If you’ve been indicted for aggravated assault, money laundering, or any other criminal offense in Texas, you may be wondering, “Is this it? Am I now going to jail?” The answer is: not necessarily. Depending on the circumstances, your charges may even be reduced or dismissed entirely.
An indictment is a formal charging document, not a verdict. It means that a Texas grand jury found probable cause to believe you committed a felony, but doesn’t predict what a trial jury would decide, or whether the case ever reaches trial at all. In this guide, we go over how criminal charges can be reduced or dismissed and why you should work with a criminal defense attorney for best results.
What an Indictment Means in Texas
In Texas, felony charges must go through a grand jury before a defendant can be formally prosecuted. This jury is made up of 12 citizens, at least 9 of whom must agree that probable cause exists to charge someone with a crime. If they agree, they return what’s called a “true bill,” which becomes the indictment.
Probable cause is a relatively low bar. It means the grand jury believed there was a reasonable basis to believe that A) a crime was committed and B) you committed it. That’s nowhere near the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard required for a conviction at trial. A grand jury typically only hears the prosecution’s side, as the defendant has no right to appear or present a defense at that stage.
Indictment vs. Information
Under Article 1, Section 10 of the Texas Constitution, felony charges must be brought by indictment. For misdemeanors, however, prosecutors can bypass the grand jury entirely and file a document called an “information” to initiate charges.
The type of charging document can impact potential defenses. For example, your state or federal criminal defense lawyer can challenge a defective indictment through a legal motion to quash, a move that wouldn’t apply to an information. That distinction can become one of the most important considerations in a felony defense.
Can Charges Be Dismissed After Indictment?
Yes, charges can be dismissed after indictment. The district attorney’s office retains the authority to dismiss charges at any point before a verdict, even after a grand jury has returned a true bill. If the prosecutor concludes that the evidence won’t support a conviction, they can file a motion to dismiss.
That motion still requires court approval under Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Art. 32.02, though judges rarely override a prosecutor’s decision to dismiss. Common reasons for dismissal include witness unavailability, newly discovered evidence that undermines the state’s case, or belief that pursuing the case isn’t in the interest of justice. Other potential grounds for dismissal include:
- Insufficient Evidence: A grand jury’s probable cause finding doesn’t guarantee the state has enough evidence to win at trial. For example, witness testimony can fall apart under cross-examination or testing procedures may not have been done correctly. A defense attorney who identifies those weaknesses early in the case can use them to pressure the prosecution into dismissing or reducing charges.
- Constitutional Violations: If law enforcement conducted an illegal search or seizure (a Fourth Amendment violation), any evidence obtained can be suppressed. Similarly, if investigators questioned you after you invoked your right to counsel, a defense attorney can move to suppress those statements. Brady violations are equally serious: when prosecutors withhold evidence favorable to the defense, as prohibited under Brady v. Maryland, 373 U.S. 83 (1963), courts can impose sanctions ranging from exclusion of evidence to outright dismissal.
Pretrial Motions That Can Lead to Dismissal
A motion to suppress the illegally obtained evidence. If the court grants it, the state may not have enough left to proceed. You also have the right to a speedy trial: if the state causes unreasonable delays, your Texas criminal defense lawyer can file a motion to dismiss, although the outcome will be decided by the court.
Can Charges Be Reduced After Indictment?
Yes, charges can be reduced after indictment, and a plea deal is the most common way to achieve that. A prosecutor has the authority to offer a reduction from a felony to a misdemeanor, or from a higher degree felony to a lower one, as part of a negotiated resolution. That kind of deal can mean the difference between a state jail felony and a Class A misdemeanor, which has dramatically different sentencing consequences.
Felony degrees in Texas range in severity from state jail felonies at the low end to first-degree felonies and capital cases at the high end, with second and third-degree felonies in between. A reduction from a first-degree felony, which has a sentencing range of 5 to 99 years, down to a second-degree felony, which carries 2 to 20 years, can mean the difference of decades of your life. Negotiations over charge reductions usually happen between defense counsel and the assigned prosecutor, sometimes with input from a supervising attorney in the district attorney’s office.
Factors that may influence charge reduction include:
- Your criminal history
- How strong the state’s case is
- Willingness to pay restitution
- Cooperation with law enforcement
Before the case proceeds very far, prosecutors may offer early disposition deals to resolve cases more quickly. In some cases, charge reduction can be an option even after a trial date is set. This can even happen on the eve of trial, when both sides have a clear view of what the evidence shows and what a jury might do with it.
What Is a Motion to Quash an Indictment?
A motion to quash requests the court to throw out an indictment based on defects in the document itself, not in the underlying evidence. Under Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Art. 27.08, you can challenge an indictment that fails to allege facts that constitute a criminal offense. If the court grants the motion, the indictment is dismissed, though prosecutors can sometimes seek a new one before the applicable statute of limitations expires.
The most common ground for a motion to quash is that the indictment fails to allege every required element of the charged offense. The Sixth Amendment and Article 1, Section 10 of the Texas Constitution both require that an indictment give you fair notice of what conduct is being charged. Language that’s too vague or incomplete fails that constitutional standard.
A defective indictment can also create double jeopardy problems. If the charging language is so unclear that it doesn’t adequately identify the conduct in question, it may impair your ability to plead a prior prosecution as a bar to a later one for the same offense. Texas criminal defense attorneys review all indictment language immediately after taking a case for exactly this reason.
What Happens If the Case Is Dismissed?
Not all dismissals have the same consequence. A dismissal with prejudice means the state can never refile those charges, while a dismissal without prejudice leaves the door open for prosecutors to refile, as long as the applicable statute of limitations hasn’t expired. In Texas felony cases, the general period of limitations is three years, though some offenses involve longer periods or no limit at all.
A dismissal can eventually open the door to expunction, which lets you have the arrest records, court records, and related files destroyed. In many cases, if the statute of limitations on the dismissed charge has expired, you may petition for expunction at that point. If the limitations period is still running, you generally must wait until it expires, unless the prosecutor certifies that the case will not be refiled and that the limitations period should not apply.
It is important to note that certain offenses, including those that resulted in a conviction on a related charge from the same arrest, don’t qualify. A person who received deferred adjudication rather than a straight dismissal isn’t eligible for expunction but may qualify for an order of nondisclosure, which seals criminal records from public view while still allowing certain agencies to access them.
What Happens If Charges Are Reduced?
When charges are reduced through a plea bargain, the sentencing range changes immediately. A reduction from a second-degree felony to a third-degree felony drops the punishment range from 2-20 years to 2-10 years, while a reduction from a felony to a Class A misdemeanor caps potential jail time at one year in a county jail rather than a state prison sentence.
Probation eligibility also shifts with the charge. Texas law does not automatically bar probation for all first or second-degree felonies, but some serious offenses are ineligible for judge-ordered community supervision. A reduction to a lower-degree felony or misdemeanor can increase the likelihood that probation is legally available.
Finally, the long-term consequences can be different. A felony conviction of any degree follows you when you complete job applications, housing forms, and professional licensing paperwork. A misdemeanor conviction has fewer automatic collateral consequences, and in some cases, a reduced charge may qualify for expunction or nondisclosure sooner than the original charge would have.
Call a Houston Criminal Defense Lawyer Now
If you’re indicted, it means a grand jury found probable cause to believe you committed a crime, and the state is prepared to prosecute. But it doesn’t mean the outcome is decided: Texas felony cases get dismissed and reduced after indictment for reasons like Fourth Amendment violations, weak or suppressed evidence, defective charging language, and negotiated plea bargains.
If you’ve been indicted in Texas, attorney Amanda Skillern brings over a decade of experience as a Harris County Assistant District Attorney to your defense. She knows how prosecutors build cases because she built them herself, and she uses that knowledge to find the gaps, challenge the evidence, and fight for your future. To schedule a free consultation, call the Law Office of Amanda Skillern, PLLC at 832.954.4722 or contact our Houston criminal law firm online today.
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