MAINTENANCE MODE

Adjudification – the word your looking for is adjudication, which in common Texas usage means to be found guilty. You need to get that F sound out of there. I don’t know who started that.

The state picked up the charges – No, the state did not. In a criminal case, it’s always the state of Texas versus you. Just because your girlfriend doesn’t want the case prosecuted but the state is moving forward with it doesn’t mean she dropped the ball and the D.A.’s office picked it up and started running. In fact, it doesn’t usually help if she wants the case dropped. What helps is when the prosecutor calls her to ask her what should happen with the case and she sounds crazy.

I’m not tryna go to jail – The correct phrase is “I don’t wanna go to jail.” If you’re shoplifting makeup and steaks from Wal-mart and when you get arrested, you’ve got two grams of meth in your pocket, that was not a well thought-out plan. I mean honestly, you’re turning a misdemeanor into a felony because you didn’t want to leave your baggie at home? It sure seems like you’re tryna go to jail. Now whether you wanna, well, that’s a different matter.

This is a common phrase used by clients who have been caught in suspicious compromising circumstances and think they have to come up with something, anything, to explain away the guilt. Examples include:

• Why would I be stealing pool toys when I have $300 in my pocket?
• Why would I consent to a search if I had a THC vape in my underwear?
• Why would I be staring in her window with my pants down if I knew I had an protective order?
• The answer to all of these is “I don’t know.” But you know what? We all screw up. Let’s see if we can find our way out of this as painlessly as possible.

Oh, and by the way: DON’T CONSENT TO SEARCH.

This phrase is always spoken by some poor soul who’s stuck in jail. Maybe he has a burglary of a habitation case (punishment range 2-20 years in prison) and is being offered five years by the prosecutor. But he knows a guy who has the same charge, has a worse record and got his case reduced to a state jail and got 180 days. I feel for you, my man! But there are a lot of things in play here that make your cases different. Your case may have:

• Worse facts.
• Better evidence.
• A meaner prosecutor.
• An ornery judge.
• A mad victim.
• Etc.