Yes, it is illegal to threaten someone in Texas. Depending on what you said, who you said it to, and what you were trying to accomplish, a threat can be charged as anything from a Class C misdemeanor punishable by a $500 fine to a third-degree felony carrying two to ten years in prison. Texas actually has several distinct threat crimes, and the same words can fit more than one of them.
Assault by Threat
The baseline threat crime in Texas is assault by threat. You commit this offense if you intentionally or knowingly threaten someone with imminent bodily injury.1State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 22.01 – Assault No punch has to land and no weapon has to appear. Getting in someone’s face, raising a fist, and saying you’re about to hit them can be enough on its own.
The word that carries the weight is “imminent.” A vague warning about something that might happen next week doesn’t qualify. The threatened harm has to feel like it could happen right now, and the other person needs to reasonably believe you mean it. Courts look at the full context: your words, your tone, how close you were standing, and whether you appeared able to follow through.
Assault by threat is ordinarily a Class C misdemeanor, the lowest criminal classification in Texas, punishable only by a fine of up to $500 with no jail time.2State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 12.23 – Class C Misdemeanor It still produces a criminal record.
Terroristic Threats
The name sounds extreme, but terroristic threat charges in Texas have nothing to do with terrorism in the conventional sense. Under Texas Penal Code 22.07, you commit a terroristic threat if you threaten violence against a person or property with any of several specific harmful intents:3State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 22.07 – Terroristic Threat
- Triggering an emergency response, such as calling in a fake bomb threat
- Placing a specific person in fear of serious bodily injury
- Disrupting the use of a building, like threatening to shoot up a school
- Interrupting public services such as power, water, or transportation
- Frightening a large segment of the public
- Influencing the conduct of a government official or agency
Unlike assault by threat, the harm you describe doesn’t have to be imminent. A terroristic threat can point to future violence. What matters is your intent behind the statement and the type of disruption or fear it’s meant to cause.
How the Penalties Scale
Triggering an emergency response or putting a specific person in fear of serious bodily injury is a Class B misdemeanor, punishable by up to 180 days in jail and a fine up to $2,000.4State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 12.22 – Class B Misdemeanor When the threat targets a family member, a household member, or a public servant, the charge climbs to a Class A misdemeanor with up to one year in jail and a $4,000 fine.5State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 12.21 – Class A Misdemeanor Threatening a peace officer or judge is a state jail felony carrying 180 days to two years in a state jail facility and a possible $10,000 fine.6State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 12.35 – State Jail Felony Punishment
Disrupting building use is a Class A misdemeanor, but it jumps to a state jail felony if the threat causes $1,500 or more in financial losses to the building owner.3State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 22.07 – Terroristic Threat The most serious tier applies when the threat aims to interrupt public services, frighten a large segment of the public, or influence government activity. Those are third-degree felonies, punishable by two to ten years in prison and a fine up to $10,000.7State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 12.34 – Third Degree Felony Punishment
Harassment by Threat
Harassment covers a different flavor of threatening behavior. The question isn’t whether you meant to make someone fear for their life; it’s whether you meant to harass, annoy, alarm, or torment them. Under Texas Penal Code 42.07, you commit harassment if you threaten bodily injury or a felony against someone, a member of their family, or their property in a manner reasonably likely to alarm them, and you do so with that harassing intent.8State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 42.07 – Harassment
This is where threatening text messages, social media posts, and phone calls usually land. The ex who fires off a string of hostile messages. The neighbor who leaves menacing voicemails. The communication doesn’t have to describe immediate harm the way assault by threat requires. Repetition and intent are what pull it into criminal territory.
Harassment is normally a Class B misdemeanor, meaning up to 180 days in jail and a fine up to $2,000.4State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 12.22 – Class B Misdemeanor It rises to a Class A misdemeanor if you have a prior harassment conviction or if the victim is a utility or court employee. Harassing a judge is a state jail felony, and harassing a judge after a prior harassment conviction is a third-degree felony.8State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 42.07 – Harassment
When a Pattern Becomes Stalking
If threatening behavior happens more than once as part of the same course of conduct aimed at one person, the charge can climb from harassment to stalking under Texas Penal Code 42.072. Stalking requires that the conduct either qualifies as harassment under Section 42.07 or involves behavior the person knows (or should know) the victim will perceive as threatening bodily injury, death, or a crime against the victim, their family, or their property.9State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 42.072 – Stalking
The penalty jump is dramatic. A first stalking offense is a third-degree felony, meaning two to ten years in prison and a possible $10,000 fine.7State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 12.34 – Third Degree Felony Punishment This is where prosecutors often end up when a defendant has sent weeks or months of threatening messages that individually might look like misdemeanor harassment but collectively form a sustained campaign of fear.
What Counts as a “True Threat”
Not everything that sounds threatening can be prosecuted. The First Amendment protects a wide range of speech, including statements that are angry, offensive, or hyperbolic. The question courts ask is whether a statement rises to a “true threat,” which falls outside constitutional protection.
In 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court clarified the standard in Counterman v. Colorado. The Court held that the government must prove the speaker had at least a reckless mental state, meaning the person consciously disregarded a substantial risk that their words would be viewed as threatening violence.10Supreme Court of the United States. Counterman v. Colorado A purely objective “reasonable person” test isn’t enough on its own. Prosecutors have to show the speaker understood, or at least consciously ignored, the threatening nature of what they said.
For Texas cases that means defendants have a constitutional floor beneath the state statutes. Even when a statement looks threatening from the outside, a conviction still requires evidence the speaker wasn’t merely careless with words. Someone who genuinely didn’t grasp that their statement could be taken as a threat has a viable defense, though that argument is harder to make when the words are explicit and directed at a specific person.
Threats That Cross State Lines
When a threat travels across state lines, federal law can apply on top of any Texas charges. Under 18 U.S.C. ยง 875, transmitting a threat to injure someone through interstate communications (phone calls, texts, emails, or social media messages routed through out-of-state servers) carries up to five years in federal prison.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 875 – Interstate Communications If the threat is paired with an attempt to extort money, the maximum jumps to twenty years.
This happens more often than people realize. A threatening direct message sent from Houston to someone in another state can trigger federal jurisdiction because the communication moved through interstate commerce. Federal prosecutors don’t bring charges for every interstate threat, but they can and do when the conduct is severe or involves weapons, public officials, or organized harassment campaigns.
What a Conviction Costs You Beyond Jail
Even after a fine is paid or a sentence is served, a threat conviction keeps affecting your life.
Firearms
Federal law permanently bars anyone convicted of a “misdemeanor crime of domestic violence” from possessing firearms or ammunition.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 – Unlawful Acts A Class A misdemeanor terroristic threat conviction involving a family or household member can trigger this lifetime federal ban. What matters isn’t the label on the offense but whether the underlying conduct involved the use or attempted use of force, or the threatened use of a deadly weapon, against a domestic partner, spouse, or household member.
Protective Orders
Separate from any criminal prosecution, the person you threatened can seek a civil protective order. Texas Family Code Title 4 authorizes courts to issue protective orders in situations involving family violence, which includes threats of harm against family or household members. A protective order can prohibit you from contacting the person, coming within a set distance of their home or workplace, and possessing firearms while the order is in place. Violating a protective order is its own criminal offense.
Professional Licenses
Nurses, teachers, attorneys, real estate agents, and many other licensed professionals face licensing board scrutiny after a criminal conviction. Even a misdemeanor threat conviction can prompt a board investigation, and boards have authority to suspend or revoke a license if they determine the conviction reflects on your fitness to practice. A guilty plea locks in the factual finding, which makes it nearly impossible to argue differently before the licensing board later.
Employment and Background Checks
Threat-related convictions show up on criminal background checks. For positions involving children, vulnerable populations, or security clearances, even a Class C assault by threat can be disqualifying. Texas employers can legally consider criminal history in hiring decisions, and a conviction involving violence or threats of violence tends to carry more weight than other misdemeanors.