Criminal Defense

Criminal Defense

The week after the arrest decides more than the trial does.

Almost everyone's instinct is to explain. You talk to the officer at the scene, then to a detective who says he only needs to clear one thing up, then to whoever calls next — because surely once they understand, this goes away. It does not go away. What it produces is a recorded statement a prosecutor plays back later, in a room where you cannot interrupt.

Kevin Acevedo has been practicing for more than 25 years, first in Puerto Rico and since 2013 in Texas, and is admitted in the federal courts as well as the state courts. The firm is reachable 24 hours a day, which matters in this practice area more than any other — most of the damage in a criminal case is done between the arrest and the first court date.

The earliest work is usually the quietest: getting the bond conditions right, sending a letter that stops the interviews, preserving video before it is overwritten, and in some cases reaching the prosecutor before charges are ever filed.

What we handle

Where the line falls in Texas

Two charges can sound identical and sit on opposite sides of the line that decides whether you can be hired, licensed, or allowed to own a firearm. This is the ladder:

• Class C misdemeanor. Fine only, generally up to $500, with no jail sentence. Still an arrest and still a record.
• Class B misdemeanor. Up to 180 days in county jail and a fine up to $2,000. A first DWI usually starts here.
• Class A misdemeanor. Up to one year in county jail and a fine up to $4,000. Assault of a family member and a second DWI typically land here.
• State jail felony. 180 days to two years in a state jail facility and a fine up to $10,000. People hear "state jail" and relax. They should not — it is a felony conviction, with everything that follows one.
• Third, second and first degree felonies. Two to ten years, two to twenty years, and five to ninety-nine years or life. Prior convictions and certain findings can move a case up a level.

For one charge that is often misunderstood, see our guide to terroristic threat charges in Texas.

Your record is its own case

People assume that if the sentence is over, the record eventually clears itself. In Texas it usually does not, and the difference between the two ways out is worth understanding before you accept any offer.

• Expunction erases. It is also narrow. Texas generally allows an expunction when the case ended without a conviction — an acquittal, a dismissal, a pardon, or an arrest that never led to a charge. Waiting periods apply.
• Nondisclosure seals, and only partly. An order of nondisclosure hides the record from most of the public but not from law enforcement and not from certain licensing agencies. It is usually tied to successfully completing deferred adjudication, and a long list of offenses is excluded from it.
• A conviction generally stays. Texas has no expunction for most convictions, and that includes a plea taken years ago to get the case over with. Regular probation after a plea of guilty is still a conviction for most purposes.
• A family violence finding follows you separately. It affects firearm rights, it turns a future family assault charge into a felony, and it will be raised against you in any custody case you ever have.

What a conviction actually costs

The sentence is the part people focus on, and frequently the smallest part:

• Jail or prison time, and the conditions of probation or parole that follow it.
• Fines, court costs and restitution, which continue after everything else has ended.
• Immigration consequences for non-citizens. Certain offenses can mean removal, denial of naturalisation or being barred from re-entry — and the safest disposition in criminal court is not always the safest one for immigration. Tell us your status at the first meeting.
• Employment, housing and licensing, where the record does the damage long after the case file is closed.

Defences also reach further than most people expect. Beyond mistaken identity and insufficient evidence, Texas recognises self-defence, defence of others and defence of property, duress and coercion, entrapment, necessity, and the mental state defences — and each of them is proved with evidence gathered early rather than argued at trial.

What it costs

Criminal cases are handled on a flat fee or an hourly basis depending on the charge, the court and how far the case is likely to go. They cannot be taken on contingency — the rules of professional conduct prohibit it in criminal matters, so be careful with anyone who suggests otherwise.

There is no fee to talk to us. After the consultation, when we know what the charge actually is and what stage it is at, you get the fee in writing before you decide anything.

Common questions