In Texas, assault causing bodily injury to a family member is a Class A misdemeanor on a first offense, punishable by up to one year in county jail and a fine of up to $4,000. The charge jumps to a third-degree felony carrying 2 to 10 years in prison if you have a prior family violence conviction or if the assault involved strangulation. If both apply, it becomes a second-degree felony with a range of 2 to 20 years. The consequences also reach well past sentencing: a conviction triggers a lifetime federal ban on firearms, and Texas law bars you from ever sealing the record.
Misdemeanor Penalty Range for a First Offense
A first-time charge under Texas Penal Code Section 22.01 is a Class A misdemeanor. The maximum punishment is one year in county jail, a fine of up to $4,000, or both.1State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 12.21 – Class A Misdemeanor Punishment In practice, a first offense without aggravating circumstances often results in probation rather than jail time, but the judge has full discretion to impose the maximum.
Probation typically comes with conditions: completing a Battering Intervention and Prevention Program (BIPP), performing community service, and staying away from the person who reported the assault. You pay for the program yourself unless the court finds you cannot afford it.
Many first-time defendants are offered deferred adjudication community supervision, which means you plead guilty but the court delays entering a formal conviction. Complete the terms — typically 12 to 24 months of supervision plus the required programs — and the case is dismissed without a final conviction. The catch is covered below under long-term consequences; deferred adjudication in a family violence case is not the clean slate it is in most other offenses.
When the Charge Becomes a Felony
Two circumstances automatically push this offense out of misdemeanor territory, and both come up more often than defendants expect.
Third-Degree Felony: Prior Family Violence Conviction
Any previous conviction for a violent offense against a family member, household member, or dating partner makes the current charge a third-degree felony.2State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 22.01 – Assault The prior does not need to involve the same person, and it does not matter how long ago it happened. Qualifying priors include assault, aggravated assault, murder, kidnapping, sexual assault, and violations of a protective order involving family violence. A past deferred adjudication counts too, even though it never became a formal conviction.
A third-degree felony carries 2 to 10 years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and a fine of up to $10,000.3State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 12.34 – Third Degree Felony Punishment That is prison, not county jail. The leap from a potential probation sentence to a minimum of two years in state prison is the sharpest cliff in Texas family violence law.
Third-Degree Felony: Strangulation
Even without a prior conviction, the charge becomes a third-degree felony if you blocked the other person’s breathing or blood circulation by applying pressure to the throat, neck, nose, or mouth.2State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 22.01 – Assault The statute uses the phrase “impeding the normal breathing or circulation of the blood.” Prosecutors do not need to prove the person lost consciousness or suffered lasting injury. Evidence that your hands were on someone’s neck during the altercation is typically enough.
Second-Degree Felony: Both Factors Present
When the current incident involves strangulation and you have a prior family violence conviction, the offense becomes a second-degree felony.4Texas Legislature. Texas Penal Code Chapter 22 – Assaultive Offenses The range is 2 to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.5State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 12.33 – Second Degree Felony Punishment That puts the offense in the same punishment tier as aggravated assault and robbery.
Consequences That Outlast the Sentence
Jail time and fines are only the front end of what a conviction costs. Several consequences follow you permanently, and some apply even when the court never enters a formal conviction.
Lifetime Federal Firearms Ban
Federal law makes it illegal for anyone convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence to possess any firearm or ammunition.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 – Unlawful Acts This applies whether your conviction was a state felony or a misdemeanor, and there is no exception for law enforcement officers or military personnel.7Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives. Misdemeanor Crimes of Domestic Violence Prohibitions
The ban is permanent. No judge can waive it as part of sentencing, and Texas has no mechanism to restore gun rights after a domestic violence conviction. Possessing a single round of ammunition after a qualifying conviction is a separate federal felony. For people who hunt, work in law enforcement or security, or simply keep a firearm at home, this consequence often matters more than the jail exposure.
You Cannot Seal the Record
Family violence cases diverge sharply from other offenses on record relief. Even after successful completion of deferred adjudication, Texas law permanently bars you from sealing the record through an order of nondisclosure. Texas Government Code Section 411.074 explicitly disqualifies anyone who has been placed on deferred adjudication for an offense involving family violence.8State of Texas. Texas Government Code 411.074 The guilty plea and the deferred adjudication remain visible on background checks indefinitely.
Automatic Enhancement of Any Future Charge
If you are arrested for another family violence offense at any point in the future, the earlier case — including a completed deferred adjudication — makes the new charge a third-degree felony. The fact that you were never formally convicted does not protect you. This catches people off guard years or even decades later.
Immigration Consequences
A family violence conviction creates serious immigration problems for anyone who is not a U.S. citizen. Federal immigration law classifies a crime of domestic violence as a deportable offense, regardless of how long you have held a visa or green card.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 8 USC 1227 – Deportable Aliens A conviction can also block naturalization, green card renewal, or a visa change. Even a misdemeanor with no jail time can trigger removal proceedings.
What Happens Right After Arrest
In most family violence arrests, a magistrate issues an Emergency Protective Order (EPO) before you post bond or leave custody. This is not optional. It happens automatically when the magistrate finds probable cause for family violence, and the person who reported the incident does not need to request it.
A standard EPO lasts between 31 and 61 days. If the allegation involves a weapon, the order extends to between 61 and 91 days.10State of Texas. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Art 17.292 During this period, the order typically prohibits you from:
- Contacting the protected person directly or indirectly, except in some cases through your attorney.
- Going near the person’s home, workplace, school, or child care facility.
- Possessing any firearm; your handgun license is automatically suspended for the duration of the order unless you are an active-duty peace officer.
- Tracking the protected person using apps, GPS devices, or physical surveillance.
Violating any condition of the EPO or a bond condition in a family violence case is a separate criminal offense under Texas Penal Code Section 25.07.11State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 25.07 People get arrested for this more often than you would expect. A text message, or showing up at a shared apartment to grab clothes, can trigger a new charge.
Who Counts as a Family or Household Member
The protected relationship categories come from the Texas Family Code and reach further than most defendants assume.
Family members include anyone related to you by blood or marriage, former spouses, and anyone who shares a biological child with you regardless of whether you were ever married or lived together.12State of Texas. Texas Family Code 71.004 – Family Violence Foster parents and foster children are also covered. None of these relationships require that you currently live together.
Household members include anyone who lives with you or has previously lived with you in the same dwelling, whether or not you are related or romantically involved.13State of Texas. Texas Family Code 71.005 A current or former roommate qualifies.
Dating partners are covered as well. Texas defines a dating relationship as a continuing relationship of a romantic or intimate nature, evaluated based on the length, nature, and frequency of interaction.14State of Texas. Texas Family Code 71.0021 – Dating Violence Casual acquaintance or ordinary socializing does not qualify, but a relationship does not need to be long or formal.
What the State Has to Prove
Prosecutors must establish that you caused bodily injury to someone in a protected relationship, and that you did so intentionally, knowingly, or recklessly.2State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 22.01 – Assault Texas Penal Code Section 1.07 defines bodily injury as physical pain, illness, or any impairment of physical condition.15State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 1.07 – Definitions That definition is deliberately broad. There is no requirement for visible marks, bruises, bleeding, or medical treatment. If the person testifies that a slap, grab, or push caused pain, the statutory threshold is met.
Texas prosecutors pursue these cases aggressively and often move forward even when the person who reported the incident asks them to drop it. The state, not the complainant, decides whether to prosecute.
Self-Defense
Texas law allows the use of force when you reasonably believe it is immediately necessary to protect yourself against someone else’s unlawful force.16State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 9.31 – Self-Defense You have no duty to retreat if you had a right to be where you were, you did not provoke the confrontation, and you were not engaged in criminal activity at the time. Self-defense is not available in response to verbal provocation alone, and the force you used must be proportional to the threat.
Once you raise the defense, the prosecution has the burden of disproving it beyond a reasonable doubt. The practical difficulty is that officers responding to a domestic call often arrest whoever appears to have caused the most visible injury, regardless of who started the confrontation. When both people have injuries, credibility decides the case.