Texas Criminal Appeals Blog
By: Tracy Pullan
Today I am here to dispel some of those myths about the effectiveness of “dropping charges” on an alleged abuser in Montgomery County, Texas. I remember my days as a new prosecutor over 10 years ago. I, and two others, were in charge of all the misdemeanor intake for Montgomery County. That job required countless hours of reading offense reports submitted by police officers followed by either accepting or rejecting charges. It was an excellent way to become familiar with elements of criminal offenses and spotting potential issues within a case. Many times that would entail calling an officer or victim to get some further information prior to accepting charges.
Many times an assault family violence charge would come across my desk where the victim/complainant wanted to drop charges. At the time, I would review the case, look at photos for injuries, talk to the complainant – and 9 times out of 10 – I would honor the request of the complainant and reject the charge. This meant the arrested individual did not have to come to court or hire an attorney to defend his or her interest.