You have a right to legal representation, though you may not qualify for a court-appointed attorney/public defender. In that case, you will need to hire a private criminal defense attorney. Obviously, a charge of aggravated sexual assault is extremely serious and carries the penalty of decades in... View More

Your husband is facing current legal issues regarding the terroristic threat-- it sounds like charges have been filed against him and a warrant has issued for his arrest. Those legal issues need to be handled by a criminal defense attorney because there are overwhelming credibility concerns at play... View More

Your husband is facing life/99 years in prison. "Self defense" is an affirmative defense, meaning it needs to be plead and proven. The stakes are extremely high and the case will be particularly rough regarding your husband not proactively reporting the incident. He gets one shot at... View More

You’ve got a lot of questions here, but the ultimate answer is that you need to *call a lawyer*, have a consultation with them to get the answers and perspective you need, then hire that lawyer to defend your wife. The stakes are much higher considering her immigration status.

The store... View More

Interfering with a 911 call can happen in various ways, not just hanging up the phone when someone has successfully called 911. If the defendant allegedly snatched the victim’s phone away, for example. Especially if your charges came in the context of family violence allegations, you need to hire... View More

Bail is set using various guidelines, which vary a bit between jurisdictions. The bail amount has to be reasonable when considered in light of the severity of the crime, but bail will also be higher if the defendant has a substantial criminal history, especially one that includes bail jumping. Bail... View More

A protective order is a civil order, not a criminal one, and it isn't impacted by the underlying criminal charges being dropped. A protective order can be filed without any criminal charges being filed, or in conjunction, but they are completely separate. Both the husband and wife should... View More

Atty. Wymyczak-White is correct. While the bail amount seems quite high, many factors go into a judge's decision regarding what bail should be, and there are guidelines. If you have a substantial criminal history, or egregious underlying charges related to the resisting arrest (like you have... View More

You shouldn't feel pressured to call the DA, and you don't have the ultimate power to drop the charges anyway-- the DA does, and there's no guarantee that they will. It may be helpful to take the free class they're offering, but fundamentally it's your choice whether you... View More

He may be asked to enter a plea, or answer information pertaining to whether he's interested in making a plea deal. If he has a lawyer, his lawyer should handle all of that and guide him through it. If he doesn't, he sorely needs a lawyer. Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon (in a... View More

Deferred adjudication, pro forma, generally means that the court just wants you to keep out of trouble and then they won't move forward with a conviction in your case. That said, you ought to contact the court and figure out the specific parameters you need to abide by-- how long is the period... View More

This means that the judge in your case determined that there was no family/"domestic" violence as an element of your case. That's a very important and beneficial thing, because finding of family violence present obstacles to getting charges expunged/non-disclosed, they create issues... View More

The only way to meaningfully address the issue is to hire a criminal defense attorney. Sometimes, if you catch a case before criminal charges are formally filed, a defense lawyer can convince the DA not to file the case at all. There isn't a lot of time to waste, though. You'll need to... View More

If your court-appointed attorney isn't giving you a defense you're comfortable with, then you're absolutely free to hire a private criminal defense attorney. No attorney-- appointed or private-- will be able to guarantee any particular outcome. That said, because you get to choose... View More

Other citizens aren’t pressing charges, only DA’s offices can do that. And while it’s annoying to deal with someone shouting curse words at you, it’s harder to establish whether that’s actually illegal conduct. You can report that behavior to the police and let them know that it’s... View More

We don't know what your criminal record says, or what the context is. That said, deferred adjudication, by definition, is not a conviction. Deferred adjudication is when the court agrees not to convict you for the crime you've been charged with so long as you can stay out of trouble in... View More

If by "we've been together for a year" you mean that you, then 16, and he, then 24, have been in a sexual relationship, then yes-- things can certainly get worse for him because he can be charged with various sexual crimes against a minor. I can picture the charges being aggravated... View More

There is no guarantee that bond will be reduced as the result of hiring a lawyer because the bond isn't set by the lawyer, so the lawyer doesn't have the ultimate power to reduce it. That being said, a lawyer can consult with you and give you a better picture of what they believe they can... View More

You can file what's called an "Affidavit of Non-Prosecution," which is basically you telling the DA's office/prosecutor that you aren't willingly going to cooperate in the investigation and prosecution of the crime in question, and that you would like to see the charges... View More

Yes, there are various pretrial diversion programs that might be applicable to the case, as well as other favorable outcomes for the defendant. Depending on what the evidence shows and what is compelling to the prosecutor on the case, this may even be a case that merits dismissal.