Bond Conditions and Protective Orders After a Sex Offense Arrest in Collin County

After a sex offense arrest in Texas, the paperwork starts before anyone has seen a courtroom. The magistrate can attach conditions to the bond and issue an emergency protective order, and a separate protective order that lasts far longer can follow.

These orders are easy to mix up because they read alike: stay away from this person, stay away from that address. They come from different statutes and change through different procedures. Getting one wrong can put a person back in jail on a case that has not been tried.

If this is your situation right now: you or someone in your family was released on bond with a list of conditions, or an order was served after magistration. Read every page and follow it to the letter. Kent Starr handles sex offense cases in Collin County and takes the consultation himself. It is free and confidential. Call (214) 982-1408.

Four different orders, four different rulebooks

A person can be under several of these at once:

• Bond conditions under Chapter 17 of the Code of Criminal Procedure
• The child-victim bond condition under Article 17.41
• A magistrate’s order for emergency protection under Article 17.292
• A protective order under Chapter 7B, which can outlast the criminal case

When the accusation involves a family or household member, a family court can also issue a protective order under the Family Code, and violating that order is a crime under the same Penal Code section discussed below.

Bond conditions under Chapter 17

Article 17.028 directs the magistrate to impose the “least restrictive conditions, if any” needed to reasonably ensure the person comes to court and to protect safety. Article 17.40 is the broad authority. It allows “any reasonable condition of bond related to the safety of a victim of the alleged offense or to the safety of the community.” There is no fixed list, so read your own bond paperwork. Article 17.51 requires written notice to the defendant of the conditions and the penalties for violating them.

When the charge involves a child: Article 17.41

Article 17.41 applies when the charge falls under Penal Code Chapter 20A, 21, 22, or 43, or Section 25.02, and the offense is alleged to have been committed against a child younger than 18. The magistrate “shall require” as a bond condition that the defendant not directly communicate with the child named in the charge and not go near a residence, school, or other location the child frequents, as specifically described in the bond.

The magistrate may grant supervised access to the child, so do not assume access exists unless the bond says so. If the condition conflicts with an existing custody or visitation order, the bond condition controls for the period the magistrate sets, up to 90 days. Do not try to reach the child or the child’s family through anyone else or through social media.

The magistrate’s order for emergency protection

When a person appears before a magistrate after arrest, Article 17.292 allows the magistrate to issue an order for emergency protection, on the magistrate’s own motion or at the request of the complaining witness, that person’s guardian, a peace officer, or the prosecutor. The article names the offenses it covers:

• Sexual assault (Penal Code 22.011)
• Indecent assault (22.012)
• Aggravated sexual assault (22.021)
• Trafficking of persons and continuous trafficking of persons (20A.02 and 20A.03)
• Stalking (42.072)
• Any offense involving family violence

Indecency with a child and continuous sexual abuse of a young child are not named, but the family violence category can reach them when the child is part of the accused person’s family or household. The Family Code’s definition of family violence includes abuse of a child of the family or household, and abuse expressly includes conduct under Penal Code 21.02 and 21.11.

What it can prohibit. The order may bar threatening or harassing communication with a protected person or a family or household member, passing a threat through anyone else, or, if the magistrate finds good cause, any communication at all except through the accused person’s attorney or someone the court appoints. It may bar going to or near the protected person’s residence, workplace, or business, and the residence, child care facility, or school of a protected child. It may prohibit possessing a firearm. It may also impose the conditions Article 17.49 allows in family violence cases, including GPS monitoring, in the manner that article provides. The order must suspend any handgun license the person holds.

How long it lasts. The order takes effect when issued. An order issued for one of the named offenses lasts at least 61 days and ends by the 91st day after issuance. In a family violence arrest for an offense that also involves serious bodily injury or the use or exhibition of a deadly weapon during an assault, the magistrate must issue the order, and an order based on a deadly weapon lasts at least 91 days and ends by the 121st day. While it lasts, the order controls over an existing custody or visitation order. Every order must warn, in bold or capital letters, that no person, including the person protected by it, may give permission to ignore or violate it.

Chapter 7B protective orders

A Chapter 7B protective order is a separate proceeding that does not depend on any family relationship. Under Article 7B.001, an application can be filed by a person alleged to be the victim of an offense under Penal Code 21.02, 21.11, 22.011, 22.012, or 22.021 (among other listed offenses), by any adult acting for a child younger than 18, or by a prosecutor acting for either.

The standard. After a hearing, the court decides whether there are “reasonable grounds to believe” the applicant is the victim of a listed offense. If so, it “shall issue” the order. Before any hearing, the court can issue a temporary ex parte order without notice to the accused person if the application shows a clear and present danger.

What it can prohibit. Article 7B.005 covers much of the same ground as the emergency order: communication, going to or near the residence, workplace, child care facility, or school of the applicant or a family or household member, and possessing a firearm. The court may also suspend a handgun license.

How long it lasts. Under Article 7B.007, the order can last for the lives of both people, or for any shorter period it states. If it states none, it lasts two years. The court must make it lifelong when the person is convicted of or placed on deferred adjudication for a listed offense and must register as a sex offender for life.

Article 7B.007 lets the victim named in the order (once 18), a parent or guardian acting for a named victim who is younger than 18 or an adult ward, or another person who filed the application ask the court to rescind the order. A parent or guardian who is the person the order restrains cannot.

One caution about the Chapter 7B hearing: under Texas Rule of Evidence 801(e)(2)(A), a party’s own statement offered against that party is not hearsay, so anything the accused person says at that hearing can be offered as evidence in the criminal case. Talk with a defense lawyer before the hearing about whether to testify.

Leaving the house and limits around children

The house. Article 17.41, Article 17.292, and Chapter 7B can each reach the residence of the person or child they protect, and none carves out a home the accused person shares. If the order covers that residence, the accused person cannot go back, not for clothes, not at anyone’s invitation. Ask your lawyer how belongings can be retrieved without a violation.

Children and schools. An Article 17.41 condition or an emergency protective order can override an existing custody or visitation order for a limited time, so do not rely on a custody schedule until your lawyer has compared it with the criminal court’s orders. When a place is unclear, stay away and ask your lawyer.

Firearms

Under Penal Code 46.04(c), a person subject to an emergency protective order, a Chapter 7B protective order, or a final Family Code protective order commits a Class A misdemeanor by possessing a firearm after receiving notice of the order and before it expires. The only exception covers certain sworn, full-time peace officers.

A bond condition can separately bar firearms. Do not possess or obtain a firearm while any of these orders is in effect.

What a violation can lead to

A new criminal charge. Penal Code 25.07 makes it a crime to knowingly or intentionally do certain prohibited acts in violation of an emergency protective order, a Chapter 7B order, a Family Code protective order, or a safety-related bond condition set in a family violence, sexual assault or abuse, indecent assault, stalking, or trafficking case. Sexual abuse there means conduct under Sections 21.02 and 21.11. Covered acts include prohibited communication, going to or near a described place, possessing a firearm, and tampering with a GPS monitor. The offense is usually a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail and a fine of up to $4,000, and it becomes a felony in listed situations, including a violation committed by assault or stalking. Doing it two or more times within 12 months is a separate felony under Section 25.072.

Losing the bond. Under Article 17.40, if the magistrate finds at a hearing, by a preponderance of the evidence, that a safety condition imposed under that article was violated, the magistrate must revoke the bond and return the person to custody. In some cases, a person who commits an offense under Penal Code 25.07 can also be taken into custody and held without bail until trial under Article 17.152, after a hearing before a judge or magistrate. Article 17.153 goes further in certain felony cases involving a child younger than 14, including Chapter 21 sexual offenses: after a bond is revoked for violating an Article 17.41 condition, the person can be held without bail until trial if a judge or magistrate finds, after a hearing, that the violation related to the safety of the child or the community. Bail denial under Proposition 3 is a separate question, covered in our post on which charges fall under Texas Proposition 3.

Charges for trying to influence the case. Under Penal Code 36.05, offering a benefit to a witness, or coercing one, to testify falsely, withhold testimony, skip a proceeding the witness was summoned to, or drop or delay the prosecution is tampering with a witness. In a criminal prosecution, tampering is generally the same level of offense as the most serious charge in the case, and it is at least a third-degree felony when the case involves family violence. Harming or threatening to harm someone by an unlawful act because that person is a witness or reported a crime is an offense under Section 36.06.

No one can waive these orders informally. Penal Code 25.07(d) says reconciliation or agreements between the people affected by an order do not affect its validity. A bond condition changes only when a magistrate signs an order modifying or removing it.

Changing an order the right way

If an order makes it impossible to keep a job or a place to live, the answer is a request to the court, never a quiet exception.

• Emergency protective order. After notice to each affected party and a hearing, the issuing court can modify it if it finds that the order as issued is unworkable, that the change will not put the person named as the victim at greater risk than the original order did, and that the change will not in any way endanger anyone the order protects. The court handling the criminal case can also modify it on request under the same standards.
• Bond conditions. A magistrate can modify or remove a condition, and Article 17.51 requires the clerk to send that order to the prosecutor and the sheriff. Article 17.028’s least-restrictive standard is part of the argument.
• Chapter 7B order. Chapter 7B applies Title 4 of the Family Code to the extent applicable, and Title 4 lets a party ask the court, after notice and a hearing, to modify an existing protective order.

Until a judge signs the change, follow the order as written.

Talking to a Collin County defense lawyer

Kent Starr has practiced criminal defense in Collin County since 1997. He handles sex offense cases, including adult sexual assault accusations and cases that begin with a CPS or police investigation. He does every consultation himself.

If you are living under a bond condition or protective order, bring every page of it to the consultation. The consultation is free and confidential. Call (214) 982-1408.

This article is general information about Texas law. It is not legal advice, and every case turns on its own facts.

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References

• Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, Chapter 17 (Bail), including Articles 17.028, 17.40, 17.41, 17.49, 17.51, 17.152, 17.153, and 17.292
• Texas Code of Criminal Procedure, Chapter 7B (Protective Orders)
• S.B. 2196, 89th Texas Legislature, Regular Session (enrolled text)
• H.B. 2596, 89th Texas Legislature, Regular Session (enrolled text)
• Texas Penal Code, Section 25.07 and Section 25.072 (Violation of Certain Court Orders or Conditions of Bond)
• Texas Penal Code, Sections 36.05 and 36.06 (Tampering With Witness; Obstruction or Retaliation)
• Texas Penal Code, Section 46.04 (Unlawful Possession of Firearm)
• Texas Penal Code, Section 12.21 (Class A Misdemeanor)
• Texas Family Code, Section 71.004 (Family Violence)
• Texas Family Code, Section 261.001 (Definitions, including Abuse)
• Texas Family Code, Section 87.001 (Modification of Protective Order)
• Texas Rules of Evidence, effective September 1, 2025 (Rule 801(e)(2))

Related Articles

• Texas Proposition 3: Which Charges Fall Under the New Bail Denial Section
• Arrested in Collin County: The First 48 Hours
• How Bond Is Set at the Collin County Detention Facility