Felony Representation

The bulk of our practice is representing people in felony cases. In Texas the most common types of felony in order of seriousness are:

• State jail felony: six months to two years in state jail;
• Third degree felony: two years to ten years in prison;
• Second degree felony: two years to twenty years in prison;
• First degree felony: five years to life in prison;
• Capital murder: life in prison or death.

Also, there are habitual felonies (25-life for a first, second, or third degree felony with two prior felony convictions) as well as 15-life felonies (a first degree felony with a prior felony conviction, for example, or possession of more than 400 grams of cocaine with the intent to distribute it).

Many people charged with felonies in Texas are eligible for probation either from the judge or from the jury.

A person charged with an aggravated offense can get probation from the jury if he has not been convicted of a felony or on felony probation before and if the jury sentences him to less than 10 years in prison, and can get deferred adjudication probation from the judge.

A person charged with a non-aggravated offense (other than a state jail felony) can get probation from the jury under the same circumstances, as well as getting either probation or deferred adjudication probation from the judge. (Eligibility for probation does not mean that the person will necessarily receive probation.)

A person with a prior felony conviction or felony probation can get deferred adjudication probation from the judge, but cannot get probation from the jury.

The felonies that we handle run the gamut from state jail felony drug cases (less than a gram of crack cocaine, for example) to aggravated habitual cases. In between we have lots of drug cases, environmental law cases (illegal dumping), white collar crime, theft, robbery, computer crime, sex crimes . . . just about anything you can imagine someone being accused of, we've defended it.