I was recently picked up on a public intoxication charge. I spent six hours in central booking, and I was released with a stamp and a yellow court summons. I am supposed to appear in the coming week. Questions:
1.This is a Class C, correct? It's my first offense.
2. I live out of town. Should I do my best to make it to the court date this upcoming week, or should I call and postpone the hearing?
3. I have read up on deferred adjudication, but it seems like in Texas, this does not get rid of the charge entirely. Is this a good option?
4. What about Alternative DIspute Resolution? Is that an option for a PI charge? Is it a good idea?
5. I am willing to lawyer up and pay $ for a good defense, but I am worried about repercussions if I plead not guilty but am convicted. Recommendations?
1. Yes, it's a Class C.
2. It would probably be better tI go ahead and deal with it, unless the reason you're putting it off is to hire an attorney (the court is also likely to be more sympathetic to that specific reason).
3. Deferred adjudication doesn't do anything on Class Bs and above except stop you from having a conviction and make you eligible to apply for an order of nondisclosure, which leaves the records in existence but seal then for most purposes.
Class C deferred adjudication is different; though. If you get a Class C offense dismissed after a deferral period, you will be eligible to have the case expunged--meaning completely destroyed. You'll probably be required to wait two years after the offense date before you can apply for an expunction, and it involves filing a totally separate petition in a district court.
The only real exception to that would be if you were under 21 when you got the PI. There's a special Alcoholic Beverage Code provision that allows a person who as a minor incurred no more than one conviction of that code (which includes PIs, MIPs, etc.) to get the conviction expunged once the person reaches the age of 21. Upon applying to the judge of that court, paying a $30 fee, and swearing under oath that that's the only such conviction he or she has, even an actual conviction can be expunged. Otherwise, it's only if you get deferred and you have to go through the normal expunction process.
Sorry, just realize I forgot about "4." and "5.".
4. ADR provisions apply only in civil cases, and don't have anything to do with criminal cases.
5. Assuming you're over 21, yes, there is a possibility you'd could be convicted if you go to trial, depending on the evidence. But even if you are, there's actually a provision for appealing the conviction to county court (assuming this isn't a municipal court of record) where you'd basically get to do it all over again. Very often, the county court prosecutors, who have a ton of these to deal with on top of their regular docket, are really more interested in getting rid of them than anything else, so a lot of cases get dismissed that way.
No one, however, can tell you what would be the best option for your case without being aware of all of the specifics, so I'd suggest you consult an attorney to at least talk about representation for this case.
I am an experienced criminal defense attorney in Travis County. I am a former Project Recovery attorney where I represented individuals charged with public intoxication and met weekly on their cases for six years. Feel free to contact me through my website below.
Contact Mr. Jones.
1. yes
2. have an attorney handle this for you before coming back to town
3. Class C invokes a deferred disposition not deferred adjudication. COmpleting a deferred dispo entitles the defendant to an expunction afterward to erase it completely unlike Class B or higher deferred adjudication.
4. Not a remedy for criminal charges
5. Call Mr. Jones.
