This page was written, edited, reviewed & approved by Brian LaVine following our comprehensive editorial guidelines. Brian LaVine the Founding Partner, 10+ years of legal experience as criminal defense attorney.
Key Takeaways
You fight a domestic violence charge in Texas by attacking the elements the State must prove. An arrest moves quickly, and bond conditions, an emergency protective order, and a court setting can land within days. Most people put their energy into whether the other person will drop the charge, which is the one thing that person has no power to do.
At LaVine Law Firm, our team works the parts of a family violence case that are actually in play. That means the evidence, the charge level, and the finding the court enters at the end. A Houston domestic violence defense lawyer can review your paperwork and your bond conditions before your next setting.
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Winning a case does not always mean a not-guilty verdict. A family violence allegation can end in several ways, and some of them protect your record better than others.
A grand jury can decline to indict a felony allegation. The prosecutor can dismiss the charge before trial. A jury can acquit you after hearing the evidence.
The charge can also be reduced to an offense that carries no family violence finding. That outcome is easy to overlook, and it often matters more than the sentence itself. Our work starts by identifying which of these results your facts actually support.
Every assault family violence prosecution rests on two separate parts. The State has to prove both beyond a reasonable doubt, and a weakness in either one can end the case.
Under Texas Penal Code § 22.01, the prosecutor must establish each of the following:
Each item is a separate target for cross-examination and pretrial motions.
The statute reaches conduct that is intentional, knowing, or reckless. It does not require a visible injury, which is why cases built on a description of pain alone reach court so often.
When no photograph, medical record, or independent witness supports that description, the State is asking jurors to convict on a single account.
Texas Family Code Sections 71.003, 71.005, and 71.0021 supply the categories. Family covers people related by blood or marriage, former spouses, and the parents of the same child. Household covers people living in the same dwelling, whether or not they are related, and a dating relationship means a continuing romantic or intimate relationship.
If the State cannot place your accuser in one of those categories, the family violence consequences fall away even when an assault allegation survives.
The classification of your case decides which battles are worth fighting and what a reasonable resolution looks like.
A first allegation of assault causing bodily injury to a family or household member is normally a Class A misdemeanor under Section 22.01. Most Harris County cases start here.
The same conduct becomes a third-degree felony if you have a qualifying prior family violence conviction. It also becomes a third-degree felony when the assault involves impeding normal breathing or blood circulation by applying pressure to the throat or neck, or by blocking the nose or mouth.
When a qualifying prior conviction and impeding breath both appear in one case, Section 22.01 raises the offense to a second-degree felony. Strangulation allegations deserve close scrutiny, because they often rest on a phrase in a written statement rather than on a medical finding.
Texas Penal Code § 25.11 creates a separate third-degree felony for two or more assaults against family, household, or dating partners during a period of 12 months or less. The alleged incidents do not have to involve the same person.
The statute also removes a protection defendants normally rely on. Jurors do not have to agree on which specific incidents occurred, only that two or more happened inside that window.
This is the most common misunderstanding we hear. Under Article 32.02 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, only the attorney representing the State may dismiss a criminal action, and no case is dismissed without the presiding judge's consent.
An affidavit of non-prosecution is a sworn statement asking the State not to pursue the charge. It is evidence a prosecutor weighs, not an instruction a prosecutor must follow.
Prosecutors regularly continue with 911 recordings, body camera footage, photographs, and officer testimony. The rules around getting a domestic violence charge dropped in Texas are narrower than most people assume, and a poorly drafted affidavit can create problems for the person who signs it.
If a family violence case has already been filed against you, call LaVine Law Firm at 713-965-7305 to talk through where your case stands before your next court date.
Our review of a family violence file usually starts with the pressure points that appear most often:
These points rarely close a case on their own, but together they change how a prosecutor values the file.
Texas Penal Code § 9.31 justifies force when and to the degree you reasonably believe it is immediately necessary to protect yourself against another person's use or attempted use of unlawful force. You have no duty to retreat if you had a right to be where you were, did not provoke the other person, and were not engaged in criminal activity.
The definition of the offense itself reinforces that principle. Texas Family Code § 71.004 defines family violence to exclude defensive measures taken to protect oneself.
Mutual grabbing, a struggle over a phone, or a fall during an argument can produce marks that nobody intended. The question is whether the State can tie a specific injury to a deliberate or reckless act by you.
Officers responding to a call often have minutes to decide who to arrest. That decision is not evidence, and it is frequently the weakest link in the file.
Allegations sometimes surface days after an argument or immediately after a custody filing. Timing, earlier threats to call the police, and shifting written statements all matter here.
Fighting a false domestic violence accusation depends on documenting that sequence early, while messages and witnesses are still available.
An arrest triggers restrictions before anyone weighs the evidence. Under Article 17.292 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, a magistrate may issue an order for emergency protection at your appearance after arrest. The magistrate must issue one when the offense involves serious bodily injury or the use or exhibition of a deadly weapon.
That order can reach several parts of daily life:
Standard orders remain in effect for 61 to 91 days. Where the arrest involved the use or exhibition of a deadly weapon, the range runs from 91 to 121 days. Violating one creates a new criminal case on top of the original charge, so your bond conditions in Texas domestic violence cases deserve the same attention as the charge itself.
Article 42.013 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure requires the court to make an affirmative finding of family violence and enter it in the judgment when the offense involves family violence. The finding attaches to the judgment separately from any sentence, and it outlasts everything else in the case.
Texas Government Code § 411.074 bars an order of nondisclosure when the court makes an affirmative finding of family violence. Deferred adjudication does not quietly solve that problem.
Many people accept a plea believing the record will disappear once the term ends. Anyone weighing that resolution should understand the sealing rules first.
Texas Penal Code § 46.04 makes firearm possession an offense before the fifth anniversary of release from confinement or community supervision. That restriction follows a Class A misdemeanor assault conviction involving a family or household member. Title 18 of the United States Code, Section 922(g)(9), imposes its own prohibition after a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence.
The two systems use different definitions and different timelines. Before agreeing to any plea, review how a domestic violence charge affects gun rights in Texas with counsel.
Family, household, and dating relationships all qualify. That includes former spouses, parents of the same child, roommates, and people in a continuing romantic relationship.
Yes, if you reasonably believed force was immediately necessary against unlawful force. Texas law excludes defensive measures from the definition of family violence.
A standard order stays in effect for 61 to 91 days. When the arrest involves the use or exhibition of a deadly weapon, the order runs from 91 to 121 days.
Yes. It is a distinct third-degree felony covering two or more assaults against family, household, or dating partners within a 12-month period.
No. An affirmative finding of family violence blocks an order of nondisclosure, so the case stays visible on background checks.
The finding entered on the last day of your case can shape your record, your gun rights, and your custody position for years. That is why the work has to start long before a plea offer arrives.
LaVine Law Firm defends people accused of assault and family violence throughout Houston and Harris County. Brian LaVine and our team review the charging paperwork, the emergency protective order, and every recording the State intends to use. We look for the specific weakness in your case rather than applying a standard approach to every file.
Call 713-965-7305 for a free case evaluation, or reach us through our contact page to get started today.
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