Texas doesn’t have a crime called rape. What most people mean by rape is charged as sexual assault under Penal Code § 22.011, a second-degree felony with 2 to 20 years in prison, or aggravated sexual assault under § 22.021, a first-degree felony with 5 to 99 years or life. Either one, even resolved with deferred adjudication, means registering as a sex offender for life if the accused was 17 or older at the time. Most of these accusations don’t involve a stranger or a weapon. They involve two people who knew each other and two very different accounts of a night that usually included drinking. Those cases are won or lost on evidence that can disappear in days.
Call (713) 664-4000. Everything you tell us is confidential. If a detective or a school official has contacted you, don’t respond until you’ve talked to us.
Sexual assault accusations are among the most serious cases our Houston sex crime defense practice handles, and early investigation can decide them.
Consent and intoxication
The statute lists the situations where sex counts as without consent, and the one that comes up most in Houston cases is intoxication. It’s sexual assault if the accused knew the other person was so intoxicated or impaired that they were incapable of consenting (§ 22.011(b)(6)), or knew they were unconscious or physically unable to resist (§ 22.011(b)(3)). Drinking alone doesn’t make someone legally incapable of consent, and the State has to prove what the accused knew about the other person’s condition at the time. That turns on specific facts: what they drank and when, how they were walking and talking, what they texted, what the rideshare driver or the bartender saw. Jay Blass Cohen is a certified Drug Recognition Expert and an ACS-CHAL Forensic Lawyer-Scientist, and in these cases the toxicology and the timeline of impairment are often the center of the defense.
Old accusations and DNA
For an adult complainant, the limitations period for sexual assault is generally 10 years, and aggravated sexual assault of an adult carries the same 10 years (Code of Criminal Procedure Art. 12.03(d)). But there’s no limitation at all if biological evidence was collected and never tested, or was tested and didn’t match the complainant or anyone else who can be readily identified, and none if there’s probable cause to believe the accused committed the same or a similar sex offense against five or more victims (Art. 12.01(1)(C)). When the complainant was under 17, there’s no limitations period at all for sexual assault or aggravated sexual assault. So a report about something years ago can still become a case. Our page on the statute of limitations for sexual assault covers the rules in detail.
Protective orders and school discipline
A person who says they were sexually assaulted can apply for a protective order against the accused without any relationship between them and without a criminal charge being filed (Code of Criminal Procedure Art. 7B.001). The judge can sign a temporary order the same day without hearing from you, and the full hearing is normally set within 14 days, or within 20 days in a Harris County district court when the prosecutor asks for more time. The bar is only reasonable grounds to believe the assault happened, the order can last a lifetime, and anything you say at that hearing can be used against you in the criminal case. If you’re a college student, the school may open its own investigation at the same time. Those proceedings have their own rules and lower standards of proof, and what you say or write to a Title IX investigator isn’t protected from a prosecutor. We handle the protective order hearing and advise on the school process with the criminal case in mind.
How we defend rape accusations
Before charges are filed. Many cases sit in investigation for weeks or months. Detectives often ask the accused to come in and give their side, and some set up a recorded call from the complainant. Texas is a one-party consent state, so that recording is legal. Once you hire us, we tell the detective to go through us, and you don’t have to answer their questions. We preserve your messages, location data, rideshare records and any video, and when it makes sense, we put that evidence in front of the prosecutor or the grand jury before an indictment.
The messages. Texts and social media from before and after the encounter often say more about consent than the police report does, and so does what the complainant told other people and when.
The forensic evidence. We read the sexual assault nurse examiner’s report, the photographs, the DNA results and the toxicology line by line. DNA that proves only that sex happened doesn’t help the State when sex isn’t disputed.
Trial. Texas Rule of Evidence 412 limits evidence about a complainant’s past sexual behavior, with exceptions decided by the judge in a closed hearing first. Getting the right evidence through that hearing is part of trying these cases well. Some should be tried, and juries do acquit.
Our Houston sexual assault defense page covers the punishment ranges and bond conditions, and our aggravated sexual assault page covers the first-degree charge.
Results
A Harris County jury found our client not guilty of continuous sexual abuse of a child, a charge that carries 25 years to life (tried with co-counsel). See more of our case results. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.
Accused of rape in Houston? Call Blass Law
Jay Blass Cohen has defended serious felony cases in Houston since 2009 and has never worked for the prosecution. We handle these cases discreetly, and the earlier we’re involved, the more we can do.
Call (713) 664-4000. If a detective has asked you to come in and “tell your side,” call us before you call them back.
Reviewed by Jay Blass Cohen, founder of Blass Law PLLC, ACS-CHAL Forensic Lawyer-Scientist, certified Drug Recognition Expert, and SFST instructor, serving Houston since 2009. This article is general information, not legal advice for your situation. Prior results do not guarantee a similar outcome.