Plano Criminal Defense Lawyer for Collin County Charges

Plano cases are Collin County cases

Plano sits in Collin County. A small piece of far west Plano crosses into Denton County, and an arrest there files in Denton. For everyone else, a Plano arrest is prosecuted by the Collin County District Attorney and heard at the Russell A. Steindam Courts Building, 2100 Bloomdale Road, McKinney. That is where Class A and Class B misdemeanors and every felony from Plano end up. Plano Municipal Court on 15th Street keeps only the Class C cases and city ordinance matters.

Kent Starr has been licensed in Texas and trying criminal cases since 1997, including in the Collin County courts. His office is in McKinney. The office is at 5900 S Lake Forest Dr, Suite 200, and he handles Plano cases from arrest through trial. He is a solo practitioner. The Collin County criminal defense page explains how the county system works as a whole.

How a Plano arrest moves

After the arrest, the person is booked either at the Plano city jail or at the Collin County Detention Facility, 4300 Community Avenue in McKinney.

Code of Criminal Procedure article 15.17 requires that an arrested person be taken before a magistrate without unnecessary delay, and in any event within 48 hours. The magistrate reads the charge and sets bond.

On a family violence arrest the magistrate can also issue an emergency protective order under article 17.292, and that order can keep you out of your own home before you have talked to anyone. Bond amounts and bond conditions are the first place a lawyer can make a difference. The Collin County jail and bond page walks through those first 48 hours.

Once bond is posted, the case goes to the Collin County District Attorney. A misdemeanor is filed by information in a County Court at Law. A felony goes to a grand jury first, and if the grand jury indicts, to a district court. Both sit in the same building in McKinney. That gap is when the body camera footage and the lab paperwork get requested and read.

Plano DWI

Plano DWI arrests come off a few roads: US-75 Central Expressway, the Dallas North Tollway, Preston Road, the President George Bush Turnpike, and the stretch of 15th Street through downtown Plano where the bars sit close to the DART station.

A first DWI is ordinarily a Class B misdemeanor under Texas Penal Code section 49.04. A breath or blood specimen showing 0.15 or more makes it a Class A. A second DWI is a Class A under section 49.09, and a third is a third-degree felony. A child passenger under 15 makes even a first offense a state jail felony under section 49.045.

A DWI case has two clocks. The criminal case runs in McKinney. The license case runs through the Texas Department of Public Safety.

If you failed or refused a breath or blood test, DPS moves to suspend your license under Transportation Code chapters 524 and 724. DPS must receive your ALR hearing request within 15 days after personal service, or 20 days from mailing if DPS sends the notice by mail. Check the notice and mailing date promptly with a lawyer. The hearing is conducted by the State Office of Administrative Hearings. A timely request pauses this ALR suspension until the administrative judge's final decision.

Kent handles the criminal case and the ALR hearing together. The DWI defense page covers breath and blood testing and what happens at the first court setting.

Plano drug charges

A Plano drug case can start as something else: a traffic stop on US-75, a noise complaint at an apartment off Legacy Drive, a shoplifting call at a Preston Road shopping center, a welfare check at a hotel near the Tollway. The search that follows is where the case can be won or lost.

Possession charges in Texas run under the Health and Safety Code. Section 481.115 covers Penalty Group 1 drugs, where possession of less than one gram is a state jail felony. Section 481.121 covers marijuana, where two ounces or less is a Class B misdemeanor. THC vape cartridges and edibles fall under Penalty Group 2 rather than the marijuana statute, and the penalties are far heavier than parents and college students expect.

The drug crimes page explains possession and delivery charges, and what an expunction or nondisclosure looks like after the case ends.

Plano assault and family violence

Assault causing bodily injury is ordinarily a Class A misdemeanor under Penal Code section 22.01. When the complainant is a family member, a household member, or a dating partner as defined in Family Code chapter 71, the judgment carries a family violence finding under Code of Criminal Procedure article 42.013. That finding is what makes these cases dangerous.

A family-violence offense can stay public even after a deferred-adjudication plea, and it can make you ineligible for an order of nondisclosure under Government Code section 411.074. A qualifying misdemeanor conviction for domestic violence can also bar firearm possession under federal law, 18 U.S.C. section 922(g)(9).

If the State later proves a qualifying prior family-violence conviction at trial on a new family-violence assault charge, the new charge is a third-degree felony under section 22.01(b)(2)(A), and section 22.01(f) can count an earlier deferred-adjudication plea as that prior conviction. An allegation of choking or impeding breath is a third-degree felony on the first accusation under section 22.01(b)(2)(B).

The complainant cannot drop the charges. Once Plano PD makes the arrest, the Collin County District Attorney owns the case, and the DA can go forward without the complainant's cooperation. What a defense lawyer can do is get in early, before statements are locked in, and deal with the emergency protective order that may be keeping you out of your house. The assault and family violence page goes into the protective order process and how these cases resolve.

Sex-Offense Charges in Plano

Plano sex-offense cases generally follow the same county geography as the rest of the city: matters arising in Collin County are generally filed by the Collin County District Attorney and heard in McKinney, while the small far-west Denton County portion of Plano may follow a Denton County path. What changes from case to case is the allegation and the stage of the matter. A CPS or police investigation that has not resulted in a charge is its own situation, and the accused of child molestation page explains general first-step considerations. Where an adult accusation is involved, preserving relevant information and assessing consent issues can be important; the sexual assault accusation page explains those issues. The sex crimes hub covers the wider group. Kent takes the consultation himself; it is free and confidential. Call (214) 982-1408.

Plano Municipal Court versus the county courts

Plano Municipal Court, 900 East 15th Street, handles Class C misdemeanors and city ordinance violations: traffic tickets, public intoxication, minor in possession, theft under $100, and most disorderly conduct charges. A Class C carries a fine only, no jail time, but a plea still goes on your record. The Collin County Justice of the Peace, Precinct 3, sits at the sub-courthouse at 920 East Park Boulevard and also hears fine-only cases.

Everything above Class C leaves Plano. Class A and Class B misdemeanors go to a County Court at Law in McKinney. Felonies go to a Collin County district court in the same building. If your court date is on a paper from Plano Municipal Court, that is a Class C. If you were booked and bonded out, your case is going to McKinney.

Talk to Kent about your Plano case

The consultation is free and confidential, and Kent conducts it himself. He speaks Spanish and Portuguese. The office answers the phone 9 AM to 5 PM seven days a week at (214) 982-1408. 5.0 stars, 455 Google reviews.

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

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