Assault is defined by Texas Penal Code Section 22.01: intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly causing bodily injury to another, including a family or household member.² What turns an ordinary assault into a family violence case is not a separate crime; it is a finding. When the complainant is a family member, a household member, or a person in a dating relationship, the State asks the court to enter an affirmative finding of family violence, and the Family Code supplies the definition the court applies.³ A first-offense assault of this kind is a Class A misdemeanor, which carries up to one year in the county jail and a fine of up to $4,000.⁴

The reach of the charge depends on who the complainant is. The Family Code defines family violence to include acts between members of a family or household,³ and a separate provision defines dating violence between people in a romantic or intimate relationship.⁵ The relationship is an element the State must establish, and it is examined as closely as the alleged injury itself, because the finding, not the misdemeanor grade, is what carries the heaviest consequences.

Family violence is charged on a ladder, and where a case sits on that ladder is set by the nature of the contact and the person's history. These are the variants an assault family violence case most often turns on.

Class A misdemeanor assault with a family violence finding

This is the core charge and the one addressed here. An assault causing bodily injury to a family or household member, on a first offense, is a Class A misdemeanor under Section 22.01,² with the family violence finding attached under the Family Code definition.³ Bodily injury can mean pain alone; visible injury is not required for the State to proceed.

When a prior conviction raises the grade to a felony

A second family violence assault is treated far more severely. Where a person has a prior conviction for an offense against a family or household member, a new assault is a third-degree felony under Section 22.01,² punishable by two to ten years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.⁶ A charge that looks like a misdemeanor on the surface can be filed as a felony on the strength of the criminal history alone.

When choking or strangulation is alleged

An assault on a family or household member by impeding breath or circulation, that is, choking or strangulation, is a third-degree felony even on a first offense under Section 22.01(b)(2)(B).⁷ The allegation of a hand to the neck, without any lasting injury, moves the case from county court to district court.

When the conduct is charged as aggravated or continuous

Where serious bodily injury or a deadly weapon is alleged, the conduct can be charged as aggravated assault, a first- or second-degree felony when committed against a family or household member.⁸ Where two or more family violence assaults are alleged within a twelve-month period, the State can charge continuous violence against the family, a third-degree felony, whether or not the earlier incidents resulted in conviction.⁹

Most people charged with assault family violence have never been in a criminal courtroom before. The case often begins with a single 911 call during the worst night of a relationship, a deputy or San Antonio Police Department officer responding to the home, and a person taken into custody within the hour. Many are parents, spouses, and partners who never expected the word assault to attach to their name.

The collateral exposure is what makes this charge different from any other misdemeanor. A conviction, and in many circumstances a deferred adjudication, triggers a lifetime federal prohibition on possessing a firearm or ammunition under the Lautenberg Amendment.¹ The finding can shape a pending or future custody and visitation case. For a noncitizen, a family violence conviction is a basis for removal under federal immigration law.¹⁰ And the record itself cannot be sealed or expunged after a conviction, so it surfaces on every background check for the rest of a person's life. That is the exposure that makes the disposition of even a first-offense case matter.

The one-year ceiling and the $4,000 fine for a Class A misdemeanor are only the criminal floor of the exposure.⁴ The family violence finding is the part that does not fade. A conviction triggers the federal firearm prohibition under 18 U.S.C. Section 922(g)(9), which bars possession of a firearm or ammunition for life,¹ and Texas treats the conviction as one that cannot later be sealed or expunged. Community supervision in these cases ordinarily includes a Batterers Intervention and Prevention Program requirement, counseling, and reporting conditions.

There is almost always a parallel civil and family-law side. An emergency protective order is frequently entered at magistration, restricting return to the residence and contact with the complainant; the complainant or the State may also seek a longer protective order. The finding can be used in a custody or divorce proceeding. The complainant cannot drop the case: once the charge is filed, the Bexar County Criminal District Attorney controls the prosecution, and a complainant's later wish to recant or decline to testify is one factor among many. Whether any particular resolution fits a given case is a fact-specific question answered from the record, never a promise.

An assault family violence case is built out of a few recordings made in the first ninety minutes, and what a person does in those early days affects all of them. The most common mistake is explaining the situation to the responding officers; statements made at the scene are recorded on body-worn camera and used, and Article 38.22 governs when an accused's statement is admissible and what warnings had to come first.

A few steps help in nearly every case. If an emergency protective order has been entered, follow it exactly, including any order to stay away from a shared home or to avoid contact with the complainant, because a violation is a separate crime that can be filed on top of the assault.¹¹ Preserve every text message, voicemail, and photograph from the days around the incident, and do not delete anything. Keep all paperwork from the arrest and any protective order. Do not contact the complainant, even if the complainant reaches out first, until counsel has reviewed the order.

This is general information about how these cases work in Texas. It is not legal advice about any specific case, and reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.

A Class A assault family violence case in Bexar County follows a predictable path, and knowing the order of events makes the decision points easier to see.

Arrest, magistration, and emergency protective order

The case ordinarily begins with an arrest. The person is brought before a magistrate who gives the statutory warnings and sets bond, ordinarily within 48 hours, under Article 15.17.¹² In a family violence case the magistrate frequently enters an order for emergency protection at the same hearing, restricting contact and return to the residence for a set period under Article 17.292.¹¹

Bond conditions

The magistrate may impose conditions of bond related to the safety of the complainant and the community, and in a family violence case those conditions can include no-contact terms and, in some matters, monitoring under Articles 17.40 and 17.49.¹³ Conditions that prevent contact with shared children are addressed by motion to modify.

Filing in a County Court at Law

The Bexar County Criminal District Attorney files the Class A charge into a Bexar County Court at Law, which has jurisdiction over Class A and B misdemeanors,¹⁴ in the county's specialized family violence docket. Filings move through the Cadena-Reeves Justice Center on Dolorosa Street,¹⁵ and the case is prosecuted from the Paul Elizondo Tower across the plaza.¹⁶

Pretrial settings, discovery, and resolution

The case proceeds through a series of pretrial settings. The State's evidence, the 911 audio, every body-worn camera angle, any in-car video, and the offense report, is produced under the discovery statute, Article 39.14.¹⁷ A case can resolve by dismissal, by a negotiated agreement, through a pretrial program where a person is eligible, or at trial. Whether deferred adjudication under Article 42A.102 is available and advisable is analyzed with the firearm consequence in view, because that consequence can attach even to a deferred disposition.¹⁸

An assault family violence case does not carry the fast administrative clock a DWI does, but timing still decides what evidence survives and what options remain.

An assault family violence case turns on a small set of recordings and on the relationship element, so those are where the work starts. The 911 audio, the body-worn camera from every responding officer, and any in-car video together capture the first ninety minutes after the call, the period that drives most charging decisions, and each is requested through formal discovery under Article 39.14 and reviewed for what it actually contains and what it omits.¹⁷ The complainant's recorded statements are catalogued for inconsistencies between the 911 call, the on-scene account, and any later supplement.

The family violence finding is examined against the Family Code definition rather than the State's intake summary, because the relationship element and the finding carry the heaviest consequences.³ Where the incident sits near a custody dispute, the timing is documented through filings and messages. Where self-defense is in view, the recorded facts are mapped against the statutory elements. The federal firearm prohibition under 18 U.S.C. Section 922(g)(9) is treated as a primary consequence at every plea discussion, not a footnote, because it can attach to a conviction and to many deferred dispositions alike.¹ Every motion is preserved on the record.

The hour estimate

Forrest Good PLLC estimates this matter at 15 to 25 hours of attorney time, billed at $250 per hour. The lower end reflects a straightforward first-offense case with limited recorded evidence that resolves early; the upper end reflects a contested file with multiple body-worn camera angles, contested witness statements, protective-order modification work, and extended pretrial settings. The pricing methodology explains how the charging instrument, the evidence load, and the procedural stakes drive the estimate.

The flat fee and what it covers

The starting flat fee is $5,000. It covers review of the offense report, the 911 audio, every body-worn camera angle, and any in-car video; analysis of the family violence finding under the Family Code definition;³ navigation of any emergency protective order and the bond-condition modification needed to allow contact with shared children;¹¹ full pretrial motion practice including discovery enforcement under Article 39.14;¹⁷ and every pretrial setting in the Bexar County family violence docket through trial-court disposition. The fee shown here is honored while this page is published, consistent with Texas Disciplinary Rule of Professional Conduct 7.02(d).²⁰

Any work outside the scoped fee is billed at $250 per hour and is disclosed in the written engagement letter before it begins. The engagement letter is the binding contract for the matter.

The first step is a conversation. The initial 30-minute consultation with Forrest Good PLLC is free and is scheduled through the office's Google Booking page. It is the time to walk through the offense report, any emergency protective order, and the relationship the State is calling family violence, and to understand how the firearm consequence and any custody case fit together before the next setting. Bringing the arrest paperwork and any protective order makes the half hour far more useful.

No attorney-client relationship is formed until a written engagement letter is signed; the consultation itself carries no obligation.

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