Date of Arrest to Indictment

My question involves an arrest warrant from the State of: TEXAS

My son was arrested in May 2010 on a charge of indecency with a child. As yet, to his knowledge, no indictment has been forthcoming. Is there a time limit to bring about an indictment from the D A? He has a court-appointed attorney. My son and we, his family, can get no info from his attorney. Thank you.

Depending upon the full facts, they could have as long as ten years from the eighteenth birthday of the child.

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Quoting Mr. Knowitall

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Depending upon the full facts, they could have as long as ten years from the eighteenth birthday of the child.

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I am curious, where did you get that info about the 18th bd?

I did find from some research an arrest does not trigger commencment of a prosecution, but an Indictment does, so the SOL for that crime entails the Indictment time. I did not see anything about the 18th birthday though?

From the Texas Code:

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Quoting Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, Article 12.01 Felonies.

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Except as provided in Article 12.03, felony indictments may be presented within these limits, and not afterward:

(1) no limitation:

(A) murder and manslaughter;

(B) sexual assault, if during the investigation of the offense biological matter is collected and subjected to forensic DNA testing and the testing results show that the matter does not match the victim or any other person whose identity is readily ascertained; or

(C) an offense involving leaving the scene of an accident under Section 550.021, Transportation Code, if the accident resulted in the death of a person;

(2) ten years from the date of the commission of the offense:

(A) theft of any estate, real, personal or mixed, by an executor, administrator, guardian or trustee, with intent to defraud any creditor, heir, legatee, ward, distributee, beneficiary or settlor of a trust interested in such estate;

(B) theft by a public servant of government property over which he exercises control in his official capacity;

(C) forgery or the uttering, using or passing of forged instruments;

(D) injury to a child, elderly individual, or disabled individual punishable as a felony of the first degree under Section 22.04, Penal Code;

(E) sexual assault, except as provided by Subdivision (1) or (5); or

(F) arson;

(3) seven years from the date of the commission of the offense:

(A) misapplication of fiduciary property or property of a financial institution;

(B) securing execution of document by deception; or

(C) a violation under Sections 162.403(22)-(39), Tax Code;

(4) five years from the date of the commission of the offense:

(A) theft, burglary, robbery;

(B) kidnapping;

(C) injury to a child, elderly individual, or disabled individual that is not punishable as a felony of the first degree under Section 22.04, Penal Code;

(D) abandoning or endangering a child; or

(E) insurance fraud;

(5) ten years from the 18th birthday of the victim of the offense:

(A) indecency with a child under Section 21.11(a)(1) or (2), Penal Code; or

(B) except as provided by Subdivision (1), sexual assault under Section 22.011(a)(2), Penal Code, or aggravated sexual assault under Section 22.021(a)(1)(B), Penal Code; or

(6) three years from the date of the commission of the offense: all other felonies.

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I seriously doubt anybody has to worry about the statute of limitations.

I take it, if your son has a court appointed attorney, he has been arrested. An indictment from a grand jury could take six months or more. Unfortunately for you and him, there is no strict time limit that is going to give you an answer or make this go away. The state has plenty of time.

You are going to have to rely upon the attorney to represent your son adequately. Nobody here has enough knowledge about this case to give you any real information, other than quoting the statutes. Nobody really is going to care, I can assure you.

Keep in mind, the attorney does not represent you or your family. He represents your son. Not only is he not obligated to give you any information, he is obligated to his client to NOT give you any information.

You can ask your son for information, but you don't have any right to ask the attorney and expect any answer. He doesn't work for you, he doesn't represent you. You have no standing, you are irrelevant.

The date of offence was purportedly 2/08. The boy is 16. My son remains incarcerated. He's indigent and his family, myself and his brother, cannot afford bond. He's also 250 miles away from us. How long can he be kept incarcerated without bringing him to trial? He's adament he will take no plea. Thank you.

If there is a bond set and he cannot afford to bond out, he can be held in custody until the conclusion of the trial. Normally, the only way to do anything about it would be with a lawyer to try and get the bond reduced.

Thanks KIA, I did not dig far enough.

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Quoting bananastan

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The date of offence was purportedly 2/08. The boy is 16. My son remains incarcerated. He's indigent and his family, myself and his brother, cannot afford bond. He's also 250 miles away from us. How long can he be kept incarcerated without bringing him to trial? He's adament he will take no plea. Thank you.

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I missed this and it was not in your first post, he is still in custody then, and was arrested in May 2010 you say.

It was assumed he was out on bail.

The timetable to trial is as follows. He obviously has been arrainged so that has commenced the Prosecution.

http://www.texascrimlaw.com/bm/code/cp0032A00.html

I am not a lawyer, but it seems his right to a speedy trial has been denied.

Contact the ACLU about this OR possibly if he has a so called "jailhouse lawyer" to assist him, he can file a Motion for a speedy trial or a dismissal based on the fact his right was denied?

One can not be held in custody for 10 years awaiting an Indictment.

Justice, served southern style. He either needs to bring a motion to protect his rights, or it looks like he's going to find the delay declared harmless.

Sometimes a defense lawyer will avoid filing a motion because they would rather have the case stay on the back burner, perhaps in hope that it will be dismissed or resolved in a more favorable way, as opposed to inspiring the prosecutor to either dismiss and recharge or rush off to get an indictment.

I think we tag teamed that pretty good, as sometimes it takes that.

For instance, I cited;

Art. 32A.02. Time limitations

This is NOT listed in the Criminal Procedure Code of the official Texas legislature online. It stops at .01.

I keyed in some info for other speedy trial remedies. Of course your link lists 31., dismissal of prosecutions, which I also missed. That is in the Code though.

Thanks for your responses. I have sent my son cites he's asked for from the Texas Penal Code. He's requesting 4 Precedents. Can anyone here tell me if I can access Precedents online? His access to the detention center's library was stopped last September.

Curiouser and curiouser. I've just discovered via a newspaper article, the Chairman of the Board of CPS in Collin County and my son's criminal court Judge are related by marriage. How conflicted is that? CPS was all over my son's case. My son is aware of the Gate's Appeal and believes there was great wrong=doing in the handling of his case. His c/a attorney is conspicious by his absence and silence.

Thanks in advance.

The Texas Code is here. You can research case law on sites like LexisOne and Google Scholar.