Richmond is the Fort Bend County seat, which means the the majority of the county’s criminal justice apparatus sits inside the city. The Justice Center at 1422 Eugene Heimann Circle hears misdemeanors and felonies alike, the District Attorney’s office is here, the jail is across the street, and Class C offenses generally stay in Richmond Municipal Court. Every other city in the county drives in. If you live here, all of it is already a few minutes away.
David Smith is Board Certified in Criminal Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and a former prosecutor. We defend the full range of charges out of Richmond, from a Class B misdemeanor through serious felony matters, in the building where they are actually heard. Call us for a free consultation and we will tell you where your case sits in the process right now.
Richmond PD and Fort Bend County deputies book into the Fort Bend County Jail, which sits on the Justice Center campus. A magistrate usually sets bond within 24 hours, in the same complex where the rest of the case will play out. That proximity makes the logistics simpler than for anyone driving in from elsewhere in the county. It does not make the case simpler, and the clock on the evidence runs exactly the same way it does anywhere else.
Having a defense attorney who practices regularly in the Fort Bend County Justice Center is a meaningful advantage in a county where the prosecutors are experienced and the court system handles significant case volume. Richmond residents who face criminal charges in their own county deserve defense representation that is equally grounded in the specific culture, procedures, and realistic outcomes of Fort Bend County courts, not a generalist attorney learning the system on their time.
DWI out of Highway 90A and US 59 is the most common call we take from Richmond. Drug possession, assault, and theft cases follow. Because every Fort Bend felony is prosecuted here, serious matters make up a larger share of our work in this city than in the surrounding towns, though the day-to-day is still misdemeanors. We also file the expunctions and nondisclosure orders that come afterwards.
Richmond residents have the advantage of working with an attorney who practices in their courthouse regularly and knows the Fort Bend County system in detail.
A misdemeanor moves from filing to a county court at law and then toward resolution. A felony does not. In Texas a felony charge has to be indicted by a grand jury before the case can proceed, and that grand jury sits here in Richmond. It meets in private, hears the State’s account, and you are not there. A true bill means the case goes on. A no bill means it stops. Most people first learn this step exists after it has already gone against them, which is unfortunate, because the weeks before it convenes are when a defence attorney can have a lot of room to work.
The first thing we establish is what stage the case is at, because the answer changes what is still possible. Before charges are accepted there may be room to affect what gets filed. Before an indictment there is room to affect whether one issues. After either, the conversation is different and the leverage is smaller. None of those are hopeless, but they are not the same case, and most people who call us do not know which one they have.
The Fort Bend County Justice Center at 1422 Eugene Heimann Circle, in Richmond itself. Misdemeanors go to a county court at law and felonies to a district court, both in that building. The county jail is across the street.. Class C offenses stay in Richmond Municipal Court.
Yes. County courts at law hear Class A and Class B misdemeanors in the same complex as the district courts. Only Class C offences and city ordinance violations stay in municipal court.
It helps the logistics. Settings may be less disruptive and you are not losing half a day to driving. The case itself is handled the same as any other Fort Bend case, by the same prosecutors, under the same rules.
It applies to felony charges. A grand jury decides whether a felony becomes a formal indictment. It sits in Richmond, meets privately, and hears the State’s version of events. A true bill means the case proceeds, a no bill means it stops. Misdemeanors do not go through this step.
Many times, yes. Once an indictment is returned the posture of the case changes. Getting counsel involved before that point is meaningfully different from getting counsel after.
It varies with the charge and with how contested it is. Misdemeanors typically resolve faster than felonies, and most of the time between settings is spent on review and preparation rather than in a courtroom.
The ALR hearing request, within 15 days of the arrest. It contests your license suspension and runs on its own clock, separate from anything happening at the Justice Center.
No. Clearing the record is a separate filing someone has to make. Until then the arrest can still appear in a background check.
