Texas Penal Code 36.06: Obstruction or Retaliation Penalties

Texas Penal Code 36.06, titled Obstruction or Retaliation, makes it a third-degree felony to intentionally or knowingly harm or threaten to harm another person through an unlawful act, when the purpose is to retaliate against them for serving as a public servant, witness, informant, or person who reported a crime, or to prevent them from doing so.¹ A standard conviction carries two to ten years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000. The statute also reaches a specific modern tactic: posting a public servant’s home address or phone number online with intent to cause harm.

What the Statute Criminalizes

Section 36.06 has two triggers. One looks backward, punishing retaliation against someone for a role they already played. The other looks forward, punishing obstruction aimed at stopping someone from fulfilling that role in the future.¹

Retaliation covers conduct directed at someone because of what they already did. A witness who testified last month, an officer who made an arrest last year, a neighbor who called 911 last week — going after any of them because of that involvement fits the statute. Prosecutors do not have to tie the conduct to a specific case, only to the victim’s status or service.

Obstruction covers interference before or during the process. Threatening a prospective witness so they skip a grand jury appearance, or intimidating someone who plans to report a crime, both qualify. The harm does not need to actually land. A credible threat is enough, because the statute covers both harming and threatening to harm.

The phrase “by an unlawful act” is doing real work. The threat or harm has to involve conduct that is itself illegal. Rudely telling a witness you hope they trip on the courthouse steps is not criminal under this statute. Slashing their tires the night before they testify is. Criminal threats, assault, property damage, and harassment all qualify.

Posting a Public Servant’s Personal Information Online

Subsection (a-1) creates a separate offense that targets doxxing. It is a crime to post the home address or phone number of a public servant, or of their family or household member, on a publicly accessible website or through electronic communication, if you do so with intent to cause harm or a threat of harm because of the person’s status as a public servant.¹

The provision includes an evidentiary presumption. If a public servant sends you a written demand to take their address or phone number down for safety reasons, failing to remove it within 48 hours, or reposting it within four years even on a different site, is treated as prima facie evidence of intent to cause harm. The four-year window continues to apply even if the person is no longer a public servant.

The baseline (a-1) offense is still a third-degree felony. It becomes a second-degree felony if someone actually suffers bodily injury as a result of the posting.

Who Is Protected

The statute covers four categories of people, and in each case extends protection to the person’s family and household members.

Public servants. Under Penal Code Section 1.07, this reaches government officers, employees, and agents at every level, along with jurors and grand jurors, arbitrators, referees, attorneys performing governmental functions, candidates for public office, and anyone performing a governmental function under a claim of right. Section 36.06 expands the definition to include honorably retired peace officers and people who contract with the state to provide services in civil commitment facilities.¹
Witnesses and prospective witnesses. Anyone who has testified, been summoned to testify, or is expected to provide evidence in an official proceeding.
Informants. The statute defines an informant broadly, as anyone who has communicated information to the government in connection with any governmental function, not just crime reporting.¹
Persons who reported a crime. Anyone who has reported or intends to report a crime to authorities, so ordinary bystanders and victims who contact police are covered.

Protection for honorably retired peace officers means the shield does not expire when an officer leaves the force, provided they left in good standing and not to avoid disciplinary action.

Penalties

Third-Degree Felony Baseline

The default classification is a third-degree felony, with two to ten years in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and a possible fine of up to $10,000.² This covers the common fact patterns: threatening a witness, retaliating against someone who filed a police report, or posting a public servant’s personal information online where no one is physically injured.

Second-Degree Felony Enhancements

The charge becomes a second-degree felony in two situations. First, when the victim was targeted because of their role as a juror. Second, when a subsection (a-1) online-posting offense results in bodily injury.¹ A second-degree felony raises the prison exposure to two to twenty years, with the maximum fine still at $10,000.³

Probation

Texas law allows juries to recommend community supervision instead of prison for defendants with no prior felony convictions. If the jury recommends it and the defendant filed the required sworn motion before trial, the judge must suspend the sentence and place the defendant on community supervision. A defendant with a prior felony conviction is not eligible for jury-recommended probation. Judge-ordered probation may still be available in some cases depending on the circumstances of the offense.

What Prosecutors Must Prove

A conviction requires the state to establish each element beyond a reasonable doubt.

Intent. The defendant must have acted intentionally or knowingly. Accidentally harming someone who happens to be a witness is not enough. The state has to show the defendant knew of the person’s status or role and targeted them because of it.
Unlawful act. The harm or threat must involve conduct that is independently illegal. This element separates criminal retaliation from legal but unpleasant behavior such as social shunning or public criticism.
Connection to the legal process. The act must be tied to the victim’s role as a public servant, witness, informant, or person who reported a crime. Without that nexus, the conduct might still be criminal, but it is not a Section 36.06 offense.

Most cases turn on the connection element. Proving someone slashed a tire is straightforward. Proving they did it because the car’s owner testified three months earlier takes circumstantial evidence, prior statements, text messages, or a pattern of conduct that links the act to the victim’s involvement in a legal proceeding.

How This Differs From Witness Tampering

Section 36.05, witness tampering, is a related but separate offense. Tampering involves offering a benefit to a witness or coercing them to testify falsely, withhold testimony, evade a subpoena, or otherwise derail a prosecution.⁴ Section 36.06 punishes harmful acts aimed at someone because of their legal-system role; Section 36.05 punishes efforts to corrupt the process itself.

The penalty structure can diverge sharply. Tampering starts at a third-degree felony but escalates to match the most serious offense charged in the underlying case. If the underlying case is a first-degree or capital felony, the tampering charge becomes a first-degree felony.⁴ Tampering in family-violence cases carries its own enhanced scheme. When the conduct involves trying to change or suppress testimony, prosecutors may charge tampering rather than obstruction, and the sentence can be substantially heavier.

Collateral Consequences of a Conviction

The prison sentence and fine are only part of the cost. A felony conviction under Section 36.06 reshapes life after release.

A convicted felon in Texas cannot possess a firearm. Penal Code Section 46.04 bars firearm possession, though after five years from completion of the full sentence (including parole and probation) a person may possess a firearm in their own home. Federal law under 18 U.S.C. § 922 is stricter and does not recognize that limited home-possession exception, so a person can comply with Texas law and still violate federal law by keeping a gun at home.⁵

A felony record also creates lasting barriers to employment, professional licensing, housing, and education. Licensing boards in regulated industries routinely deny or revoke credentials for applicants with felony convictions, particularly where the offense involves dishonesty, coercion, or violence. Voting rights are suspended during incarceration, parole, and supervised release, and restored only after the full sentence is completed.

Expungement is not available for felony convictions in Texas. A person convicted under Section 36.06 cannot have the conviction erased. An order of nondisclosure, which seals a record from public view, is available only in limited circumstances and typically requires a waiting period of years after completing the sentence or community supervision. In practical terms, this conviction follows a person through background checks for life.

1
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 36.06 – Obstruction or Retaliation
2
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 12.34 – Third Degree Felony Punishment
3
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 12.33 – Second Degree Felony Punishment
4
State of Texas. Texas Penal Code 36.05 – Tampering With Witness
5
Texas State Law Library. Restrictions After a Criminal Conviction – Firearms