A family violence arrest in Fort Worth is never just one case. The criminal charge filed at the Tim Curry Criminal Justice Center is the visible one — but riding with it are a protective order proceeding that can bar you from your home, a custody dimension that can reshape your time with your children, and, for non-citizens, an immigration exposure that can outweigh everything else combined. Defending only the criminal charge while the other three run unattended is how people “win” a misdemeanor and lose their family, their firearms, or their green card. A domestic violence defense lawyer at The Piri Law Firm’s Fort Worth office at 4200 South Fwy, Suite 1313 defends all four fronts as one strategy — because the firm practices criminal, family, and immigration law under the same roof.
Case One: The Criminal Charge in Tarrant County
Texas prosecutes “domestic violence” as assault under Penal Code § 22.01 with a family violence designation attached when the complainant is a family member, household member, or dating partner. The ladder:
- Assault (bodily injury), family violence — Class A misdemeanor, up to a year and $4,000. “Bodily injury” means any physical pain — a grab, a push, a red mark all qualify on paper.
- Impeding breath or circulation (“choking”) — a third-degree felony on the allegation alone, 2–10 years, even for a first offense with no visible injury.
- Any prior family violence conviction — enhances a new misdemeanor accusation to a third-degree felony.
- Continuous violence against the family — two alleged incidents within 12 months, felony, even if neither was separately prosecuted.
- Aggravated assault — serious bodily injury or a deadly weapon, second-degree felony.
Tarrant County’s District Attorney maintains dedicated family violence prosecutors, and the office’s operating assumption is that complainants recant — so cases are built from the first night to survive without them: the 911 audio, body camera footage, scene photographs, medical records, and excited-utterance statements. Which is why the most common family plan — “she’ll drop it and this goes away” — fails. Only the DA dismisses, and in Tarrant County an affidavit of non-prosecution is one input, not an off switch. Handled through counsel, it becomes genuine leverage; solicited by the accused, it becomes a witness-tampering problem.
Case Two: The Protective Order
Most Fort Worth family violence arrests generate a Magistrate’s Order of Emergency Protection at magistration — 31 to 91 days of no-contact and stay-away terms, entered regardless of the complainant’s wishes. A longer civil protective order (up to two years) may follow. The trap that catches more Tarrant County respondents than any evidentiary issue: the complainant cannot waive the order. The invited visit home, the reply to her text, the drive-by to get work tools — each is a fresh crime, a bond violation, and the end of your negotiating position. If the order’s terms are unworkable, the remedy is a motion to modify — courts adjust residence-access and child-exchange provisions with some regularity — never self-help. The protective order hearing itself is a civil proceeding where you can be examined under oath while the criminal case pends, so what to contest, what to concede, and whether to testify are sequencing decisions that require one lawyer seeing both cases.
Case Three: Your Children
A family violence finding is a custody weapon, and experienced family lawyers know it: it rebuts the presumption of joint managing conservatorship under the Texas Family Code, can restrict possession to supervised visitation, and gets quoted in Tarrant County custody hearings for years after the criminal case closes. When a divorce or custody case is pending or foreseeable — and in our experience it usually is — the criminal defense and the family case must be run in coordination: what’s said at a protective order hearing surfaces in the custody case; the criminal disposition’s precise wording determines what the family judge sees. Our child custody and contested divorce teams and the criminal defense work the same file. And a hard truth stated plainly: contested custody battles are also where false and exaggerated allegations most often originate, because an arrest is the fastest way to win temporary possession of the house and children. Judges know this dynamic; proving it requires the context evidence — the timeline against the custody filing, the prior threats to “call the police and take the kids,” the inconsistent accounts — gathered early.
Case Four: Immigration — Often the Highest Stake in the Room
Federal law makes a conviction for a crime of domestic violence, stalking, child abuse, or violation of a protective order a specific deportability ground. For the South Freeway corridor’s immigrant families, this means a plea that looks like a manageable misdemeanor to a citizen can mean removal proceedings for a lawful permanent resident — and some dispositions Texas doesn’t call convictions still count as convictions in immigration court. Add the firearm consequence that binds everyone (a lifetime federal firearms prohibition under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(9) for misdemeanor domestic violence convictions) and the record consequence (Texas never permits sealing of any case with an affirmative family violence finding, even after successful deferred adjudication), and the strategic center of most defenses becomes clear: avoid the qualifying conviction and the finding. The Piri Law Firm’s crimmigration practice vets every proposed disposition against the client’s immigration file before anything is signed. Consultations in Spanish and French.
How the Defense Gets Built
Family violence cases rest, more than any other charge, on one account given in one chaotic moment — which makes them more defensible than the night of arrest suggests:
- Self-defense. Texas permits reasonable force to protect yourself, and responding officers often arrest the larger party or the one with fewer visible marks — a triage decision, not a finding. Photograph your own injuries immediately; they fade in days.
- The inconsistency map. The 911 call, the scene statement, the written affidavit, and later testimony rarely align perfectly, and every divergence is reasonable doubt.
- Injury mechanics. Photographs and medical records sometimes contradict the described mechanism — defense experts testify to exactly that.
- Motive evidence. Pending custody fights, divorce leverage, and immigration incentives (protective orders and cooperation can support certain immigration benefits) are documented, admissible context.
- Constitutional issues. Warrantless entries, un-Mirandized statements, and missing footage get litigated like any other case.
The first two weeks matter most: preserve texts and call logs, list witnesses, stay silent on recorded jail calls, and route every communication about the case through counsel. Our criminal defense attorney page and criminal defense FAQs cover the broader Tarrant County process.
If You Are the One Who Needs Protection
We represent applicants as well as respondents, and the resources are real: protective order applications can be filed through the Tarrant County DA’s office at no cost, through private counsel, or with guidance from the Texas Attorney General’s protective order program and TexasLawHelp.org. For immigrant victims whose status depends on an abuser, protective orders can support VAWA self-petitions and other relief through our immigration practice. If you are in immediate danger, call 911 before calling any lawyer.
Why Fort Worth Calls The Piri Law Firm
Michael Piri is a Texas attorney practicing Criminal Defense, Family Law, Personal Injury, and Immigration — verify his licensure on his State Bar of Texas profile. He earned his J.D. from St. Mary’s University School of Law and is fluent in Spanish and French — and because the firm works all four fronts of a family violence case, nothing gets conceded in one courtroom that will be used in another. Free 30-minute consultations, payment plans, 24/7 availability. Visit our Fort Worth office page for directions, and read client reviews on our Google Business Profile.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can my wife or girlfriend drop the charges in Tarrant County?
No. Only the District Attorney can dismiss, and Tarrant County builds family violence cases to proceed without the complainant. An affidavit of non-prosecution, handled through counsel, is leverage — not an off switch.
Is choking someone really an automatic felony in Texas?
An allegation of impeding breath or circulation makes the charge a third-degree felony — 2 to 10 years — even on a first offense with no visible injury. It is among the most serious accusations in the family violence code.
Will a family violence case cost me my gun rights?
A misdemeanor domestic violence conviction triggers a lifetime federal firearms ban, and an active protective order imposes its own prohibition. Avoiding a qualifying conviction is usually the defense’s central goal.
Can I get a family violence case sealed later?
Not if it ends with an affirmative family violence finding — Texas bars nondisclosure for those even after deferred adjudication. A dismissal followed by expunction is the clean outcome, which is why the finding is worth fighting.
The allegation is false — it’s about our custody case. What do I do?
Document the timeline against the custody filing, preserve every message, photograph your own injuries, and say nothing except through counsel. Motive evidence is admissible, and judges recognize the pattern — when it’s proven, not just claimed.
The Piri Law Firm — Fort Worth Office
4200 South Fwy, Suite 1313, Fort Worth, TX 76115 · (833) 600-0029 · Free 30-minute consultation, 24/7 · Nosotros hablamos español
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This article is for general information only and is not legal advice. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship. If you are in immediate danger, call 911.
