Legal Question in Criminal Law in Texas

If a 22 y/o man has "consensual" sex with at 14 y/o girl and is charge with sexual assault - I know he will get some amount of jail time, but will he for sure have to register as a sex offender; meaning there is no way to get out of that, is that correct?


Asked on 10/23/11, 10:44 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys

M. Elizabeth Foley The Law Office of M. Elizabeth Foley

No, there is no way to get out of being required to register, assuming that the conviction does end up being for Sexual Assault of a Child, the offense you've described, or for just about anything it would realistically be plea-bargained down to, like Indecency With a Child. Registration is mandatory and not something that can be waived by recommendation of the prosecutor, judge, jury, DPS, review committee or anyone else, no matter what they may think about your specific case. There's just not any legal mechanism for doing that. Other than a plea bargain for something like misdemeanor assault (which would be very unlikely here), ANY conviction or even deferred adjudication for anything remotely related to sexual activity with a 14 year old is going to lead to required registration. Because of that, if there are any issues at all with the State's case and/or there's any chance of making a sympathy plea to a jury, these cases often go to trial when others wouldn't, in the hope that there will be an acquittal--realistically, however slim the chances may be, that's probably the only way out of lifetime registration in most cases.

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Answered on 10/24/11, 6:18 am


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