Legal Question in Criminal Law in Texas

Regarding the attorney - refer to your contract. If the contract says that it is between your son and the lawyer on leave, then he is entitled to have the lawyer on leave. If that is not feasible, then if he is not satisfied with the new lawyer, he should write a letter to the firm expressing that he wanted the original lawyer to represent him, that he does not want the replacement lawyer, and that he wants a refund of the fee that he has paid. (If he has no contract, then I suggest doing the same thing.) Regardless of whether he gets his money back up front, he can hire another lawyer to replace the current one and then pursue getting his money back. (Again, depending on the terms of the contract, or if there is none, the State Bar of Texas fee mediation might be able to help.)

As far as the indictment, he is probably being held without bond because he is a habitual offender and the State timely requested that he be held without bond. That said, 10 months is far too long for the case to sit without an indictment. (I have not read the relevant law in a while but in the case of a non-habitual, if there is not an indictment within 90 days, the offender is entitled to a PR bond or a bond that he can make. Without researching and off the top of my head, I believe that if there is no indictment on a habitual offender within 90 days, he is also entitled to a bond. That said, he is on parole and I'm certain that he has a blue warrant which means no bond. Persons on parole can be held without bond - they are already convicted of their offense and have significantly fewer rights.)

While there is generally a lag time for the lab to process the substance, 10 months is ridiculous. I do not know what county your son is in but few counties hold a person 10 months without some progress on the case.

If your son is classified as a habitual offender (and I cannot know for certain given that your description of the new case is "possession" - without more), then he is looking at 25 year minimum. Even if not a habitual, because he has 2 paroles, he is looking at substantial time. He needs to have a lawyer he can trust and work with. Drug cases often have issues such as search and seizure that need to be reviewed and addressed.

Good luck.