Q: I have a class A misdemeanor for trespassing that I haven't taken care of. It was a class b. But now its showing class A

A: I think the best move is to find out if there is an upcoming court date. If so make sure you get there. If you are out on bond, and you have failed to appear at your last court date, that bond was probably forfeited, and a bench warrant has been issued. I would need to know more to give you more advice.

If you are unable to show to court or do not understand what is going on with your case, you can ask the court for a mental evaluation. But even this issue must be stated or otherwise brought to the judge's attention.

I wish you luck. Find a good lawyer who knows criminal law, and you can protect yourself throughout your case. If you can not afford an attorney, the court will appoint you a defense lawyer, for no charge.

A: You say you're in treatment with the V.A. so after you were arrested, you were released from custody on bond. So if you've missed your initial court appearance, then there's likely to be a warrant out for your arrest. And if you paid a bondsman to post a surety bond to get you out of jail, then that bondsman will want to get you arrested so he doesn't lose money for your failure to appear in court.

So, first thing, do not call your bail bondsman because he might try to trick you into coming over to his office so he can surrender you to the Sheriff. I wish you had said what county your case is in because this advice could be a lot more specific if I knew where your case is.

Now, here's the good news. In most of the larger Texas counties, there are specialized courts for drug cases (called "drug courts"), and specialized courts for defendant's with mental health problems as well as courts for veterans charged with crimes. Now, because these courts have limited resources, not everyone who qualifies can automatically get into these programs.

But if your case is in one of the Texas counties which has these programs available, I would say you have a good chance of being allowed into one because of the fact that you seem to qualify for both the mental health and the veterans' courts, and possibly the drug court as well. The great thing about these 3 programs is that if you can get into one of them, and you're able to successfully complete the program, there's a very good chance you can get out of this legal problem you're in without having anything on your record. Successfully finishing the requirements takes about one year from when you start.

So what you need to do is hire a lawyer to walk you into the court where your case is pending so he/she can request the Court to appoint you a lawyer, grant you a new personal recognizance (free) bond, and get you signed up with one of the special court programs. You might be able to find a Veteran who is an attorney to take you to court for very little money. And even if you can't get into a specialty court program, you shouldn't have too much difficulty getting a good result in your case, IF you start paying attention to it. Good luck, sir.