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Your Plano Criminal Defense Attorney
In Texas, the severity of the charge decides the courtroom: a Plano felony case goes to Collin County’s District Court, while a Class A or B misdemeanor goes to its County Court at Law. The specific classification a charge falls into, and what that means for sentencing and bail, is covered further down this page. Working through these distinctions early, rather than after a hearing has already happened, is usually the more effective approach.
Getting Released Before Trial: Bail in Plano, Texas
A magistrate setting bail in Texas has to do more than consult a bond schedule: the Damon Allen Act’s factors, meaning offense severity, ability to pay, victim and community safety, and criminal history including prior failures to appear, all have to be considered before bail is set or a personal bond is granted. The public safety report system created alongside the Damon Allen Act gives the magistrate access to a defendant’s criminal history and any family-violence record before that decision is made, not afterward. Before any of this happens, Article 15.17 of the Code of Criminal Procedure requires a magistration hearing within 48 hours of arrest, the point where the charges are formally read, the right to counsel is explained, and a magistrate first sets bail conditions. Because Collin County’s population exceeds 250,000, the Fair Defense Act (Code of Criminal Procedure Article 1.051) requires a court to appoint counsel for an indigent defendant within 1 working day of the request, not the longer 3-day window smaller counties get. Certain repeat or violent offenders can have bail denied outright under Article I, Section 11(a) of the Texas Constitution, a narrower exception than the general bail-setting process most cases go through.
How Texas Classifies and Punishes a Criminal Charge
A conviction’s real consequences depend entirely on where the charge falls on Texas’s classification ladder: a Class A misdemeanor tops out at a year in jail and a $4,000 fine, while even the lowest felony tier, state jail felony, can mean up to 2 years without the possibility of regular parole. The felony tiers above that (third, second, and first degree) carry progressively longer ranges up to 99 years or life, each with up to a $10,000 fine on top of any prison term. Separate from the criminal case, a DWI arrest triggers a civil, administrative consequence: under Transportation Code §724.041, a driver has only 15 calendar days from notice to request a hearing on the license suspension, or the suspension takes effect automatically 40 days after notice. That administrative process runs on its own clock under Texas’s implied-consent law and proceeds independently of whatever happens in the criminal case itself.
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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. The dollar amount alleged to have been taken is what actually determines a theft charge’s severity under §31.03: misdemeanor tiers run from under $100 (Class C) to under $2,500 (Class A), while felony tiers start at $2,500 (state jail felony) and climb to $300,000 or more (first-degree felony). 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.
Expunction and Nondisclosure Aren't the Same Thing Under Texas Law
Government Code §411.072 makes a nondisclosure order automatic for certain qualifying deferred adjudications after a 180-day wait, while §411.0725 requires a petition for felonies and other misdemeanors not covered by §411.072, two different mechanisms depending on the offense. Getting the wrong process started, filing for expunction on a case that actually needs a nondisclosure petition or the reverse, can waste real time, since the two statutes serve genuinely different situations.
Collin County's Courts and Jail
Allen isn’t Collin County’s seat: an arrest there is processed at the Russell A. Steindam Courts Building in McKinney, where the county’s District Courts sit, and booked at the Collin County Sheriff’s Office Detention Center, also in McKinney, a separate facility from the courthouse itself.
Other Texas cities nearby: criminal defense representation from Garland, criminal defense representation from Mckinney, criminal defense attorneys serving Allen.
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 quickly will I actually get a court-appointed lawyer?
Yes, the Fair Defense Act (CCP Art. 1.051) sets a 1-working-day deadline in counties of 250,000 or more, which includes Collin County, versus 3 working days in a smaller county.
Can a Class C misdemeanor in Texas result in jail time?
No, a Class C misdemeanor under Penal Code §12.23 is fine-only, up to $500, with no jail exposure at all, the mildest of Texas’s three misdemeanor classes.
When does a theft charge become a felony in Texas?
At $2,500 or more in alleged value; below that, theft under Penal Code §31.03 is a misdemeanor (Class C under $100, Class B under $750, Class A under $2,500), and at $2,500 it becomes a state jail felony, escalating from there by value.
Does a DWI arrest affect a driver’s license before the criminal case is decided?
Yes, under Transportation Code §724.041, a driver has only 15 days from notice to request an Administrative License Revocation hearing, a civil process that runs independently of the criminal case.
Is there a waiting period before petitioning for a nondisclosure order?
Yes, and it varies by offense: some misdemeanors qualify immediately after successfully completing deferred adjudication, while others (and most felonies) require a 2 or 5-year waiting period under Government Code Chapter 411 before the petition can be filed.
Don't Face This Alone
From the moment of arrest, a Plano criminal case starts moving immediately, and decisions made in the first few days can shape everything that follows.
