Punishment for Assault in Texas: Misdemeanor, Felony, and Aftermath

The punishment for assault in Texas runs from a $500 fine with no jail time, at the low end, up to life in prison at the high end. Where a specific case lands depends on four things: whether anyone was actually injured, how serious the injury was, who the victim was, and whether a deadly weapon was used or displayed. A prior conviction for family violence can also push a charge up a level, and several consequences, including firearm bans and a permanent record, continue long after a sentence ends.

The Three Acts That Count as Assault

Texas Penal Code Section 22.01 treats three different acts as assault, and the act you’re accused of sets the starting classification.¹ Causing bodily injury to another person, including a spouse, is the most common and begins as a Class A misdemeanor. Threatening someone with imminent bodily injury, with no touching involved, begins as a Class C misdemeanor. Making physical contact with someone when you know they’ll find it offensive or provocative also begins as a Class C, even if there’s no injury.

From that starting point, the charge can climb based on who the victim was and the surrounding facts.

Misdemeanor Assault Punishments

Most assault prosecutions in Texas are misdemeanors, and they sort into three tiers.

A Class C misdemeanor assault, covering threats and offensive contact with no injury, carries a fine up to $500 and no jail.²

A Class B misdemeanor applies to a narrow situation: threatening or making offensive contact with a sports participant during or because of their role in a sporting event. The punishment is up to 180 days in jail, a fine up to $2,000, or both.³

A Class A misdemeanor, the standard charge when the assault actually caused bodily injury, carries up to one year in county jail, a fine up to $4,000, or both.²

Community supervision (probation) is available for every misdemeanor assault conviction, with a maximum supervision period of three years.⁴

When Simple Assault Becomes a Felony

Certain facts about the victim or the defendant’s history pull a basic assault charge out of the misdemeanor range entirely.

Third-Degree Felony

Assault causing bodily injury becomes a third-degree felony if the victim is a public servant performing official duties, a security officer or emergency services worker on duty, or a person the defendant knows is pregnant. It also becomes a third-degree felony when the victim is a family or household member and the defendant has a prior family violence conviction.

A third-degree felony carries two to ten years in prison and a fine up to $10,000.¹⁵

Second-Degree Felony

Two situations push a simple assault to a second-degree felony. The first is assaulting a peace officer or judge who is performing official duties, or in retaliation for them. The second is strangling or choking a family or household member when the defendant has a prior family violence conviction. Strangulation here means applying pressure to the throat or neck, or blocking the nose or mouth, to impede breathing or blood flow.¹

A second-degree felony carries two to twenty years in prison and a fine up to $10,000.⁶ Community supervision is available for felony assault, up to a maximum of ten years.⁴

Aggravated Assault Punishments

Aggravated assault is a distinct, more serious offense under Texas Penal Code Section 22.02. An assault becomes aggravated when the defendant causes serious bodily injury or uses or displays a deadly weapon during the offense.⁷ Serious bodily injury means an injury that creates a substantial risk of death, causes serious permanent disfigurement, or results in lasting loss or impairment of a bodily function.⁸

The baseline punishment is a second-degree felony: two to twenty years in prison and a fine up to $10,000.⁶

First-Degree Felony Aggravated Assault

Aggravated assault rises to a first-degree felony in several situations:

Using a deadly weapon to cause serious bodily injury to a family or household member
Using a deadly weapon to cause a traumatic brain or spine injury that results in a persistent vegetative state or irreversible paralysis
Committing the assault as a public servant acting under the authority of the position
Targeting a public servant, security officer, or process server because of their duties
Retaliating against a witness, informant, or someone who reported a crime
Firing a weapon from a vehicle toward an occupied building or home and causing bodily injury
Committing the assault as part of a mass shooting

A first-degree felony carries five to ninety-nine years or life in prison, with a possible fine up to $10,000.⁷²

Restitution Paid to the Victim

Separate from any fine paid to the state, a Texas court can order a convicted defendant to pay restitution directly to the victim. Restitution covers the victim’s actual losses: medical bills, therapy costs, lost wages, and property damage. If the victim died as a result of the assault, restitution goes to the estate. The amount is tied to documented expenses, not judicial discretion, because the purpose is to put the victim back in the financial position they were in before the offense.

Protective Orders in Family Violence Cases

When an assault involves family violence, the court will often enter a protective order limiting what the defendant can do. Prohibited conduct can include contacting the victim or their family in a threatening way, going near the victim’s home, workplace, or children’s school, possessing a firearm, and tracking or monitoring the victim’s vehicle or electronic devices.⁹

The scope of these orders is broad. Even leaving a tracking app active on a shared phone plan can trigger a violation. A first-time violation is a Class A misdemeanor, and repeat violations or those involving certain conduct can be charged as felonies.

Losing Your Firearm Rights

An assault conviction can cost you the right to possess a firearm, and the Texas rule and the federal rule are not the same.

Under Texas law, a felony conviction bars firearm possession for five years after you finish your sentence, including parole or community supervision. After those five years, you may possess a firearm only in your own home. A Class A misdemeanor assault involving a family member triggers a separate five-year ban that runs from the later of release from jail or the end of community supervision.¹⁰

Federal law is harsher. Under 18 U.S.C. Section 922, anyone convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence faces a permanent, lifetime ban on possessing firearms or ammunition.¹¹ Texas may let you keep a gun at home after five years, but federal agents can still arrest you for it. The federal ban has no expiration and no home-premises exception.¹²

What the Record Does to You After

Several consequences never show up in the sentencing range but affect life for years.

Expungement and Record Sealing

Texas does not allow you to expunge any conviction. A guilty plea or a trial conviction stays. For deferred adjudication cases that end in dismissal, a nondisclosure order can seal the record from public view. But if your case involved family violence, you are permanently ineligible for nondisclosure of any offense on your record, and that single charge can block you from sealing unrelated cases too.

Jobs and Professional Licenses

Assault convictions, misdemeanor or felony, show up on background checks. Employers in healthcare, education, law enforcement, and childcare routinely disqualify applicants with violent offense histories. Professional licensing boards can suspend or revoke a license based on a conviction tied to the duties of the profession, and many require self-reporting of criminal charges. Failing to report can produce its own disciplinary action separate from whatever the board does about the conviction itself.

Immigration

For non-citizens, an assault conviction can produce consequences larger than the criminal sentence. Federal immigration law treats certain assault offenses as aggravated felonies or crimes involving moral turpitude, either of which can trigger deportation, bar relief such as asylum or cancellation of removal, and make a person permanently inadmissible. The term “aggravated felony” in immigration law can apply to offenses that are neither aggravated nor felonies under Texas law, and even a misdemeanor assault can qualify depending on the facts. Any non-citizen facing an assault charge should talk to an immigration attorney before entering a plea.

A Civil Lawsuit Is Separate

The criminal case is not the only exposure. The victim can also sue for civil battery, seeking money for medical expenses, lost income, pain and suffering, and emotional distress. Civil damages can run far above any criminal fine, especially where punitive damages are available.

The standard of proof is lower in civil court. A criminal conviction requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt; a civil judgment only requires a preponderance of the evidence, meaning the jury finds it more likely than not that the assault happened. That gap is why some defendants are acquitted in criminal court and still lose a civil case on the same facts. A criminal acquittal does not shield you from civil liability.

1
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code Section 22.01 – Assault
2
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code Chapter 12 – Punishments
3
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code Section 12.22 – Class B Misdemeanor
4
State of Texas. Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 42A.753 – Extension of Period of Community Supervision
5
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code Section 12.34 – Third Degree Felony Punishment
6
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code Section 12.33 – Second Degree Felony Punishment
7
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code Section 22.02 – Aggravated Assault
8
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code Section 1.07 – Definitions
9
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code Section 25.07 – Violation of Certain Court Orders or Conditions of Bond in a Family Violence Case
10
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code Section 46.04 – Unlawful Possession of Firearm
11
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 922 – Unlawful Acts
12
Texas State Law Library. Firearms – Restrictions After a Criminal Conviction