Facing a Child Sex Crime Indictment in Collin County? Start With the Facts

A grand jury indictment is a formal written accusation, not a finding of guilt. A child sex crime indictment in Collin County raises questions fast. This page explains how the grand jury step works, what an indictment does and does not establish, and what usually comes next.

What a grand jury is and where it fits in a Collin County case

A grand jury is a group of citizens who decide whether the State has enough evidence to bring a felony charge to trial. It is a separate step from the trial itself. A grand jury step usually comes after police investigate and before any trial.

A case can reach a grand jury with or without a prior arrest. That means a person may first learn of the process only after an indictment is already returned.

Child sex offenses are usually felonies. Common examples include indecency with a child, sexual assault, continuous sexual abuse of a young child, and online solicitation of a minor. A child sex crime indictment may name one of these offenses. A prosecutor presents the State’s evidence, and then the grand jury votes.

Why the State presents without a defense lawyer in the room

The State presents its side alone. Grand jury proceedings are closed, so the accused and their defense lawyer are not in the room. The prosecutor brings the witnesses and the evidence.

That changes what a defense lawyer can do at this stage. The real work happens afterward. The lawyer reviews what the State presented and plans the next steps.

The State may use investigator testimony, records, and recorded interviews of the child or other witnesses. Those materials can be detailed and emotional. The defense sees them later, through the court process. Because the presentation is one-sided, early questions focus on what was presented and what is still missing.

The probable cause question the grand jury answers

It does not decide whether the accused is guilty.

Many people confuse these two questions. At trial, a jury hears both sides and decides guilt. At the grand jury, the question is narrower: should the charge move forward?

This is why an indictment does not mean the allegations have been tested. The grand jury hears the State’s side only. The accused has not yet answered the charge in court.

A reader who hears that term should understand it as a charging step, not a verdict. A lawyer can explain how that standard applies to the record in a specific case.

True bill or no bill: what an indictment does and does not establish

A grand jury either returns a true bill, which is an indictment, or a no bill, which means it declines to charge.

Texas Code of Criminal Procedure art. 12.06 says an indictment is presented once the grand jury has acted on it and the court has received it. That step moves the case into the court system.

Read the exact charge closely, because the offense and its grade matter. Indecency with a child by sexual contact is a second-degree felony. Exposure is a third-degree felony (Texas Penal Code § 21.11).

Online solicitation of a minor under Subsection (b) of Texas Penal Code § 33.021 is a third-degree felony, except that it is a second-degree felony if the minor is, or the actor believes the minor is, younger than 14 years of age. Under Subsection (f-1), the punishment for an offense under this section is increased to the punishment prescribed for the next higher category of offense if it is shown at trial that the offense was committed during regular public or private primary or secondary school hours and the actor knew or reasonably should have known the minor was enrolled in such a school. Continuous sexual abuse of a young child is a first-degree felony, punishable by life or by 25 to 99 years (Texas Penal Code § 21.02).

How people usually learn they have been indicted

People usually learn of an indictment through a notice, an arrest, or a message from a family member. Some people also learn of it by checking the court record.

The path varies. Some people receive a notice to appear in court. Others are arrested after the indictment is returned. The order of arrest, release, and first court setting differs from case to case.

If you have paperwork, read it carefully. Look for the court, the cause number, the charge, and any date listed. Write down what you were told and when.

Keep every document together. Missing a court date can create its own problems. Be careful about who you talk to about the case, especially anyone who may be a witness.

What happens after an indictment in Collin County

After an indictment, the case usually moves to arraignment, a bond review, and the exchange of evidence called discovery.

At arraignment, the court addresses the charge and the next steps. Bond is reviewed, and the court may set conditions. Those conditions can limit where a person lives, who they contact, and where they go. Every condition should be read and followed exactly.

Discovery is the sharing of evidence between the State and the defense. It can include reports, recordings, and forensic interview materials. A defense review is built on that material.

Pretrial motions can ask the court to limit certain evidence or statements. Their timing depends on the court’s schedule and the facts of the case.

A case can end by dismissal, a plea, or a trial. Each path has different requirements and consequences. Each one should be discussed before a decision is made.

How a defense review of the State’s evidence can work

A defense review checks the charge, the evidence, and the timeline against each part the State must prove.

The review starts with the indictment. It names the offense, and each offense has parts the State must prove. The review then compares the discovery to those parts. Age matters too. Indecency with a child applies to a child younger than 17 (Texas Penal Code § 21.11).

For continuous sexual abuse, jurors need not agree on which specific acts happened or on the exact dates. They must agree that two or more acts occurred during a period of 30 or more days (Texas Penal Code § 21.02).

Forensic interviews of a child are common in these cases. A review can look at how the interview was done, what was documented, and how it was used.

Some charges carry affirmative defenses with specific conditions.

No lawyer can promise how a case will end. The result depends on the facts, the evidence, and the decisions of the court and the State.

Next steps for a family or a licensed professional facing an indictment

The next steps include reviewing the paperwork, following bond conditions, and checking firearm and record consequences.

Article 55A.052 of the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure applies only where no indictment or information was presented after the arrest, so a case in which an indictment was presented and later dismissed does not fall under that provision.

A licensed professional may also face questions from an employer or licensing board. Those questions are separate from the criminal case, so they should be planned for early.

If a grand jury has indicted you or someone in your family, and bond conditions and a first court date are already on the calendar, you don’t have to sort it out alone. Call Barbieri Law Firm at (972) 424-1902 or send your case details through our contact page. The first consultation is free, confidential, and without obligation.

Common questions

Attorney responsible for this site: Heather Barbieri, Barbieri Law Firm, Frisco, Texas.