Legal Question in Criminal Law in Texas

my son is 17. he is sitting in jail for building burglary/ evading arrest. he will see a judge in the morning, can he get a jail sentence?


Asked on 12/28/11, 4:56 pm

2 Answer from Attorneys

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

He can definitely get a prison sentence on the burglary (6 months-2 years in a state jail facility), and maybe the same thing on the evading, depending on the specifics (it's sometimes a felony, sometimes a misdemeanor). But if tomorrow is his first court date, that's unlikely to happen for a while, if at all. He'll probably just find out what the State's offer is and talk with an attorney. One will be appointed for him if he's in jail, but typically, the first court appearance is handled by what's called a jail docket attorney, who will represent him and everyone else there that day. If your son, the jail rocket attorney, and the prosecutor can work out an acceptable plea deal, he may do that tomorrow, but if it's for probation, the case will probably need to be reset so that various things necessary to set that up can be done. Other possibilities are that the prosecutor could ask for prison time (not too likely if this is the first time he's been in trouble, but possible), or offer to either reduce the cases to misdemeanors (probably criminal trespass and misdemeanor evading, maybe with one of them dropped with a plea to the other) or give him misdemeanor punishment (county jail time, but it would probably still be a felony conviction). If he can't get a reasonable offer or he has a good defense, the case may get set for trial. Good luck.

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Answered on 12/28/11, 6:18 pm


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