This charge requires the State to prove an underlying assault and the use or exhibition of a deadly weapon during the offense, under Section 22.02(a)(2).¹ It is a second-degree felony, which carries two to twenty years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.⁴ The weapon does not have to be a firearm. A deadly weapon, under Section 1.07(a)(17), is anything that in the manner of its use or intended use is capable of causing death or serious bodily injury.⁵

What sets this charge apart from other felonies is the deadly-weapon finding and its downstream effect. The finding gives the offense a 3g designation under Article 42A.054, which restricts parole eligibility and limits a judge's discretion to grant community supervision.² Whether the trier of fact actually returns a deadly-weapon finding, as opposed to the State merely alleging one in the indictment, is a separately litigated question that matters enormously for what any sentence looks like in practice.

The deadly-weapon allegation can rest on very different kinds of objects, and the proof needed for each is different. These are the variants a deadly-weapon case most often turns on.

A firearm

Where the alleged weapon is a firearm, it qualifies as a deadly weapon by definition under Section 1.07(a)(17).⁵ The contest in a firearm case is usually about identification, recovery, and whether the firearm was used or exhibited at all, supported or undercut by the ballistics and recovery records.

A motor vehicle

In road-rage and similar allegations, the State may allege a motor vehicle as the deadly weapon. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals has approved deadly-weapon findings on a motor vehicle where the manner of use was capable of causing death or serious bodily injury.⁶ These cases turn on the dashcam, scene measurements, and reconstruction evidence.

Hands, feet, or an ordinary object

The weapon can also be hands or feet, or an everyday object such as a bottle or a bat, when the force used was capable of causing death or serious bodily injury.⁶ Here the analysis turns on a force-multiplier: a size differential, the complainant's medical state, or repeated blows that push the conduct past a simple assault and into deadly-weapon territory.

When the finding is returned versus merely alleged

The most consequential variant is procedural. An allegation of a deadly weapon in the indictment is not the same as a finding returned by the trier of fact, and only the finding triggers 3g treatment under Article 42A.054.² Contesting the finding, separately from the underlying assault, is therefore a path that can change the sentence even where the assault stands.

This charge reaches ordinary people whose worst moment involved an object the State now calls a weapon. A driver in a road-rage encounter, a person who grabbed a bottle or a bat in a fight, and someone who defended themselves with more force than the State accepts all face it. Because hands and feet can be charged as deadly weapons, even a fight with no object at all can carry this allegation.

The collateral consequences are heavy and lasting. A felony conviction triggers the firearm prohibition under state law,⁷ and the federal felon-in-possession bar under 18 U.S.C. Section 922(g)(1) applies independently.⁸ A conviction also requires a mandatory DNA sample,⁹ carries immigration consequences for a noncitizen, and draws license-board review for regulated professions. With the 3g designation added on top, the practical stakes of the deadly-weapon finding reach years beyond the courtroom.

The criminal exposure is the second-degree range of two to twenty years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.⁴ The deadly-weapon finding changes what those years mean. Under Article 42A.054, the 3g designation restricts the judge's ability to grant community supervision,² and under Government Code Section 508.145(d) a person serves the lesser of half the sentence or thirty calendar years before parole eligibility.³ The same number of years on the judgment is served very differently with a deadly-weapon finding than without one.

The collateral side is the state and federal firearm prohibition,⁷⁸ mandatory DNA collection,⁹ immigration exposure, and professional-license review. Whether the deadly-weapon finding can be defeated, whether the charge can be reduced, and whether a plea can be reached without the finding are fact-specific questions answered from the weapon proof, the video, and the case law. Outcomes are decided on the record and are never promised.

A deadly-weapon assault case is built from the proof about the weapon, the video, and the recovery records. What a person does in the first days affects all of it. The most common mistake is explaining the encounter to officers at the scene; statements are recorded and used, and an account meant to give context often concedes that an object was used as a weapon.

A few steps help in nearly every case. Write down what happened while it is fresh, including what object, if any, was involved and how. Photograph any injury to yourself, because these cases are rarely one-sided. Identify any dashcam, surveillance, doorbell, or phone video, since that footage often decides whether a deadly weapon was used or merely inferred from the injury, and it is overwritten if no one asks for it. Keep all paperwork from the arrest. Do not contact the complainant, which can violate a bond condition and add a charge. If self-defense or defense of another is in play, the justification defenses in Chapter 9 are evaluated from exactly these facts.¹⁰

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 second-degree felony in Bexar County follows the felony path, with a grand jury step ahead of the trial court and the added question of the deadly-weapon finding running through it. Knowing the order of events makes the decision points easier to see.

Arrest and magistration

The case ordinarily begins with an arrest. The person is brought before a magistrate, who gives the statutory warnings, sets bond, and in many assault cases imposes conditions of release such as a no-contact order.¹¹

Grand jury and indictment

A felony is presented to a grand jury, which decides whether to return an indictment, and the grand jury sits at the Cadena-Reeves Justice Center on Dolorosa Street.¹² This stage is an opportunity to contest both the underlying assault and the deadly-weapon allegation before the case is formally charged.

Filing in a criminal district court

An indicted case is assigned to one of the Bexar County criminal district courts, which have jurisdiction over felony matters and sit in the same Cadena-Reeves building.¹³

Pretrial settings and discovery

The case proceeds through felony pretrial settings. The State's evidence, the offense report, the body-worn and in-car video, the weapon-recovery records and chain of custody, the scene photographs, and any medical records, is produced under the discovery statute, Article 39.14.¹⁴

Resolution

The case can resolve by dismissal, by a reduction, by a negotiated plea with or without a deadly-weapon finding, or at trial. Because a successful challenge to the finding can take the case out of 3g treatment even when the underlying assault remains, the finding is often litigated separately.²

A deadly-weapon assault case does not carry the fast administrative clock a DWI does, but timing still decides what evidence survives and what options remain.

Forrest Good PLLC reads a deadly-weapon aggravated case as two parallel questions: whether the underlying assault is provable, and whether the deadly-weapon allegation survives the case law interpreting Section 1.07(a)(17).⁵ The file has to answer a focused set of questions. Is the alleged weapon something the Court of Criminal Appeals has held capable of causing death or serious bodily injury in the manner the State's proof shows?⁶ Was the weapon recovered, and what does the chain of custody look like? Does the video show the weapon in use or exhibition, or does the State infer use from the resulting injury? Where there is a firearm, what do the ballistics show; where there is a vehicle, what do the dashcam and reconstruction support; where there are hands or feet, what was the force-multiplier that pushes the analysis past simple assault?

Where the facts support it, self-defense and defense of a third person under Chapter 9 are developed from who initiated the encounter and what force was used.¹⁰ The deadly-weapon question is frequently litigated hard and separately from the underlying conduct, because a successful challenge to the finding takes the case out of 3g treatment under Article 42A.054 even when the underlying assault remains.² Whether to take the case to the grand jury with a presentation, push toward a reduction, or hold the matter for trial is decided with the client.

The hour estimate

Forrest Good PLLC estimates this matter at 40 to 70 hours of attorney time, billed at $250 per hour. The lower end reflects a case that resolves on a clean plea or a pretrial reduction; the upper end reflects contested deadly-weapon hearings, weapon-recovery and chain-of-custody litigation, case-law research on the specific weapon class, and extended grand-jury strategy. 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 $10,000. It covers grand jury packet preparation and presentation strategy; deadly-weapon analysis under Section 1.07(a)(17) and the controlling Court of Criminal Appeals precedent;⁵⁶ review of the offense report, every body-worn and in-car video, scene photographs, weapon-recovery records and chain of custody, witness investigation, and medical records where injury is alleged; self-defense analysis under Chapter 9;¹⁰ written motion practice, including a motion to strike or limit the deadly-weapon allegation where the facts support it; and full plea negotiation and every pretrial setting in a Bexar County criminal district court. The fee shown here is honored while this page is published, consistent with Texas Disciplinary Rule of Professional Conduct 7.02(d).¹⁶

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 proof about the weapon, the video, and the recovery records, and to understand how the deadly-weapon finding and its 3g consequences could shape the case before the grand jury stage. Bringing the bond paperwork and a list of any video sources 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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