What’s the law on Failure To Appear in Texas?

Good question. One of the ways our criminal justice system extorts guilty pleas out of defendants is by wasting their time. The biggest time waste in the criminal justice system is requiring Defendants to show up at every court setting. It’s most ridiculous is misdemeanor cases and it’s a huge loss of productivity since most defendants are missing many days of work just to show up for their pot case. It’s not unusual for Defendants to be fired for going to court.  The situation varies by county, in Dallas county your lawyer can show up for most misdemeanor settings. In Kaufman County the Defendant has to appear at every setting, with one exception.

About once or twice a month we will get a client who needs to move a court date and can’t make it. This is always a dangerous proposal and we advise them that it’s up to the judge to allow a case to be reset sans appearance. If a client chooses to just not show up and we haven’t worked it out with the court, then the Defendant can be charged with failure to appear.

What is failure to appear in Texas? 

§ 38.10 spells it out. Basically, it’s when the Defendant, who was released from custody on condition that
she subsequently appear, intentionally or knowingly failed to appear in court. Failure to appear is a misdemeanor,  but it is enhanced to a third-degree felony if the offense for which the defendant’s
appearance was required was a felony.