Legal Question in Criminal Law in Texas
I recently altered a check for it to say my name and cashed it at a local grocery store. The amount of the check is $605 and I later got arrested for forgery in McLennan County, Texas, my bail was set for $5000 which seems very excessive. I understand that forgery is a state jail felony, but I'm wondering if there is any way that I could reduce it to less than a felony and less then a class a misdemeanor. This is my first time ever being arrested and don't have a criminal record. I also have been suspended my university for this arrest charge with less than 3 months until graduation. I'm just asking for advice if it's possible to plea bargain down the felony charge and any appeals suggestion for me to be reinstated into my university. Thanks for your time.
1 Answer from Attorneys
You need to hire a lawyer on this one.
Section 12.44 of the penal code permits your first state jail felony to be punished as a class a. misdemeanor.
You could try to get deferred adjudication . If you did there would be no conviction and you could have your probation terminated as soon as you finished all of the terms(fines, comunity service, and classes). I don't know what the conditions are for getting reinstated to school so it's hard to help you with that one. After you completed the deferred adjudication, you can file a petition for non disclosure. However, for felonies you have to wait 5 years for applying. I'm not sure if reducing the SJF to a class A misdemeanor would eliminate the 5 years.
Perhaps as part of the plea bargain, the prosecutor could agree to reduce the charge to a misdemeanor and then get you deferred on that to eliminate the 5 years period. They may me more amenable to something like that if they understood the purpose was to get you back into college so you could graduate.
Good Luck!
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