This Assault Family Violence case went all the way to trial. The jury came back not guilty. And the way it unfolded is about as close to a perfect illustration of how these cases actually work in Collin County as you’re going to find.
Assault Family Violence is charged as a Class A Misdemeanor — up to a year in county jail and a $4,000 fine. But the penalties that follow someone for life are worse than the sentence. A conviction means you can never own or possess a firearm again. And unlike almost every other charge in Texas, even deferred adjudication for Assault Family Violence permanently disqualifies you from sealing or expunging your record. That charge stays on your record forever. No exceptions.
Why These Cases Are Different
Assault Family Violence cases almost never have outside witnesses. The incident happens at home, behind closed doors, between two people who know each other. There’s no officer who watched it happen. No surveillance footage. No forensic evidence.
Compare that to a DWI case — the officer observes the driving, administers field sobriety tests, and testifies to all of it in court. Drug cases work the same way. There’s physical evidence and an officer who found it.
Assault Family Violence cases usually come down to one thing: which person the jury believes. That’s exactly what happened here.
What Happened
My client called me the morning after his arrest. He was a mess. Self-employed, married for almost five years, no criminal history whatsoever. The night before, he and his wife had gotten into a verbal argument that escalated. At some point she struck him in the face. He pushed her away. A third party overheard the argument and called the police.
When officers arrived, they interviewed both of them and arrested my client — even though his wife had no visible injuries. He called me the next morning and hired me.
The Evidence
A few days after the incident, my client’s wife met with the police investigator assigned to the case and told him the truth: she had hit my client first. She’d lied to the responding officers because she was angry, emotional, and scared of going to jail herself. The investigator told her there was nothing he could do and forwarded the case to the Collin County District Attorney’s office. They moved forward with it immediately.
Texas law requires the District Attorney to hand over any evidence that might tend to show the defendant is not guilty. I requested everything they had — it wasn’t much I didn’t already know. Then I arranged a meeting between the DA and my client’s wife so she could explain directly what had actually happened. I even arranged for her to give a sworn statement to the DA’s lead investigator, on the record, saying the same thing she’d told the police investigator months earlier.
None of it mattered. In the DA’s eyes, my client was guilty the moment he was arrested — and the only reason his wife had changed her story was because he was dangerous and intimidating. They refused to dismiss. His options were plead guilty to probation or go to trial.
We went to trial.
The Trial
The wife didn’t show up.
This was no surprise to me or my client — she had been telling the DA for months she wanted nothing to do with the case. But they went forward anyway. Their entire case consisted of a 911 call from someone who didn’t witness the incident and the testimony of responding officers who only knew what they’d been told on the night of the arrest.
Then it got better.
Remember how the DA is required to turn over any evidence that might tend to show the defendant is not guilty? They apparently missed something. My client’s wife had two prior assault convictions within the past few years. And the victim in one of those cases? My client.
After he took the stand and told the jury exactly what happened, I called for a recess. The DA, the judge, and I spent about an hour arguing over whether the wife’s prior assault convictions could come into evidence. In Texas, prior bad acts generally aren’t admissible to show someone acted the same way on a different occasion — but there are exceptions, and I argued them. The judge ruled in my favor.
The jury heard about the convictions. They didn’t deliberate long.
Not Guilty
My client walked out of the courthouse a free man.
This case mattered for a few reasons. The DA had no physical evidence, their own witness told them for months that she hadn’t been truthful with police, and they still pushed forward. They also failed to catch two prior assault convictions — one of which named their alleged victim as the perpetrator and my client as the victim. An independent investigation into the facts isn’t optional. It’s how you find what the DA missed.
Note: Each case is unique. The outcome of any criminal case depends on its specific facts and circumstances.
Serving All of Collin County
I defend clients throughout Collin County, including:
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