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Your Austin Criminal Defense Attorney
In Austin, Texas, a criminal charge is heard in one of two very different courts depending on its severity: Travis County’s District Court for a felony, or its County Court at Law for a Class A or B misdemeanor, with Justice or Municipal Court handling a fine-only Class C. The real bail-setting factors a magistrate has to weigh, and the counsel-appointment deadline that applies in Travis County specifically, are covered further down this page. A case’s outcome often turns as much on procedural details like this as on the underlying facts, which is part of why understanding the structure early can matter.
Bail, Personal Bonds, and the Right to Counsel
Under Article 17.15 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, as amended by the Damon Allen Act, bail can’t be used as ‘an instrument of oppression’: a magistrate has to consider the specific offense, the defendant’s ability to pay, public safety, and criminal history before setting an amount or granting a personal bond. A surety bond through a licensed bail bondsman, typically at a set percentage of the total bail amount, remains the most common way most defendants actually post bail once an amount is set. Article 15.17 of the Code of Criminal Procedure puts a hard 48-hour clock on this: every arrested person has to appear before a magistrate within that window, be told the specific charges against them, have their right to an attorney explained, and have bail conditions set. The Fair Defense Act ties the counsel-appointment deadline to county population, and Travis County clears the 250,000 threshold, which means the 1-working-day appointment deadline applies rather than the 3-day deadline a smaller county would have. A defendant who can’t make bail isn’t without options: a personal bond, released without posting money but with conditions attached, is available under the same individualized-factor analysis.
What a Conviction in Travis County Could Mean
Texas Penal Code Chapter 12 grades every offense on a specific ladder: a Class C misdemeanor is fine-only (up to $500, no jail), Class B carries up to 180 days and a $2,000 fine, and Class A carries up to a year and a $4,000 fine. Felonies escalate further and carry up to a $10,000 fine at every tier: a state jail felony runs 180 days to 2 years in state jail, a third-degree felony runs 2 to 10 years, a second-degree felony runs 2 to 20 years, and a first-degree felony runs 5 to 99 years or life. Texas’s implied-consent law means a DWI arrest can affect a driver’s license before the criminal case is even resolved: the 15-day ALR hearing-request window under Transportation Code §724.041 runs on its own clock, independent of the criminal court process. On the criminal side, the offense itself escalates from a Class B misdemeanor on a first offense up through a third-degree felony on a third, under Penal Code §49.09.
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Common Charges We Defend in Austin
A simple assault charge under §22.01 isn’t always the same offense: threatening someone or making offensive contact can be a fine-only Class C misdemeanor, while causing bodily injury is usually charged as a Class A misdemeanor, and certain victim categories, such as a public servant, a family member, or someone in a dating relationship, can push it to a felony instead. Theft under Penal Code §31.03 is graded entirely by dollar value: under $100 is a Class C misdemeanor, $100 to under $750 is Class B, and $750 to under $2,500 is Class A; above that, it becomes a felony, from a state jail felony ($2,500 to under $30,000) up through a first-degree felony at $300,000 or more. Texas grades drug possession by weight, not a flat charge: a Penalty Group 1 substance (§481.115), with cocaine and methamphetamine as common examples, is a state jail felony under 1 gram, escalating to a third-degree felony at 1 to under 4 grams and a second-degree felony at 4 to under 200 grams. Marijuana runs on its own separate scale under §481.121, starting at a Class B misdemeanor under 2 ounces.
What Texas Actually Offers: Expunction or Nondisclosure
Expunction (Code of Criminal Procedure Chapter 55A, which replaced the former Chapter 55 on January 1, 2025) is not available for a conviction or for successfully completed deferred adjudication; that’s what an order of nondisclosure, under Government Code Chapter 411, is actually for. Certain offenses are permanently excluded from nondisclosure no matter how the case resolved, including any offense involving family violence and most sex offenses. A nondisclosure order doesn’t erase the underlying event the way expunction does; it restricts who can see it, while law enforcement and certain licensing agencies can still access it.
Travis County's Courts and Jail
Travis County’s criminal courts actually sit in two connected buildings, not one: the historic Heman Marion Sweatt Courthouse at 1000 Guadalupe Street, and the Blackwell-Thurman Criminal Justice Center at 509 West 11th Street, a ten-story building constructed specifically to house the criminal courts and physically connect the courthouse annex to the Travis County Jail.
Every arrest in the county is processed through the Central Booking Facility at 10th and Nueces, where fingerprinting, photographs, and a medical screening happen before a magistration hearing. The facility booked roughly 30,000 people in 2023 alone, serving more than 30 separate law enforcement agencies across the county, not just the Austin Police Department. From there, a defendant held pending trial goes to one of Travis County’s two correctional sites, the downtown jail or the larger Del Valle Correctional Complex, which together are designed to house close to 2,900 inmates. The Travis County District Attorney’s Office, headquartered separately at the Ronald Earle Building on West 11th Street, organizes its prosecutors into specialized units (homicide, sexual assault, family violence, and public integrity among them) rather than one general felony pool. Travis County also runs several specialty dockets: a Veterans Treatment Court built specifically around combat-related PTSD, traumatic brain injury, or military sexual trauma; a DWI Court; and a Mental Health specialty docket handled through the District Attorney’s Mental Health Team, alongside a separate judicially supervised diversion track running 3 to 12 months.
Other Texas cities nearby: criminal defense attorneys serving Cedar Park.
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s a personal bond, and is it available?
A personal bond releases a defendant without posting money, subject to conditions, and it’s evaluated under the same Damon Allen Act factors as any other bail decision.
How fast does an appointed attorney have to be assigned?
Because Travis County’s population is over 250,000, the Fair Defense Act requires appointed counsel within 1 working day, not the 3-day window smaller counties get.
What’s the practical difference between probation and deferred adjudication in Texas?
Regular probation still results in a final conviction on the record even if completed successfully; deferred adjudication avoids a final conviction altogether if probation is completed, which is why it’s often eligible for a nondisclosure order later and regular probation generally isn’t.
Is marijuana possession charged the same as other drug possession?
No, marijuana is classified separately under Health & Safety Code §481.121, not under the Penalty Group ladder other drugs fall under: under 2 ounces is a Class B misdemeanor, while a Penalty Group 1 substance like cocaine can already be a state jail felony at under 1 gram.
Is an ALR suspension the same length as a DWI conviction’s license suspension?
No, they’re separate and can run for different lengths: an ALR suspension from refusing or failing a breath/blood test typically runs 90 days to 2 years depending on prior history, while a suspension following an actual DWI conviction is set separately under Transportation Code §524.
Does a nondisclosure order remove a record from a background check entirely?
Not from every one: a nondisclosure order under Government Code Chapter 411 seals a record from public and most private-employer background checks, but the record remains visible to certain government agencies and licensing boards.
Every Decision From Here Matters
From the moment of arrest, an Austin criminal case starts moving immediately, and decisions made in the first few days can shape everything that follows.
