Sexual aSSault LEGAL ADVOCACY MANUAL - Texas Association ...

x. Verdicts and Sentencing
Criminal trials in Texas have two parts: the guilt-innocence stage and the punishment stage. The previous
section discussed the guilt-innocence stage, in which the jury or judge determines whether the defendant
is guilty of the charged offense. Following the guilt-innocence stage, the jury or judge will issue a final
decision about the charge, called the “verdict.”
There are a few different ways a case can turn out:
• Acquittal: The defendant is found “not guilty,” receives no criminal punishment, and cannot be
tried again for the same crime.
• Dismissal: For some reason before or during the trial, the court decides to drop the charges against
the defendant before a verdict is issued. When this happens, it is often because of a mistake in
collecting or presenting evidence against the defendant. Some dismissed charges can be re-filed and
proceed to trial again, but others cannot.
• Conviction: The defendant is found “guilty” and is punished.
• Deferred Adjudication: The defendant pleads guilty without going to trial, but the judge does not
immediately enter a finding of guilt. Instead, the judge imposes community supervision (probation)
conditions that, if violated, will trigger an automatic guilty verdict.
There is less to say about acquittals and dismissals than the other outcomes, because they usually end
the criminal justice process. Therefore, the remainder of this section focuses on convictions and deferred
adjudications. However, it is very important for survivors to understand that neither an acquittal
nor a dismissal necessarily means the jurors or judge thought they were lying. Instead, it means they
had only some reasonable doubt about whether the defendant is guilty, or that another legal flaw unrelated
to the crime itself required that the charges be dropped.
Remember that the state’s burden of proof is extremely high, and sexually violent crimes are particularly
difficult to prove beyond all reasonable doubt. In the difficult event that the court acquits the defendant or
dismisses the prosecution, the survivor must understand that the result is not their fault, and the court is
not calling them a liar—even if the defense attorney did.
Sentencing
If the jury or judge finds the defendant guilty in the first part of the trial, then the case proceeds to the
punishment stage. If the plea or trial is before a judge, then that same judge will determine punishment.
However, at the beginning of a jury trial, the defendant can choose whether he or she wants a judge or
jury to determine punishment. Whether a jury is present will depend on that choice.
The range of possible punishments for a particular crime depends on how the Penal Code categorizes it.
For example, sexual assault is a second degree felony, which means a defendant convicted of sexual assault
faces 2-20 years in prison and may also be fined up to $10,000. (p. 9, Offense Levels) Refer to the chart in
the “Criminal Justice Foundations” chapter to determine the range of punishment for other crimes with
which the prosecutor might have charged the defendant.
62