New Texas Assault Law Snags A Houston Baseball Star
Chuck Knoblauch, Bellaire High baseball standout, and former American League Rookie of the Year, has been charged under the new law that makes choking a family member a third degree felony. Luckily, Mr. Knoblauch is presumed to be innocent. His predicament illustrates how easily a person can be charged with a Felony in Texas now that the law has changed. The Texas Legislation that just ended making choking a Family Member a third degree felony even if the person does not have a criminal history. If these allegations would have been brought forward in August of this year he would be facing misdemeanor charges. A felony charge is much more serious with the range of punishment being two to ten years in prison as opposed to the one year maximum punishment for a misdemeanor.
The ability to file these charges as a felony gives the prosecutor another tool to extort a guilty plea from a person. On a highly contested case the assistant district attorney will likely offer to reduce the charges to a misdemeanor. This may seem like a fair resolution unless the person is compromising. If this is the case they should keep in mind that a second charge of Family Violence Assault is a third degree felony just like the choking charge. Lastly, a person should keep in mind that a subsequent choking charge may be enhanced to a second degree felony if a person has a previous assault of a family member conviction. This would increase the possible punishment from two to twenty years in the Texas Department of Corrections.
If you have any question regarding your asault case in Houston, Harris County please contact our law firm at (713) 242-1779 or click here to visit our website.
