Facing a Texas Charge for Sending Explicit Images to a Minor?

Keeping every document you received after an arrest involving explicit images or messages, and bringing it to a confidential consultation, gives our lawyers a starting point for explaining what is alleged against you. Texas puts these offenses in separate sections, and each one has its own elements and penalties. This page explains those sections, how cases are usually built, and how a defense lawyer tests them. It is written for an adult facing these allegations.

What Texas Charges Mean When a Man Is Accused of Sexting With a Minor

If you bring the papers you were given to your free, confidential consultation, our lawyers can go over the accusation with you and explain your options. That section lists what the State must prove.

Tex. Penal Code § 43.261 says “a person who is a minor commits an offense” when its elements are met. By its text, it reaches minors as actors, so an adult’s charge will usually cite a different section. Find the exact section number first.

Two sections come up often in adult cases:

• Tex. Penal Code § 33.021 covers online communication. A person 17 or older commits an offense by communicating in a sexually explicit manner with a minor, with intent to commit a listed offense. A “minor” includes someone the actor believes is younger than 17.
• Tex. Penal Code § 43.26 covers intentionally or knowingly possessing, or intentionally or knowingly accessing with intent to view, visual material depicting a child (including a computer-generated child) engaging in sexual conduct, and also promoting such material or possessing it with intent to promote it.

Penalties follow the section and the facts. Under § 43.26, the penalty depends on the facts; for example, possessing visual material with 10 or more but fewer than 50 visual depictions of a child as described by Subsection (a)(1) is a felony of the second degree. Tex. Penal Code § 43.26 Under § 43.26, the base offense under Subsection (a-1) is a felony of the third degree, and the degree rises with facts shown at trial. Tex. Penal Code § 43.26

How These Cases Are Usually Built

Most of these cases are built from digital records. The device, the account and the message timeline are the core evidence.

Investigators often pull phone and computer extractions, app and messaging records, and screenshots from a complainant or parent. In some cases, an investigator poses as a minor online. The chat transcript then becomes the main exhibit.

That makes three questions central: when each message was sent, from which device, and under whose account. A parallel custody, divorce or child protective services (CPS) case can also create statements and records. Those can carry into the criminal case, so every prior statement matters.

The National Center for Missing & Exploited Children describes what online enticement involves, which helps explain how these chats are read.

The Defense Issues a Lawyer Tests Against the Evidence

A lawyer tests each element of the charge and each piece of evidence. The accusation is never taken as a whole.

• Who sent it. Did you send or receive the messages? Did anyone else have access to the device or account?
• What you believed about age. Under § 33.021, belief about age is central. What did the chats say about age, profile details and verification?
• Whether the records are complete. Are the screenshots, extractions and transcripts complete, accurately dated, and free of gaps or changes?
• Whether collection was lawful. Were the warrant, subpoena, consent or undercover contact within scope and proper procedure?
• Entrapment. Texas allows this defense when an agent induced the conduct with persuasion or other means likely to cause the offense. Giving someone a chance to commit an offense is not entrapment, under Tex. Penal Code § 8.06.
• Statements to police. Were any statements voluntary and recorded accurately? How do they fit the rest of the file?

Each issue is reviewed against the full discovery file, which is the evidence the State gives the defense. The lawyer then explains what that review shows.

What Is at Stake Beyond the Courtroom

A charge can affect registration, custody and privacy while the criminal case is still open.

Registration. Online solicitation of a minor under § 33.021 appears in the definitions of Tex. Code Crim. Proc. art. 62.001. Under art. 62.101(c), and except as provided by Subchapter I, the duty to register for an offense not listed in subsection (a) ends on the tenth anniversary of the most recent of these events: the court’s dismissal and discharge of the person in a deferred adjudication case, the person’s release from a penal institution, or the discharge of community supervision. A conviction under Penal Code § 43.26 is different: under art. 62.101(a)(2), except as provided by Subsection (b) and Subchapter I, the duty to register ends when the person dies.

Custody. A family court can act on the same allegations on its own schedule. The criminal and family matters need to be planned together.

Child protective services. A CPS investigation can run on its own track. Statements made in one matter can affect the other.

Privacy. Arrest records and news coverage can follow a person long after a case. Managing what is said publicly is part of the defense.

What to Do in the First Days After an Arrest or Accusation

Protect the evidence, stay quiet with investigators, and speak with a defense lawyer before any interview.

• Don’t delete anything. Deleting messages, accounts or files can create new problems. Keep your devices as they are.
• Don’t discuss the allegations with the complainant, the other parent, a school, or anyone tied to the investigation. Don’t post about it online.
• Don’t answer detective questions or sign statements before a defense lawyer reviews the matter. Ask for a lawyer before any interview.
• Write a timeline for your lawyer only. Include your contact with the person, the devices and accounts you used, and every family-court or CPS deadline you’ve received.

How the Defense Is Run, Step by Step

A defense moves through five steps, from the first review of the charge to trial preparation if needed.

1. First consultation. Review the charge, the arrest or accusation and the paperwork, and explain your options in plain terms.
2. Evidence review. Go through the discovery file, including device extractions, chat logs, warrants and recordings, and identify the issues that matter.
3. Coordination. Address the custody, divorce or CPS matter and the timing of each deadline.
4. Motions and negotiation. File motions where the evidence supports them. Discuss resolution options with you before any decision.
5. Trial preparation, if needed. Prepare the defense and explain each decision before it is made.

The timing of each step depends on the court’s schedule and the discovery produced. No lawyer can promise a timeline.

Why Barbieri Law Firm for a Sexting-With-a-Minor Charge

Barbieri Law Firm is an all-women criminal defense firm based in Frisco, Texas. It defends people accused of sex crimes and assaultive offenses.

Heather Jean Barbieri, Board Certified, Criminal Law — Texas Board of Legal Specialization, leads the firm. The firm’s lawyers include Heather Barbieri and Carrie Thomas, and office staff support their work.

The firm’s work covers online sex crimes and child sex crimes in Collin County, across Dallas-Fort Worth and throughout Texas. Our team takes a sexting minor explicit images charge seriously. We review the statute, the evidence and the collateral matters before recommending a path forward.

Common Questions From Men Facing This Charge

Take the First Step With a Free, Confidential Consultation

If a detective’s call, a charge in your paperwork or a custody hearing has put these allegations in front of you, you don’t have to sort them out alone. Call (972) 424-1902 or send your case details through our contact form. The first consultation is free, confidential and without obligation. We’ll review the charge and the evidence with you and explain your options.

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