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Dallas County splits criminal jurisdiction by offense severity: District Court hears felony charges out of Garland, County Court at Law hears Class A and B misdemeanors, and Justice or Municipal Court handles a fine-only Class C. Whether a record can later be cleared, and which of Texas’s two very different processes actually applies, is covered further down this page. Getting that classification right matters early, since it determines everything from which court hears the case to how bail is set.
Bail Isn't a Flat Fee Schedule Under Texas Law
Personal bonds, surety bonds, and cash bonds are all still available under Texas law, but since the Damon Allen Act, the decision has to reflect an individualized look at the specific case rather than a one-size-fits-all number tied only to the charge. A prior failure to appear is itself one of the factors weighed on any later bail decision in the same case, which is part of why the analysis looks backward as well as forward. 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 Dallas 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.
Texas's Offense Classifications and What Each One Carries
The classification a charge receives under Penal Code Chapter 12, spanning a fine-only Class C misdemeanor up through a first-degree felony’s 5-to-99-year range, determines both which court hears it and what a conviction can actually carry. A state jail felony, the lowest felony tier at 180 days to 2 years, is still served in a state jail facility rather than county jail or prison, and still carries a felony record even at that lower end of the range. A DWI with a passenger under 15 in the vehicle is charged as a state jail felony under Penal Code §49.045 regardless of whether it’s a first offense, a real escalation most first-time-DWI assumptions don’t account for. The more familiar escalation, Class B on a first offense, Class A with a mandatory 30-day minimum on a second, third-degree felony on a third, still applies to every other DWI arrest under §49.09.
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Understanding a Charge: Assault, Theft, or Drug Possession
Assault under Penal Code §22.01 covers a wide range of conduct: a threat or offensive contact alone can be a Class C misdemeanor, while causing actual bodily injury is typically a Class A misdemeanor, but the charge escalates to a felony when the alleged victim is a public servant, a family member, or someone in another protected category. 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. Drug possession charges depend on both the substance and the weight involved: under Health & Safety Code §481.115, possessing a Penalty Group 1 substance like cocaine or methamphetamine is a state jail felony under 1 gram, a third-degree felony from 1 to under 4 grams, and a second-degree felony from 4 to under 200 grams. Marijuana is classified separately under §481.121: under 2 ounces is a Class B misdemeanor, 2 to 4 ounces is a Class A misdemeanor, and 4 ounces to 5 pounds is a state jail felony.
Clearing a Record: Expunction vs. Nondisclosure
Which record-clearing process applies turns on how the case resolved: no conviction at all points toward expunction under Chapter 55A, with its waiting periods scaled by offense severity (180 days for a Class C misdemeanor, 1 year for a Class A or B, 3 years for a felony); a successfully completed deferred adjudication points toward a nondisclosure order under Government Code Chapter 411 instead, which seals rather than destroys the record. 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.
Dallas County's Courts and Jail
Dallas County splits booking and the courtroom across two separate buildings: an arrest is processed at the Lew Sterrett Justice Center on Commerce Street, while the case itself is heard blocks away at the Frank Crowley Courts Building on North Riverfront Boulevard, which holds 17 Criminal District Courts hearing felonies (on the building’s 5th, 6th, and 7th floors specifically) alongside 11 County Criminal Courts hearing Class A and B misdemeanors.
The Dallas County District Attorney’s Office is a large operation by design: over 300 attorneys and staff prosecute more than 40,000 cases a year out of that office alone. The Dallas County Sheriff’s Office, which runs the Lew Sterrett jail, operates one of the seven largest county jails in the entire country by population, not just the largest in Texas.
Nearby coverage: criminal defense representation from Carrollton, the Irving criminal defense resource.
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.
Why does county population matter for the appointment deadline?
The 1-working-day deadline applies because Dallas County’s population exceeds 250,000 under CCP Art. 1.051; smaller counties get 3 working days instead.
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.
What turns a simple assault into aggravated assault?
Causing serious bodily injury or using or exhibiting a deadly weapon during the assault: either one moves the charge from Penal Code §22.01 to §22.02’s aggravated assault, a second-degree felony (or first-degree in certain family or dating-violence contexts).
What happens if I don’t request an ALR hearing in time?
The 15-day window under Transportation Code §724.041 isn’t extendable; missing it results in an automatic license suspension taking effect on day 40 after the arrest, regardless of how the underlying criminal DWI case turns out.
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.
Time Is Not on Your Side Here
The bail hearing, the counsel-appointment clock, and every deadline that follows in a Garland case doesn’t pause while someone decides how to respond; the sooner those decisions get real attention, the more options usually remain.
