyer.

That video is now the centerpiece of the State’s case. Not because he confessed. Because he got a date wrong, or minimized something small, or said “I don’t remember” about a thing he should have remembered, and a prosecutor will play those forty seconds to a jury and call it consciousness of guilt.

When I am hired before charges, the work is different and it is quiet:

I speak to the investigator. You do not.
Phone records, rideshare records, door access logs, badge swipes, and receipts get pulled and preserved while they still exist, because carriers and businesses purge them on schedules that do not care about your case.
The forensic interview or the SANE examination gets obtained and examined for how the questions were asked, not just what the answers were.
Where it is appropriate, a defense presentation goes to the prosecutor, and sometimes to the grand jury, before the State has committed itself publicly to a theory it then has to defend.

A case that is never indicted is a case that never happened, as far as the rest of your life is concerned. Read more on pre-charge defense in Texas .

What a reduction actually buys you

This is the part of the practice that almost no website explains, and it is where a lot of my best work in these cases has been done.

People hear “reduction” and think it means a smaller number of years. Sometimes it does. In a sex case, what it can mean is something far bigger: whether you are on the registry at all, and for how long.

One subsection can cut a lifetime to ten years

Go back to that table. Indecency with a child by contact under § 21.11(a)(1) is a second degree felony and it carries lifetime registration. Indecency by exposure under § 21.11(a)(2) is a third degree felony, and under article 62.101(a)(4) it carries lifetime registration only if the person has another reportable conviction. Standing alone, it is ten years.

Same complainant. Same police report. A different subsection, and one man is reporting to a police department when he is seventy-five and the other one is not.

The finding that can get you off the registry entirely

There is a path most people have never heard of. Under article 42A.105(c), when a judge places a defendant charged under § 21.11 or § 22.011 on deferred adjudication, the judge shall make an affirmative finding if the defendant was not more than four years older than the complainant, the complainant was at least fifteen, and the charge rests solely on the two ages.

That finding is a key. It makes the person eligible under article 62.301 to petition the court for an order exempting him from registration altogether. The court can grant it on a preponderance if the exemption does not threaten public safety, the conduct was not without consent as described in § 22.011(b), and the exemption is in the best interest of the complainant and of justice.

Nobody hands you that finding. It has to be built, pled for, and put in the record at the right moment. Miss the moment and it is gone.

Charge selection decides eligibility

Under article 42A.102, a judge may place a defendant charged under § 21.11, § 22.011, or § 22.021 on deferred adjudication regardless of the complainant’s age, but not where the charge is continuous sexual abuse under § 21.02, and not where aggravated sexual assault is punishable under § 22.021(f).

So the count the State chooses to indict, and the count it is willing to proceed on, controls what a judge is even permitted to do. Getting a § 21.02 allegation off an indictment is not a technicality. It is the difference between a range that starts at twenty-five years with no parole and a case a judge still has discretion in.

And sometimes the answer is a different offense entirely

Some cases resolve to an offense that carries no registration duty at all. When that is available and appropriate on the facts, it is worth more than shaving years off a number, because it ends when it ends.

What actually moves a prosecutor off a sex case

Not indignation. Not a phone call saying my client is a good man. I ran the Major Crimes Division at the Bexar County District Attorney’s Office. I know what gets read and what gets filed.

What moves a case is a proof problem the prosecutor can see for himself:

A timeline reconstructed minute by minute from records rather than memory, that the allegation does not fit.
The first account compared word for word against the second and the third. Not the gist. The words.
A forensic interview where the questions were leading, or where a disclosure arrived only after the fourth adult asked.
The State’s own scientific evidence, read closely, which in most of these cases proves contact nobody disputes and proves nothing at all about consent.
A motive that exists in the record: a custody fight, an immigration application, a pending divorce, a job.
The physical impossibility. Rooms are a certain size. Doors lock. People were somewhere else.

Every one of those is document work, done early, by someone willing to read all of it. There is no shortcut and there is no speech that substitutes for it.

Two changes in the law you need to know about

The Legislature moved this area in 2025. Lack of consent under § 22.011(b)(6) now reaches an actor who knows the other person is intoxicated or impaired to the point of being incapable of consenting, whoever supplied the substance, and it applies only to offenses on or after September 1, 2025. The rape shield rule now lives in Code of Criminal Procedure article 38.372, and it is stricter than most lawyers assume. Both are covered in detail in what changed in Texas consent law .

What I will not tell you

I will not tell you I can get your case dismissed. Nobody can say that about a case they have not read, and a lawyer who says it in the first meeting is telling you something important about himself.

I will not tell you these are easy cases. They are the hardest cases in the courthouse. A complainant is describing the worst thing that ever happened to her, and a man is facing the loss of the rest of his life, and both of those can be true in the same courtroom.

And I will not build a defense by attacking a young woman’s character. Article 38.372 mostly forecloses it, and juries in Bexar County punish it even where the rules would allow it. What I do is hold the State to its proof, examine how the investigation was actually conducted, and insist that the person accused is a person and not a category.

My record in these cases

I have tried sex cases to verdict and obtained acquittals, including on a charge of aggravated sexual assault. Trials are part of this work and I do not avoid them.

But the results I am proudest of in this practice area are the dismissals and the reductions, because those are the outcomes that give a man his name back. In 2026 I obtained a full dismissal, before trial, of charges of aggravated sexual assault of a child, indecency with a child, and improper relationship between educator and student in Guadalupe County. The lead count alone carried five to ninety-nine years or life and lifetime registration.

Those outcomes came from the same place every time: reading every page, finding the proof problem, and putting it in front of the State in a form a chief has to take seriously. You can see more on the case results page .

None of it predicts what will happen in your case. Every case is decided on its own evidence. I would not believe a lawyer who told you otherwise, and I am not going to be that lawyer.

If you are under investigation or already charged

Do not talk to the detective. Do not text the complainant or anyone close to her, because that becomes a tampering allegation and it is a felony of its own. Do not delete anything on your phone, including the messages that embarrass you, because deletion is its own problem and forensics will find the gap. Write down everything you remember today, in order, on one page.

Then call me at 210-663-3750 . I answer my own phone. The sooner you call, the more of that window is still open.

Case Results

September 27th, 2026 | Murder & Homicide 27th, September at 5:59 PM

How to read this page. These are outcomes in cases I handled, in Bexar County and surrounding counties. Each one happened because of the particular evidence in that particular case, and none of them predicts what will happen in yours. What a results page can honestly show you is the kind of case a lawyer actually tries, in what courts, and how often a case ends before a jury is ever picked. That is worth knowing. It is not a promise, and no lawyer in Texas is permitted to make you one.

Melissa Perez trial: three former SAPD officers acquitted, November 2025

On November 10, 2025, after a month-long trial in Bexar County, a jury returned not-guilty verdicts for three former San Antonio police officers charged in the June 2023 shooting death of Melissa Perez. I represented Eleazar Alejandro. The jury began deliberating at 1:17 p.m. and returned its verdicts roughly ninety minutes later.

Verdicts, November 10, 2025, Bexar County

Former officer	Charges submitted	Verdict
Eleazar Alejandro (represented by Del Prado Law)	Murder, aggravated assault, deadly conduct	Not guilty on all counts
Alfred Flores	Murder, aggravated assault, deadly conduct	Not guilty on all counts
Nathaniel Villalobos	Aggravated assault, deadly conduct	Not guilty on all counts

The defense challenged both the State’s theory of the shooting and the police investigation behind it, including the assignment of a lead investigator who had never investigated an officer-involved shooting, and a search warrant affidavit in which the department itself had described the conduct as aggravated assault on a peace officer. The case is a matter of public record and was covered daily by KSAT and the San Antonio Express-News.

Read the full account of the trial, with sources .

Capital murder dismissed, June 2026

In June 2026 a capital murder case I was handling was dismissed before trial. Capital murder is the most serious accusation in Texas law, carrying life without parole and, where the State seeks it, the death penalty.

A dismissal in a case of that size does not come from a speech. It comes from reading every page of the file, identifying what the State could not prove, and putting that in front of the prosecutor in a form a chief has to take seriously.

All charges dismissed in Guadalupe County, 2026

An educator was accused of aggravated sexual assault of a child, indecency with a child, and improper relationship between educator and student. All charges were dismissed before trial.

A conviction on the lead count would have carried a first degree felony range of five to ninety-nine years or life, and lifetime sex offender registration. The work was document work: the law enforcement records, the witness statements and the digital communications, examined against each other for what did not line up, then presented to the prosecutor as a proof problem rather than as an argument.

Over thirty-five years of practice

Across a career that began in the 1980s, this firm has obtained jury verdicts of not guilty on charges including:

Capital murder
Murder
Aggravated sexual assault
Injury to a child
Aggravated assault
Deadly conduct
Driving while intoxicated

And has obtained dismissals of charges including:

Capital murder
Aggravated sexual assault of a child
Indecency with a child
Improper relationship between educator and student
Injury to the elderly
Aggravated assault with a deadly weapon
Family violence assault by impeding breath or circulation
Family violence assault
Possession of a controlled substance
False report to a peace officer

What is better than a verdict of not guilty is a case that never reaches a jury. A dismissal ends the matter without a verdict, without a conviction, and usually without the client ever having to sit in front of twelve strangers while his life is discussed.

What this page does not tell you

It does not tell you about the cases that ended in a conviction or in a plea, because any lawyer who has tried cases for thirty-five years has those, and a page that shows only wins is telling you something by what it leaves out.

It does not tell you what your case is worth. Two cases with the same offense name can be entirely different cases, and usually are.

And it does not tell you that any result here can be repeated. Under the rules that govern Texas lawyers I could not tell you that, and I would not believe another lawyer who told you.

What you should take from it is narrower and, I think, more useful. These are serious charges, tried or fought to a conclusion in Texas courts, by a lawyer who was still doing it last year. That is the practice.

If you want to talk about your own case

Call 210-663-3750 . I answer my own phone. Have the cause number, the court, and the next setting date if you have them.

Drug Possession Charges in San Antonio: What the State Must Prove

September 27th, 2026 | Hemp and THC 27th, September at 5:52 PM

The short answer. Being near drugs is not possession. The State must prove the accused exercised actual care, custody, control, or management over the substance, and knew what it was. Tex. Health & Safety Code § 481.002(38). Where the accused was not in exclusive control of the place the drugs were found, the Court of Criminal Appeals requires additional evidence linking him to them; mere presence will not do. Evans v. State, 202 S.W.3d 158 (Tex. Crim. App. 2006). Most drug cases in Bexar County are decided on the legality of the stop and the sufficiency of those links, not on whether the substance was what the State says it was.

Four people in a car. One glove box. One bag. Somebody is going to prison and nobody is talking. That is a very ordinary Tuesday in this courthouse, and it is a case about links, not chemistry.

What are the penalty groups and the ranges?

Texas sorts controlled substances into penalty groups and then grades the offense by aggregate weight. Possession ranges look like this.

Possession punishment ranges by penalty group and weight

Group and examples	Statute	Range by weight
Penalty Group 1 and 1-Bcocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, fentanyl	§ 481.115	Under 1 g, state jail felony. 1 to 4 g, third degree. 4 to 200 g, second degree. 200 to 400 g, first degree. 400 g or more, 10 to 99 or life and up to a $100,000 fine.
Penalty Group 2THC concentrates, MDMA	§ 481.116	Under 1 g, state jail felony. 1 to 4 g, third degree. 4 to 400 g, second degree. 400 g or more, 5 to 99 or life.
Penalty Group 3certain prescription stimulants and depressants	§ 481.117	Under 28 g, Class A misdemeanor. 28 to 200 g, third degree. 200 to 400 g, second degree. 400 g or more, 5 to 99 or life.
Penalty Group 4certain compounds containing narcotics	§ 481.118	Under 28 g, Class B misdemeanor, then the same escalation.
Marihuana	§ 481.121	2 oz or less, Class B misdemeanor. 2 to 4 oz, Class A. 4 oz to 5 lb, state jail felony. 5 to 50 lb, third degree. 50 to 2,000 lb, second degree.

The words that put people in prison: “aggregate weight, including adulterants or dilutants”

The weight that determines the offense level is not the weight of the drug. It is the weight of everything in the mixture. A small amount of a controlled substance dissolved in a larger volume of liquid is charged at the weight of the liquid.

This is why a first-time accusation involving a quantity a person considers trivial arrives as a second degree felony carrying two to twenty years. It is also why the weighing itself is worth examining: what was included, whether packaging was on the scale, how the item was divided, and whether the analyst weighed each item separately or all of them together.

What does the State have to prove besides the chemistry?

Two things that have nothing to do with the laboratory.

First, a voluntary act, under Penal Code § 6.01(b): possession is a voluntary act only if the person knowingly obtained or received the thing, or was aware of his control of it for a sufficient time to terminate that control.

Second, a link between the accused and the substance. In Evans, the Court of Criminal Appeals confirmed that presence or proximity, standing alone, is insufficient. Where the accused did not have exclusive possession of the place where the drugs were found, there must be additional independent facts connecting him to them, and what matters is the logical force of the evidence rather than the number of factors a court can list.

So the questions I ask in every one of these cases are the same. Whose car, on whose registration. Where exactly was the item, in plain view or hidden. Was it within his reach or across the vehicle. Was there anything with his name on it near the drugs. Did he make a furtive movement, and does the video show what the officer says it shows. Was he under the influence. Were there other people with equal access, and did any of them have a reason to put something down.

Where these cases are actually won

On the stop, more often than on anything else.

Under Rodriguez v. United States, 575 U.S. 348 (2015), a traffic stop may last only as long as necessary to address the reason for the stop and attend to related safety concerns. An officer may not extend a completed stop to conduct a dog sniff without independent reasonable suspicion. The dash camera has a clock on it. The question of when the traffic mission was complete, and when the dog arrived, is answered in seconds, on video, and the answer does not change no matter who testifies.

Texas then adds something federal law does not have. Article 38.23(a) of the Code of Criminal Procedure requires the exclusion of evidence obtained in violation of the law, and where a fact issue about the legality is raised by the evidence, the jury must be instructed to disregard the evidence if it believes, or has a reasonable doubt, that it was illegally obtained. That instruction has to be requested and it has to be supported by a genuine factual dispute in the record. It is one of the most powerful tools in Texas criminal practice and it is left on the table constantly.

Enhancements people do not see coming

Drug-free zones under 481.134, which can increase the offense level or the minimum term based on distance from a school, a playground, or a youth center. In a city as dense as San Antonio, geography does a lot of work.
Intent to deliver, which the State builds from packaging, scales, cash, and messages rather than from quantity alone, and which moves the case into a far higher range.
Prior convictions, which can lift a state jail felony into a higher range and change eligibility for community supervision.

What resolution can look like

I will not put a menu of outcomes on a web page, because the honest answer depends on the charge, the record, the county, the court, and the evidence. What I will tell you is that a drug case has more exits than most people know about, and several of them close early. Pretrial diversion, treatment-based alternatives, reduction under Penal Code § 12.44 for a state jail felony, deferred adjudication, and outright dismissal where the search does not survive. Which doors are open depends in part on how quickly someone starts working.

If you were arrested

Do not explain. Do not consent to a search after the fact by signing something at the station. Write down, today, the street, the time, the reason the officer gave for the stop, how long you sat there, and whether a dog came. Those details fade in a week and they are the case.

Then call 210-663-3750 . I answer my own phone.

Homicide and Self-Defense in Texas: Who Has to Prove What

September 26th, 2026 | Homicide and Self-Defense 26th, September at 8:23 PM

The short answer. Self-defense in Texas is a justification, not an excuse, and the burden is not what most people assume. Once the accused produces some evidence raising self-defense, the State must disprove it beyond a reasonable doubt. Penal Code § 2.03(d); Saxton v. State, 804 S.W.2d 910 (Tex. Crim. App. 1991). A person lawfully present who did not provoke the encounter and was not engaged in criminal activity has no duty to retreat, and the jury may not be told to consider whether he could have. Penal Code § 9.32(c), (d).

A man has half a second to decide. A grand jury has six months to think about it, in a room with good lighting, with the body on a diagram and nobody’s heart going.

That asymmetry is the whole problem in a self-defense homicide case, and the law knows it. That is why the statute asks what the accused reasonably believed in the moment, not what a reasonable person concluded afterward with all the time in the world.

What homicide charges exist in Texas?

Texas homicide offenses

Offense	Statute	Punishment range
Capital murder	§ 19.03	Life without parole, or death where the State seeks it
Murder	§ 19.02	First degree felony, 5 to 99 years or life
Murder, with sudden passion found at punishment	§ 19.02(d)	Second degree felony, 2 to 20 years. The accused raises it at the punishment stage and must prove it by a preponderance
Manslaughter, recklessly causing death	§ 19.04	Second degree felony, 2 to 20 years
Criminally negligent homicide	§ 19.05	State jail felony, 180 days to 2 years

Two things in that table do most of the work in real cases. The mental state, which is the difference between murder and manslaughter and negligent homicide. And sudden passion, which is a punishment issue rather than a guilt issue and which many people never hear about until it is too late to develop the evidence for it.

When does Texas law justify force?

Ordinary force is justified under § 9.31 when and to the degree the actor reasonably believes it is immediately necessary to protect himself against another’s use or attempted use of unlawful force.

Deadly force is narrower. Under § 9.32(a) it is justified when the actor would be justified under § 9.31 and he reasonably believes deadly force is immediately necessary either to protect against the other’s use or attempted use of unlawful deadly force, or to prevent the other’s imminent commission of aggravated kidnapping, murder, sexual assault, aggravated sexual assault, robbery, or aggravated robbery.

Deadly force is defined at § 9.01(3) as force intended or known to cause, or in the manner of its use capable of causing, death or serious bodily injury. Defense of a third person is covered by § 9.33, measured by the circumstances as the actor reasonably believed them to be.

The presumption most people call the castle doctrine

Section 9.32(b) presumes the actor’s belief was reasonable, but only if all three of the following are true.

He knew or had reason to believe the other person unlawfully and with force entered or was attempting to enter his occupied habitation, vehicle, or place of business or employment; or was unlawfully and forcibly removing or attempting to remove him from one of those places; or was committing or attempting one of the listed violent felonies.
He did not provoke the person against whom the force was used.
He was not otherwise engaged in criminal activity, other than a Class C traffic offense, at the time.

That third condition is where the presumption most often disappears. A man defending himself in his own driveway who happens to have a small amount of a controlled substance in his pocket can lose the presumption entirely. He still has self-defense. He no longer has the shortcut.

Is there a duty to retreat in Texas?

No, within limits that matter. Under § 9.32(c), a person who has a right to be where he is, who did not provoke the other person, and who is not engaged in criminal activity is not required to retreat before using deadly force. And § 9.32(d) goes further: in deciding whether his belief was reasonable, the finder of fact may not consider whether he failed to retreat.

That is a rule about what a prosecutor may argue to a jury, and it has to be enforced in the moment, with an objection and a ruling, or it is not enforced at all.

What defeats self-defense

Section 9.31(b) lists circumstances where force is not justified at all. Response to verbal provocation alone. Resisting an arrest or search the actor knows is being made by a peace officer, even an unlawful one, unless the officer used greater force than necessary first. Consenting to the exact force used. Provoking the other’s use of force, unless the actor abandoned the encounter or clearly communicated his intent to and the other person kept coming.

And one that sends people to prison who never saw it coming: § 9.31(b)(5) removes the justification where the actor sought an explanation from or a discussion with the other person about their differences while carrying a weapon in violation of § 46.02 or possessing or transporting one in violation of § 46.05. Going to talk to a man, unlawfully armed, forfeits the defense. I have seen that paragraph decide a case.

Who has to prove it?

This is the part I want every juror in Bexar County to understand, because it is counterintuitive and the State rarely volunteers it.

Self-defense is a defense under Penal Code § 2.03. The accused carries a burden of production only: he must bring forward some evidence raising the issue. Once he does, the burden of persuasion is on the State, and the State must disprove the defense beyond a reasonable doubt. Saxton v. State, 804 S.W.2d 910 (Tex. Crim. App. 1991); Zuliani v. State, 97 S.W.3d 589 (Tex. Crim. App. 2003).

The accused does not have to prove he acted in self-defense. He does not have to testify. If the jury has a reasonable doubt about whether the killing was justified, the verdict is not guilty. Getting that stated correctly in the court’s charge, and stated plainly in argument, is as important as any witness in the case.

The dead man’s history is not off limits

Article 38.36(a) of the Code of Criminal Procedure permits either side in a homicide prosecution to offer evidence of all relevant facts and circumstances surrounding the killing, the previous relationship between the accused and the deceased, and the condition of the accused’s mind at the time.

In a self-defense case that opens the door to what my client knew about the other man. Prior threats. Prior violence he had seen or been told about. What was said in the weeks before. The State will tell a jury that the man on the ground is the victim. Article 38.36 is how a jury hears the rest of the relationship instead of the last ten seconds of it.

Bail in a homicide case is different now

Murder and capital murder are both on the list in Article I, Section 11d of the Texas Constitution, added November 4, 2025. In those cases a judge must deny bail before trial if the State makes one of two showings at a hearing. Read what Section 11d changed , because that hearing happens in the first days and it decides where your family spends the next year.

The first hours

Say that you were in fear for your life, say that you want a lawyer, and then stop talking. Not because you have something to hide. Because adrenaline makes people say the wrong words about the right facts, and the wrong words are what gets read to the jury eighteen months later.

Then someone should be preserving, that day: the scene photographs, the clothing, the neighbors’ doorbell cameras before they overwrite, the 911 audio, and every witness who was standing there and is about to disappear.

If you or someone in your family is in this, call 210-663-3750 . I answer my own phone.

Domestic Violence Charges in Bexar County: What Is Really at Stake

September 26th, 2026 | Assault & Domestic Violence 26th, September at 8:17 PM

The short answer. In Texas the charge is usually assault, but the thing that follows you is the family violence finding. Under Code of Criminal Procedure article 42.013, if the court determines a Title 5 offense involved family violence, the court shall enter that finding in the judgment. It is that finding, not the offense level, that costs you your firearms, complicates custody, and turns the next allegation into a felony. A Class A misdemeanor with a family violence finding can do more long-term damage than some felonies.

Most people who call me about a family violence case are worried about the wrong thing. They are worried about jail. In most first-time misdemeanor cases in Bexar County, jail is not the likely outcome. What is likely, if the case is resolved the wrong way, is a permanent mark that the person will run into for the rest of his life in rooms he has not walked into yet.

Who counts as “family” in Texas?

Wider than most people expect. The relationships come from the Family Code and are pulled into the Penal Code by reference: a dating relationship under § 71.0021(b), family under § 71.003, and members of a household under § 71.005.

That reaches spouses and former spouses, people who have a child together, people related by blood or marriage, people who live or have lived in the same dwelling, and people in a dating relationship. Roommates count. An ex-girlfriend from four years ago counts.

How the charges are graded

Common family violence charges under Texas law

Conduct	Statute	Offense level
Causing bodily injury to a family or household member or dating partner	Penal Code § 22.01(a)(1), (b)	Class A misdemeanor
Same, with a qualifying prior conviction for a listed offense against such a person	§ 22.01(b)(2)(A)	Third degree felony
Same, by impeding normal breathing or circulation with pressure to the throat or neck, or by blocking the nose or mouth	§ 22.01(b)(2)(B)	Third degree felony
Impeding breath or circulation with a qualifying prior	§ 22.01(b-3)	Second degree felony
Two or more assaults against family or household members within 12 months	§ 25.11	Third degree felony
Threat to commit violence against a family or household member	§ 22.07(c)(1)	Class A misdemeanor
Serious bodily injury, or use or exhibition of a deadly weapon	§ 22.02	Second degree felony, first degree in some circumstances

The strangulation allegation is the one that changes a case most. A single sentence in an officer’s narrative, “she said he put his hands on her neck,” moves a Class A misdemeanor to a third degree felony punishable by two to ten years. Whether that sentence is supported by anything else in the file is the fight.

What the emergency protective order does the first morning

At the magistration after a family violence arrest, article 17.292 lets the magistrate issue an order for emergency protection, and requires one if the arrest involved serious bodily injury or the use or exhibition of a deadly weapon during an assault. The complainant does not have to be present, and does not have to want it.

The order can prohibit going near the residence, the workplace, or a child’s school. It can prohibit any communication at all. It prohibits possessing a firearm. It suspends a license to carry. An order issued on the ordinary track runs at least 61 days and up to 91; where a deadly weapon was involved, at least 91 days and up to 121.

Violating it is a separate offense under Penal Code § 25.07, ordinarily a Class A misdemeanor and a third degree felony in some circumstances. And here is the part that ruins otherwise defensible cases. Article 17.292(g) requires the order to say, in capital letters, that nobody, including the protected person, may give permission to violate it. She invites you over. You go. Now there are two cases, and the second one is the one you cannot win.

If the order is unworkable, there is a procedure to ask the court to modify it. Use the procedure. Do not use the phone.

Can she drop the charges?

No. This is the single most common misunderstanding I hear, and it costs people months.

The case belongs to the State of Texas, not to the complaining witness. She can tell the prosecutor she does not want to go forward. She can sign an affidavit of non-prosecution. That affidavit is a piece of evidence, and in some cases it matters a great deal. It is not an off switch, and in Bexar County prosecutors frequently proceed without a cooperative complainant, using the 911 call, the body camera footage, the photographs, and the medical records.

There is also a related danger. An affidavit of non-prosecution prepared badly, or prepared by the accused, can become evidence of witness tampering, which is a felony. If someone wants to recant, she needs her own lawyer. Not mine, and not you.

What happens when she does not testify?

This is where the constitutional law lives. Under Crawford v. Washington, 541 U.S. 36 (2004), a testimonial out-of-court statement cannot be admitted against the accused unless the declarant is unavailable and there was a prior opportunity to cross-examine. Statements made during police interrogation to establish past events are testimonial. Statements made to meet an ongoing emergency generally are not.

So the State’s ability to try a case without the complainant turns on a line drawn through the body camera footage, sometimes minute by minute. Which questions were asked while the scene was still unfolding, and which were asked after everyone was safe and an officer started building a case. That is a real fight with a real record, and it has to be litigated with the video, not with generalities.

Cutting the other way, article 38.371 allows both sides to offer evidence about the nature of the relationship between the accused and the complainant. The State uses it. So can we, because a relationship has two people in it and usually a longer history than one night.

What the finding costs, long after the case

A conviction for a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence triggers the federal prohibition at 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(9). Do not assume a Texas deferred adjudication keeps you clear of it; that question depends on how the case was resolved and on federal law, and it needs a specific answer for your specific case.
The next case. A qualifying prior makes the next family violence assault a felony.
Your record. A family violence finding cannot be sealed. This is why I will not resolve one of these cases quickly just because the offer sounds light.
Article 42.23 requires the criminal court to notify the court with continuing jurisdiction over your children.
Housing, employment, and licensing. The finding shows up in background checks forever, and it is read by people who will never hear your side.

Where these cases are defended

In the first 72 hours, before anything is gone. The 911 audio, all of it, not the summary. Every body camera and in-car camera from every unit that responded, not just the reporting officer. Photographs of both people, including the accused’s hands, arms, and face, taken the same day. Texts and call logs from both directions, preserved before a phone is reset. The names of the neighbors who were standing outside. Medical records where there are any, and the absence of them where there are none.

Then the investigation itself. Whether officers identified a primary aggressor or just arrested the man. Whether anyone asked about injuries on my client. Whether the account in the affidavit matches the account on the video, word for word, because often it does not.

If you were arrested last night

Do not contact her. Not to explain, not to apologize, not through your sister. Read the protective order all the way through before you go anywhere near an address on it. Write down everything you remember today, including the hours before. Preserve your phone, and do not delete a single message, including the ones that embarrass you.

Then call 210-663-3750 . I answer my own phone, and I would rather hear from you before the first setting than after.

Hemp and THC Charges in Texas: What Changed in 2026

September 26th, 2026 | Hemp and THC 26th, September at 8:11 PM

The short answer. In Texas the difference between a legal product and a felony is a number produced in a laboratory. Hemp is cannabis with a delta-9 THC concentration of not more than 0.3 percent by dry weight under Agriculture Code chapter 121. On March 31, 2026, a Department of State Health Services rule changed how that 0.3 percent is measured, adding THCA to the calculation. That rule has been litigated all year. A federal change to the definition of hemp is scheduled for November 12, 2026. If you are charged today, the date of the alleged offense decides which set of rules applies to you.

Why the number matters more than the plant

Nothing about the plant tells you whether a crime happened. Hemp and marihuana look the same, smell the same, and burn the same. What separates them is a concentration threshold written into the Agriculture Code, and whether a given item is over or under that line is a question only an instrument can answer.

That is unusual in criminal law. In most cases the State proves what a man did. In these cases the State proves what a machine said about a substance, and the defense work is about the machine, the method, the sample, and the chain of custody.

What did the March 2026 rule change?

The Department of State Health Services rule at 25 Texas Administrative Code § 300.101, effective March 31, 2026, redefined the acceptable THC level to account for both delta-9 THC and THCA, at 0.3 percent or less on a dry weight basis.

THCA is the acid form of THC that converts to delta-9 THC when heated. Measuring “total THC” rather than delta-9 alone captures products that test under the line in their raw state and over it once smoked. The practical effect of the rule is to reach nearly all smokable consumable hemp products sold in Texas.

The rule was challenged immediately. Here is where that stands as of September 22, 2026, and I will update this page when it moves.

Texas Hemp Business Council v. Texas Department of State Health Services

Date	What happened
April 7, 2026	Suit filed in Travis County district court, Cause No. D-1-GN-26-002511
April 10, 2026	Temporary restraining order granted
May 1, 2026	Temporary injunction granted; the rule is blocked
June 2026	The Fifteenth Court of Appeals denies the industry’s emergency motion. The injunction dissolves and the rule takes effect
June 26, 2026	Request to reinstate the injunction denied
September 17 to 18, 2026	The State files its reply brief in No. 15-26-00099-CV. Briefing is closed. No opinion, no argument date

So the rule is in effect today and is being enforced. There is no injunction. A decision from the Fifteenth Court of Appeals could issue in any week.

A separate case is worth knowing about. In Texas Department of State Health Services v. Sky Marketing Corp., No. 23-0887 (Tex. May 1, 2026), the Supreme Court of Texas held that DSHS could schedule delta-8 THC, lifting the injunction that had protected it. The Court did not decide the question of naturally occurring THCA, which is the question the Fifteenth Court has now.

Is possessing THCA flower a crime in Texas right now?

Nobody can tell you with confidence, and anyone who does is guessing. That is an uncomfortable sentence to put on a lawyer’s website, and it is the truth.

The agencies do not agree with each other. The Department of Public Safety has taken the position that it does not determine legality, that courts do. Some police departments have said they will not seize product testing under 0.3 percent delta-9. Other agencies treat the same product as a felony. Prosecutors in different counties have described enforcement as difficult precisely because of the lack of clarity.

What that means practically is that the answer in your case may depend on which agency stopped you and which county you were in. That is not how criminal law is supposed to work, and it is exactly the kind of case where a motion to suppress and a fight over the laboratory method are worth having rather than pleading to.

What else changed in 2026

Texas consumable hemp rules, 2025 to 2026

Change	Effective	Source
Sales of consumable hemp products to anyone under 21 prohibited, with age verification required	January 21, 2026	TABC Rules 35.5 and 35.6
THC measurement includes THCA; 0.3 percent or less on a dry weight basis	March 31, 2026	25 Tex. Admin. Code § 300.101
Sale of e-cigarette products containing any cannabinoid prohibited	2025 legislation	Tex. Health & Safety Code § 161.0876
Federal definition of hemp narrowed to a total-THC standard, including THCA, with a cap of 0.4 mg total THC per container; synthetic cannabinoids barred	Synthetics November 12, 2026; the rest December 11, 2026	H.R. 5371, Pub. L. 119-37 § 781, as delayed by H.R. 6500 (signed September 2, 2026)

Two things about that last row. First, the federal change was originally set for November 12, 2026, one year after enactment. Legislation signed on September 2, 2026 pushed most of it to December 11, 2026, but did not move the piece covering cannabinoids that cannot be naturally produced by the plant. So there are now two federal dates. Second, the December date is tied to a funding measure that expires the same day, which means it is not a settled date either.

Executive Order GA-56, issued September 10, 2025, directed DSHS, the TABC and DPS to restrict THC product sales to anyone under 21 and to require government-issued identification at the point of sale. That order is the origin of the TABC rules above. It followed the Governor’s June 22, 2025 veto of Senate Bill 3, which would have banned THC products outright; the veto message said the ban would likely have been preempted and enjoined. Regulation then moved from the Legislature to the agencies, which is why the current rules are being fought over in an appellate court instead of a committee room.

What are you actually charged with?

This is where people get hurt, and the trap is in the phrase “aggregate weight, including adulterants or dilutants.”

Plant material is prosecuted as marihuana under Health and Safety Code § 481.121. Two ounces or less is a Class B misdemeanor. Concentrates, oils, edibles, and vape cartridges are generally prosecuted as tetrahydrocannabinols in Penalty Group 2 under § 481.116, and there the whole weight of the product counts, not the weight of the THC in it.

Two ways the same amount of THC gets charged

What was seized	Statute	Offense level
One ounce of plant material	§ 481.121(b)(1)	Class B misdemeanor
One vape cartridge, weighed with its liquid, under one gram	§ 481.116(b)	State jail felony
Four gummies weighed together, one gram or more but under four grams	§ 481.116(c)	Third degree felony
A jar of edibles, four grams or more but under 400 grams	§ 481.116(d)	Second degree felony

Read those four rows again. A person who would have a Class B misdemeanor if he bought a bag can have a second degree felony because he bought a jar of candy at a store that was operating openly on Blanco Road. That is not a hypothetical. It is the most common way I see this go wrong.

Is “I bought it legally at a store” a defense?

Not by itself, and I am not going to pretend otherwise. But it is not nothing either. It goes to the culpable mental state, it goes to punishment, and where the product was purchased from a licensed retailer, the packaging, the certificate of analysis, and the batch records are evidence that has to be obtained fast, before a store closes or a distributor purges records.

Get the receipt. Photograph the packaging, all sides, before anything is turned over. Do not throw out the box.

Can an officer search a car based on the smell of marihuana?

The Fourth Court of Appeals in San Antonio addressed the hemp argument directly in Isaac v. State, No. 04-22-00203-CR (Tex. App. San Antonio Aug. 16, 2023). The accused argued that because legal hemp looks and smells like marihuana, sight and smell can no longer establish probable cause. The court affirmed the denial of the motion to suppress, holding that marihuana remains illegal and the probable cause standard is unchanged.

I want to be straight with you about that case rather than sell you a version of it. It went against the accused. What it did not hold is that odor alone, standing by itself, always suffices. The officer in that case testified he saw what appeared to be two joints, watched the man move them, and observed lethargic movement and glassy eyes. Probable cause is a totality question. The cases where the defense has something to work with are the cases where the stack of facts is thinner than that one, and those cases are litigated fact by fact.

The other half of the fight happens earlier, at the stop itself. Under Rodriguez v. United States, 575 U.S. 348 (2015), a traffic stop may not be prolonged beyond the time needed to handle the reason for the stop in order to conduct a dog sniff, absent reasonable suspicion. The clock in the dash camera video is often the most important witness in a drug case, and it never changes its story.

What I look for in a hemp or THC case

The laboratory method. Was total THC tested, or delta-9 only, and which rule governed on the offense date
The analyst, the instrument, the calibration records, and whether the analyst who signed is the analyst who will testify
How the item was weighed, and whether packaging, liquid, or carrier was included in the aggregate weight
The certificate of analysis and the retail chain behind the product
The stop, second by second, against the video
Whether the search was consented to, and what the video shows about how that consent was obtained
Article 38.23 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which requires suppression of evidence obtained in violation of the law and, where the facts are disputed, an instruction to the jury

If you are charged

Say nothing about where you got it until you have talked to a lawyer. Keep the packaging. Write down the date, the time, the street, and the names of every officer you can remember, today, while you still can.

Then call 210-663-3750 . I answer my own phone.