Accused of Sexual Assault in Collin County?

An adult accusation of sexual assault usually comes down to one question, consent, and two accounts of the same encounter. Cases like that are not decided by who tells the story louder. They are decided by evidence: the messages before and after, who else saw what, the physical record, and whether the accounts stay consistent over time. Most of that evidence is fragile, and the accused person is usually the last to start protecting it.

Kent Starr has defended sexual assault cases in Collin County since 1997. He is a solo lawyer: the person at the consultation is the person who tries the case. He takes sex-crime cases throughout Texas; if your case is in another county, the first call works the same way. The consultation is free and confidential, and he takes it himself. Call (214) 982-1408.

What to Do Right Now

No contact with the person accusing you. None. No apology, no explanation, no asking why. If a protective order or bond condition exists, contact is a new charge; even without one, every message you send becomes evidence.

Preserve everything. Texts, DMs, dating-app conversations, call logs, photos, receipts, rideshare records, location history. Do not edit or delete anything, and back it up somewhere safe. The messages from before and after the encounter are often the most important evidence in the case.

Write down your account privately, for your lawyer only: the timeline, who was present at any point, what was said afterward. Do not share it with anyone else, including friends who ask.

Say nothing to investigators and stay off social media. Both feel like defending yourself. Both build the State’s file.

What the State Must Prove Under Penal Code §22.011

Sexual assault under Texas Penal Code §22.011 requires the State to prove intentional or knowing penetration without the other person’s consent, beyond a reasonable doubt. The statute lists the circumstances that legally negate consent, including physical force or coercion, threats, an unconscious or physically unable complainant, and certain relationships of authority.

The charge is a second-degree felony carrying 2 to 20 years and a fine up to $10,000. It becomes aggravated sexual assault under §22.021, a first-degree felony carrying 5 to 99 years or life, when the State alleges a deadly weapon, serious bodily injury, certain drugs administered without consent, or other aggravating facts. Conviction under either statute requires sex offender registration, which for many clients is the most permanent consequence on the table.

The First 48 Hours: Magistration, Bond, and No-Contact Orders

After an arrest, booking happens at the Collin County Detention Facility, and a magistrate reviews the case and sets bond, usually within 24 to 48 hours. Bond amounts on sexual assault charges run high, and the conditions matter as much as the number: no contact with the complaining witness, sometimes electronic monitoring, sometimes restrictions that complicate where you live and work. An emergency protective order can issue at magistration before you have said a word to a lawyer.

Jail calls are recorded and used in court, so the case does not get discussed on them. One call can get the bond process and the defense moving at the same time. From there, a Collin County felony is presented to a grand jury and, if indicted, heard in the district courts at the Russell A. Steindam Courts Building in McKinney, where Kent works.

How Consent Cases Are Actually Decided

Conflicting accounts are how these cases start, not how they end. By trial, a consent case has usually accumulated a record that favors one account:

The communications. What both people said to each other before and after, and what each told friends, often does more work than any testimony. Tone, timing, and consistency are all evidence.

The witnesses around the edges. Nobody else saw the encounter, but people saw the evening: who was impaired, who initiated, how both people behaved immediately after.

The physical record. Medical and forensic evidence, when it exists, is evaluated for what it actually shows, measured against the elements the State has to prove.

Consistency over time. Accounts get compared across the outcry, the police report, the forensic interview, and testimony. Material changes matter to juries, and documenting them is investigative work, not courtroom theater.

None of this requires attacking anyone’s character, and Kent does not build defenses that way. It requires doing the work: getting the records, finding the witnesses, testing the forensic claims, and holding the State to its burden on every element.

The Collateral Fight: Work, Licenses, School

A sexual assault accusation reaches beyond the courtroom fast. Professional licenses, security clearances, and employment can be affected by the charge alone, and if you are a student, a university Title IX process can run in parallel with its own deadlines and lower burden of proof; what you say in one forum can surface in the other, so the defense has to account for both. If the accusation arose on a campus, accused of sexual assault on a college campus covers that collision in detail.

If You Are Calling About Someone Else

Often the first call comes from a parent, a spouse, or a partner rather than the person accused. That is welcome. A family member can make the first call and help with fees and logistics, and if Kent is retained, the client is the person accused, regardless of who pays. Before going into details, tell the office your relationship to the person accused, because in some of these cases the person calling is also someone the State considers a witness, and that changes what should be discussed on the phone. If the allegation involves someone under 17, the sexual assault of a child page covers those charges, and the CPS and police investigation page explains what happens before charges are filed.

How Kent Handles These Cases

Kent has practiced criminal defense since 1997 and handles the case himself from the first conversation through trial: the bond work, the investigation, the motions, the cross-examinations. He will tell you honestly what the evidence looks like and what he would do next, even when the honest answer is hard to hear. The broader landscape of these charges, registration, and defense strategy is on the firm’s Collin County sex crimes defense page.

The consultation is free and confidential, and you do not have to explain anything on the phone to schedule it. Call (214) 982-1408.

Past results do not guarantee future outcomes. Every case is evaluated on its own facts.

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