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Aggravated Assault with a Deadly Weapon

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alex_rios12

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Texas


2 nights ago, my cousin Rick, his friend Tom, and I were driving in Tom's truck to go get fireworks. As we were driving off of the freeway the truck behind us started to honk his horn at us because we had slowed down abruptly due to the car in front of us flashing his signal light but had changed his mind last minute. Tom responded to the honking by flashing his middle finger out the window, the truck began to tailgate us for a couple of miles. Tom got mad and told Rick to grab the unloaded shotgun he kept in the backseat to scare them off. Rick reaches to the backseat where i was and grabs it and nearly hits me in the head with it so I push it away. Rick starts to wave the gun out the window and points it at the truck. I start to lay down in the backseat afraid that the other truck could have a gun too. The truck then gets behind Rick and continues to follow us around, and i suspect he was calling the police. I yell at Rick and tell him to stop and give me the gun to put back, which he does.(i regret this the most because my fingerprints will show up on the weapon)Tom starts trying to lose the truck and eventually does, but a few minutes later our truck is surrounded by about 7 police cars. They arrest us all and tell us that we are suspects in charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon. We all spent 2 nights in jail with bonds set at $25,000.

I need all the help I can get to clear my name. I made a huge mistake by getting in the car with them, I didn't know he kept a gun in his truck. I never would have thought in my entire life that i'd know what it's like to be in jail, and I just spent two disastrous and humiliating nights there. I didn't point a gun out of the window and I didn't threaten anybodoy's life with a weapon, yet i could possibly be charged with a 1st degree felony that says i'm just as guilty as the people in the front seat. I don't even believe the truck knows I was in the vehicle because I was ducking down for most of the event. I can't imagine living my life with this kind of burden on my back, and i'm terrified about being considered a criminal. I'm just an 18 year old kid who fell into this horrible situation, and i don't know what to do. PLEASE get back to me as soon as you can with any kind of advice that you believe can help me.

Here are a few questions that I have:

Is there any chance that I can qualify for deferred adjudication?

Would that be a good choice?

Do I Plead Not Guilty, Gulity, or No Contest? Because I feel that I'm not guilty but I'm told I should plead no contest.

Is there any chance I can live a normal life after this?
 


You plead Not Guilty to begin with. Next, get a good Attorney that will get these charges dismissed. You don't want any kind of adjudication with your name attached regarding this charge.

If you are actually held to this charge, be prepared to have your life changed even more than what you've already experienced. Texas is a state that is all about money when it comes to Deferred Adjudicated sentences and probation. I hate to think of how much this will cost you. Not just in cash, but also in time.

So long as what you have posted here is exactly what your other 2 friends will testify to, you stand a chance of having this dismissed by the D.A.
 

JETX

Senior Member
Is there any chance that I can qualify for deferred adjudication?
Considering the seriousness of the charge, unlikely.

Would that be a good choice?
If available, ONLY your defense attorney can answer that.... after a FULL review of the facts.

Do I Plead Not Guilty, Gulity, or No Contest? Because I feel that I'm not guilty but I'm told I should plead no contest.
You don't plead ANYTHING without the advice of counsel. GET A LOCAL ATTORNEY!!

Is there any chance I can live a normal life after this?
Depends on 'normal'.
 

CavemanLawyer

Senior Member
Aggravated assault with a deadly weapon is actually a 2nd degree felony, not a first degree. Deferred adjudication is an option, and actually it is the only probation option via a plea agreement. You cannot plead to straight (non-deferred probation) on an aggravated assault. Honestly with these facts, your age, and with no criminal history, I'd be shocked if they offered you anything more serious than deferred probation. But I still don't think you should accept that.

Hopefully this truck driver told the police which window the gun was pointed out of. I assume the officers made note of which seat everyone was in when you were pulled over. So that information should hopefully be enough to show that you were not the one that pointed the gun and it does give you a credible story that you just tried to calm the situation and get the gun put away. If any of your "friends" end up confessing and/or pleading to the charge, that might help clear your name. It seems, however, that you will most likely be charged as a party to the crime as opposed to being the actor. In that respect your defense only goes so far. Even if a jury believed that you didn't point the gun or even intend to have it pointed, if you handled it after the fact they could believe that you did so to further the act or to hide the gun. All in all I'd expect that the prosecutor would want to go after the other two rather than you and you should DEFINITELY fight for something better than deferred probation on an aggravated assault charge. There are lots of other options that I would think would be reasonable at the misdemeanor level like deadly conduct or terroristic threat.

Bottom line, I think you already got the best advice above. Get an attorney and fight like hell because its really not a very good case against you if what you say is true.
 

alex_rios12

Junior Member
thanks

Thanks to all of you who have replied. I was told from the beginning that the charges placed against us were first degree felonies and i found out today that they made it possible by throwing in "engaging in organized criminal activity". I spoke to a lawyer today who believes he may be able to get the charges dismissed, however i need to keep looking because he charges an arm and a leg. He basically told me that as long as the two guys up front would own up to the crime and my side of the story was known then that would help alot. And i'm actually convinced that the driver of the other vehicle may not even know that there were three guys in our truck because I ducked down when the passenger started to wave the gun around. The attorney also told me that i should gather up my college transcript just to further prove that i'm not just some guy who goes out looking for trouble and that i'm concerned about my future. I'm going to keep this post open in case anyone else can offer further advice and thanks to those of you who already have.
 

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