Misdemeanor Assault in Texas

I got an assault charge in Texas (Dallas) a few years ago, and I had to sit through a year of probation to handle it. Of course, it was costly. I had to do community service hours, pay a fine, restitution, and  the monthly fee to the Dallas Probation department. It's all a big scam.

Not only does it not make sense because no one remembers what happened that night, but it's petty, and it only made me more mad.

I decided to take it to trial, since I thought I couldn't lose. The duty for the prosecutor was to show that there was, without a doubt, an instance of assault. The prosecution could not prove it, and it resulted in a tie in the jury. Finally, someone decided to back out of their decision - I'm sure no one wanted to be there all day. It was a simple matter of, "Let's just get this over with".

I'm sure the rest of the jury was thinking that we shouldn't have been drinking in the first place. Well, I say screw them, because they have no idea what I had to endure afterwards because of their decision. I believe I didn't do anything - I went and talked to the so-called "victim" - who said that nothing happened. The simple fact of the matter is that you are guilty until proven innocent here in Texas, and if you are charged with something, you better have your shit together for court.

Texas Probation - 8 Out of 10

I guess I've been on Texas probation for over half of the 10 years I've been back in the state. I was overseas for quite some time, and the lifestyle I led there was a very liberal one - although I did get in a bit of trouble there too - lol.

So, maybe it will help someone if I just went through all of my bs charges and whatnots. Maybe you'll understand your own case better, or maybe it'll make you feel better that you can mess up so many times and still be "free". I don't know, but I'm hoping that someone can get something positive out of it all. What I'll do is go ahead and outline what's happened to me in the last 8 to 10 years and I'll expand upon each case in individual posts - that way I can shorten this article a little.

Came back from Japan in February of 2000.

Contributing to Delinquency of Minors - late 2000 (probation for 9 mos)
- Henderson County, TX
Assault - Class A misdemeanor - 2001 (probation for 1 year)
- Dallas County, TX
Driving with Suspended License - 2004 (probation for 15 mos)
- Denton County, TX
Possession of Controlled Substance - 2006 (deferred probation for 5 years)
- Henderson County, TX
Possession of Controlled Substance - 2007 (deferred probation for 4 years [concurrent])
- Dallas County, TX

I had a violation for the first controlled substance charge, so the deferral was revoked, and normal probation instated. I also violated on the suspended license charge, and sat the rest out in jail - which is also a noteworthy post for the future: "Why You Should Never Take Texas probation - Just Sit it Out."

I guess a good next post will be explaining the circumstances surrounding the first probation. These charges are only the charges that I ended up getting probation on.