What is burglary of a habitation in Texas?
Burglary of a habitation is a 2nd-degree (2-20 TDC) felony in Texas. The law forbids entering a “habitation” without permission from the owner and then attempting or committing theft. See TEX. PENAL CODE § 30.02(a).
What is a habitation?
The internet age has brought about new ways for humans to treat each other poorly. Anyone who has dared to post a comment online has probably been insulted, called terrible things, or otherwise tormented. Before the cell phone, you had to actually see a person or call their landline to be awful towards them. Nowadays, you’ve got dozens of apps that can give you instant access to someone. Cyberbullying is also a problem, and that’s probably what led to the creation of the Online Harassment law in Texas.
What is Online Harassment?
We start with the general harassment provision in the Penal Code, which is 42.07, and go down to subsection (a)(7).
Can a Roofing Contractor be Charged with Theft?
After every hail storm of tornado roofing contractors will defend on neighborhoods looking for repair work. Most contracts are honest and upright and do a great job. However, sometimes a roofing contractor is hired, paid, but then fails to fix your roof as agreed. Law enforcement may get involved, and even arrest a roofing contractor for theft, or they may tell the homeowner this is a “civil matter” and to file a lawsuit in small claims court instead. If you are charged with theft over a roofing case, most often the prosecutor will require restitution as a condition of any plea bargain, or even offer a better plea offer if you pay restitution upfront. This varies by county.
What is theft in Texas? How does that apply to roofing contractors?
What is a stacked sentence?
Good question. A stacked sentence is one in which two sentences are to be served consecutively or one after another. So if Bob has two cases for possession, and gets 5 years TDC in each case, then a stacked sentence would require him to serve these sentences back to back.
Contrast that with a concurrent sentence, which lawyers call “CC”. If Bob has two charges for possession and gets the same 5 years in each case, then both sentences run at the same time. So Bob does one 5 year sentence.
What is assault causing bodily injury in Texas?
A person commits assault if he intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly causes bodily injury to another person. TEX. PENAL CODE ANN. § 22.01(a)(1).
“Bodily injury” is broadly defined as “physical pain, illness, or any impairment of physical condition.” Id. § 1.07(a)(8).
One of the first questions we ask our criminal consults is: Have you ever been arrested before? We do this not to embarrass you or make you feel bad, but to make sure we know what could possibly happen with your case. There is a chance that, based on your prior record, your state jail felony could be bumped up from anywhere to a 3rd-degree felony to a 1st-degree felony. We call this a punishment enhancement.
When we ask about your record, it includes needing to know ANY PLACE you’ve been arrested. Including other state and other counties. It also includes ANY TIME you’ve been arrested, no matter how long ago it was. When a prosecutor receives your case, the first thing they do is have an investigator run your background. These are FBI like background checks that can find EVERYTHING. Therefore, the best advice is to be upfront immediately so we can know how to prepare for your case.
How can they do this?
So your license to drive is suspended but you are still driving? That happens a lot in Texas. We’ve designed our State in a way that driving is required to function. You can’t walk to work in most areas, and public transportation is not something Texas has invested in. So people have to drive and sometimes will continue to do so after their license is suspended.
What’s the offense for driving with license invalid in Texas? That’s Texas Transportation Code Section 521.457(a)(2). It is illegal in Texas to operate a motor vehicle; on a highway; during a period that the person’s driver’s license or privilege was suspended or revoked under any Texas law.
How bad is it to commit DWLI? What’s the range of punishment?
Deadly Conduct should be a simple charge to understand right? Was there conduct? Was it deadly? Ok, then that’s “Deadly Conduct.” But like anything in law we make the simple complicated so guys like me can wear a suit and argue in court.
What is Deadly Conduct in Texas? Two ways to get there.
A It’s any conduct that places another person in danger of serious bodily injury. The conduct has to be reckless or better, so negligence won’t get there. Pointing a gun at someone counts as well.
Welcome back to our ongoing series on Assault crimes in Texas. Today we are going to leave Texas Penal Code 22.01, which has many typical assault offenses and take a closer look at TPC 22.04. 22.04 deals with victims (or complaining witnesses) in 3 unique classes- children, elderly, and disabled.
Let’s start with some definitions. In Texas, a “child” for the purposes of 22.04 is anyone under 14. An “elderly” person is anyone over 65. A “disabled” individual is anyone with
-autism spectrum disorder, as defined by Section 1355.001, Insurance Code;-
This is part 3 of our on-going series on Texas Penal Code Section 22.01 Assault. Today we are going to talk about way to make a regular Class A assault (bodily injury) a felony. That would be an assault against a public servant. Section (a)(1)(b)(1) defines assault on a public servant as an assault against-
a person the actor knows is a public servant while the public servant is lawfully discharging an official duty, or in retaliation or on account of an exercise of official power or performance of an official duty as a public servant;
This requires that the defendant a) know the person is a public servant, and b) the public servant is performing is performing an official duty or (c) or in retaliation from the performance of an official duty. A third degree felony has a range of punishment of 2-10 years in TDC, and a possible $10,000 fine.
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