Why You Need An Attorney for Misdemeanors, What Does Assault - Married Mean - What to Expect When You're Arrested (in San Antonio)

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hi and welcome back to another episode of what to
Expect when You're Arrested.
This is your host, seanHendrickson.
I'm a criminal defense lawyerhere in San Antonio, texas, and
this show is brought to you bythe Sean Hendrickson Law Firm,
where we help good people likeyou avoid the devastating
consequences of criminal charges.
Today we're going to be lookingat a few different topics.

(00:21):
We want to look at some legalquestions that we get asked all
the time, wrap up with sometimely updates from things that
are happening here in SanAntonio.
Before we get to that, I dowant to mention we do have a
free download for you.
It's five things you should bedoing right now if you've been
arrested.
There's a link down in the shownotes and if you click on that
link, we will send that rightout to you, and we do also have

(00:43):
a link down there for a freeconsultation.
So if you are being chargedwith a crime here in San Antonio
, feel free to click on thatlink, schedule a consultation
with us.
We will talk all about yourcase, let you know how we can
help you out and even kind ofmap out a game plan for you on
how we can attack this case.
The first thing that I want totalk about is I get asked a lot

(01:03):
of times do I need a lawyer ifit's just a misdemeanor?
The short answer to that isabsolutely you need a lawyer,
even if it's a misdemeanor,especially if you're looking at
something like a DWI or familyviolence cases, because those
can have serious consequenceswith you later on.
A lot of people think that amisdemeanor is going to be a

(01:24):
lower level offense, which it is, and most people don't actually
have to do jail time onmisdemeanors, which is also true
.
But that doesn't mean youshouldn't take it seriously If
you were to end up on probation,if you don't successfully
complete probation or if youpick up another charge which I
know none of us are planning onpicking up new charges, but we

(01:45):
didn't plan on picking up thecharge that you're on probation
for either.
If that happens, they canrevoke your probation and
sentence you to jail, and ifthat happens, then you have to
go to the Bexar County Jail toserve that time, and that is not
a good place to have to servetime.
You absolutely want to avoidthat, if you want to, and you
also don't want this followingyou around for the rest of your

(02:06):
life.
I know because when I wasyounger, in my early 20s, I was
charged with a DWI and I did geta lawyer, but I didn't know
that I can get my record cleanedup after that case was over,
because my case was actuallydismissed.
And if I would have known that,I could have avoided so much
headaches, because every time Iwent to apply for a job I'd

(02:29):
always have to mark off sayingI'd been arrested for that DWI,
not knowing how it was going toaffect me getting that job.
When I applied for law school,when I got licensed as an
attorney, I had to disclose thatall because I didn't get my
record cleaned up.
And you want to make sure thatyou have an attorney who not
only is going to help you getyour case to a point where it

(02:49):
can be cleaned up, but is alsogoing to let you know that you
can and when you can, so thatthat case doesn't follow you
around for the rest of your life.
In family violence cases, whichare mostly misdemeanors, it's
even more important that you getan attorney, because the
consequences on family violencecases, even misdemeanors, is
worse than many felony cases,because if you are found guilty

(03:14):
or if you take a deal and thatjudge makes that finding that
you committed an act of familyviolence, there are gonna be a
lot of other consequences.
You will never be able to getthat taken off of your record.
You will never be able to own agun ever again.
If you're ever charged with afamily violence case in the
future, it's going to be bumpedup to a felony.

(03:34):
And if you have a child and ifthere's ever a custody issue in
that child, the judge in thatcustody case is going to look at
that finding of family violencewhen making a decision about
whether or not you get custodyand how much custody you get.
And so, even if you are facinga misdemeanor charge, it's very
important that you speak with anattorney and find somebody

(03:54):
who's going to help you out,because we don't want you having
all of those negativeconsequences.
Another question that I hear allthe time is people who are
being charged with differenttypes of family violence cases.
Mainly it's when they see acharge against them or it's like
assault, bodily injury marriedor assault bodily injury family
member.

(04:14):
In either of those situations Ialways have people who are
contacting me.
They're like I wasn't marriedto them or, you know, it was
just my roommate and basicallythat's going have.
Just to break that down.
The first part is just that youare being charged with an
assault case.
An assault case can be anythingfrom a threat to offensive

(04:34):
contact with somebody, or if youeither injure or put somebody
into pain.
Any of those is gonna be anassault.
And what that married or familymember part means it just means
that this is going to be afamily violence case.
It doesn't actually raise thelevel of offense.
So a normal assault is going tobe a class A misdemeanor.

(04:55):
Assault against a family memberis also still going to be a
class A misdemeanor, but it doesbring in all of those other
consequences that I spoke aboutin the last segment, about
cleaning up your record andowning a gun and custody and
things like that.
But in Texas, family violenceand dating violence actually
have very broad meanings.
It can be a family member andthat could be somebody related

(05:18):
by blood, by marriage oradoption.
It could be somebody thatyou're dating or have children
with, or it can even be justroommates.
So if you're in college and youget in a fight with a roommate
and the police accuse you ofassaulting that roommate, that
could have huge consequences onyour future later on, and so,
again, it's important tounderstand what that means and

(05:41):
it's important to find anattorney who can help you out
with that case.
Lastly, I wanna talk aboutwhether or not you can get a
family violence case sealed orexpunged in Texas.
With most types of cases inTexas, if you complete deferred
adjudication, the case getsdismissed and you can actually
get your record sealed later onOn family violence cases.

(06:02):
That is not possible.
If you've got a family violencecase, the only way you can
clean up your record if theymake that finding that you
committed an act of familyviolence is by beating that case
and getting it dismissed ortaking it to trial and winning
at trial.
There are a couple of othersituations, like pre-trial
diversion or specialty court,that may get your case to a

(06:25):
point where you can clean it upeven if you can't get your case
dismissed.
But they're gonna require a lotmore work out of you and are
gonna take a lot longer tosuccessfully complete, and you
definitely wanna talk with yourattorney about those options too
, to see if they would apply toyou and see if they would be
good options for you.
I also wanted to talk with youabout something that I saw in

(06:45):
the news earlier this week SanAntonio actually had a decline
in homicides In the first halfof 2025, homicides are actually
down a little over 12%, and it'simportant to remember that
violent cases in San Antonio, oreven nationwide, are not as
common as the media wants you tothink.
You know a lot of times, if youwatch the news, what they're
going to show you is you know alot of times, if you watch the

(07:07):
news, what they're going to showyou is you know murders and
assaults and things like that.
They want to show violent crimebecause that's what gets
people's attention and that'swhat gets people to watch the
news, and so if you've heardthat if it bleeds, it leads,
that is definitely true when, inreality, violent crime is
actually down right nowthroughout the country and

(07:29):
including San Antonio.
Having said that, it's alsoimportant to understand that
family violence cases inparticular, have become very
political, and I hear regularlyfrom police that if they get
called out, somebody's going togo to jail, because the city
right now is in a position wherethey want to take a strong
stance against family violencecases and what that is really

(07:52):
leading to is not a decrease infamily violence but that's
leading to bad arrests.
We see officers arresting thewrong person all the time in
family violence cases becausewhen they get there, it's
generally a he said, she saidtype of a situation and they
have a hard time finding outwhat actually happened because

(08:13):
one or both of those parties maynot be telling the complete
truth.
And so we see all the time whensomebody is acting in
self-defense and defendingthemselves and they end up
getting arrested when they werethe victim and the other person
was assaulting them.
They were just protectingthemselves.
We also see lots of situationswhere the other person didn't do
anything, not even inself-defense, but when the

(08:35):
police get out there and theother person lies about
something, then the police takesthem in because the other
person was the one that called911.
And so we see a lot of badarrests, and that's why it's
important to understand thatwhen you look at the stats for
the amount of arrests, it's notindicative of actually what is
going on.
When we look at family violencecases, in particular here in

(08:57):
San Antonio, especially at themisdemeanor level, we are seeing
way more than half of thosecases getting dismissed because
of so many reasons, includingbad arrests.
I hope that this was helpfulinformation for you.
Today we broke down whethermisdemeanors require legal help,
what assault and bodily injuryto a family member really means

(09:18):
and how record sealing works inTexas.
We also covered a localheadline to underscore the
importance of understanding yourrights and understanding what
is going on in the local area.
I appreciate you listening,because knowledge is your best
defense and if you or someoneyou know is dealing with any
cases in San Antonio, especiallyif it's a family violence case,
definitely reach out to us hereat the Sean Hendrickson Law

(09:41):
Firm.
You can call us at 210-405-6410or you can click on that link
down in the show notes andschedule a consultation directly
with us.
We would love to talk with youabout your case, answer any
questions that you have and letyou know how we may be able to
help you out.
I hope that you have a greatday and I'll see you next week.

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Why You Need An Attorney for Misdemeanors, What Does Assault - Married Mean

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