Federal Charges in Texas: Straight Answers to the Questions People Actually Ask

Most law firm pages answer questions nobody asked, in language designed to avoid committing to anything.

This page does the opposite. Every heading below is a real question, phrased the way people actually ask it, with the answer we would give on a phone call — including when the answer is "that is going to be difficult."

My son was arrested by the FBI. What happens now?

Within a day or two he will appear before a federal magistrate judge for an initial appearance. The charges will be read, counsel will be addressed, and the question of release will come up. If the government seeks detention, a separate hearing follows within days.

What you can do right now matters. Find out which district he is in and whether he has counsel. Do not discuss the case on a recorded jail call — every call is recorded and prosecutors listen to them. Start assembling a release package: a person willing to serve as third-party custodian, a verified address, proof of employment. Read our bond and detention guide before the hearing, not after.

I got a letter from the U.S. Attorney’s office. What does it mean?

If it says you are a “target,” it means the government believes it already has substantial evidence linking you to a crime and considers you a likely defendant. Charges have not been filed yet.

That last part is the important part. The pre-indictment window is the most valuable period in a federal case — declination, narrowed charges, and resolution without an indictment are all genuinely available now and mostly gone later. Do not call the prosecutor yourself. See our target letter guide.

Should I hire a private lawyer or use the federal public defender?

Honest answer: federal public defenders are generally very good. They are specialists who do nothing but federal criminal defense, and they are often better than a private lawyer who handles federal cases occasionally.

The real differences are caseload and choice. A federal defender carries a heavy docket and cannot choose to spend disproportionate time on your case; retained counsel can. You also cannot pick your appointed lawyer, and you can pick a retained one. If you can afford experienced federal counsel, that is worth something. If the choice is between a federal defender and a general practitioner who has never tried a federal case, take the defender.

How much time am I actually looking at?

Nobody can tell you responsibly without knowing the statute charged, the drug quantity or loss amount, your criminal history, and whether any mandatory minimum applies. Anyone who gives you a number in a first phone call is guessing.

What can be said: the statutory maximum you read online is almost always far above the realistic exposure, and the mandatory minimum — if one applies — is usually the number that matters most. The realistic range comes from the Sentencing Guidelines, and it moves substantially depending on how the loss or quantity is calculated. That calculation is contestable, which is the point.

Can my husband get bond on a federal case?

There is no bondsman in federal court and no bond schedule. A judge decides release or detention after a hearing. For most drug charges carrying a ten-year maximum, and any § 924(c) firearm count, the statute presumes detention and the defense has to produce evidence to overcome it.

Release is genuinely achievable, and it usually turns on arriving with a concrete plan rather than a request. If you lose the first hearing, you can seek review by the district judge, who looks at it fresh.

Federal agents want to talk to me. Should I?

No. Say that you would like to speak with a lawyer, and say nothing else.

This is the single clearest answer on this page. Declining is lawful and cannot be used as evidence of guilt. Talking cannot help you — agents already know the answers to most of what they ask — and a materially false statement is a separate felony under 18 U.S.C. § 1001 with no oath required. People do not talk their way out of federal investigations; they talk their way into additional charges.

How do I find out where they are being held?

Before sentencing, a federal defendant is usually held in a local facility or a contract jail under U.S. Marshals custody, and the Marshals Service for the district can confirm the location. After sentencing and designation, the Bureau of Prisons inmate locator will show the facility.

There is often a frustrating gap of days or weeks where nobody seems able to tell you anything. Defense counsel can usually find out faster than family can.

How do I know if I’m under federal investigation?

Usually you do not, until the government wants you to. The signals are a target letter, a grand jury subpoena — to you or to your bank, employer, or accountant — a search warrant, or agents asking for an interview.

Another reliable signal: someone tells you they were interviewed about you. If any of these has happened, the investigation predates your knowledge of it, often by a year or more. See which agency is investigating you.

Is cooperating worth it?

Sometimes substantially. Sometimes not at all. It depends on whether you have information the government does not already have, and whether it implicates people worth prosecuting.

The honest risks: a proffer is irreversible, the protections are narrower than most defendants assume, and a § 5K1.1 motion is entirely at the prosecutor’s discretion — a cooperation agreement typically commits the government only to consider filing one. If you are the most culpable person in the case, or the government already has everything you know, you may hand over a complete confession for nothing.

What does a federal criminal lawyer cost?

Federal defense is more expensive than state defense, for real reasons: discovery volume, the need for forensic accountants or digital forensics experts, and the length of these cases. Most federal work is done on a flat fee for a defined phase rather than hourly, so you know what you are committing to.

Ask any firm you speak to what the fee covers, what happens if the case goes to trial, and whether expert costs are included or separate. A quote that does not distinguish between a plea-phase representation and a trial is not a real quote.

Can federal charges be dropped or dismissed?

Yes, but the realistic mechanisms are narrower than people hope. Before charges: declination. After: dismissal on a motion attacking the indictment, dismissal after a successful suppression motion guts the case, or dismissal of individual counts as part of a negotiated resolution.

What almost never happens: charges evaporating because the defendant explains themselves, or because the victim declines to participate — the United States is the complainant in a federal case, not a private party.

Can you actually win a federal case?

Yes, but the honest framing is that “winning” usually is not an acquittal. Federal conviction rates are very high, largely because prosecutors decline weak cases before charging them.

What winning normally looks like: a declination before indictment; a count with a mandatory minimum dropped; a loss or drug quantity figure reduced enough to move the Guidelines range by years; safety valve eligibility established; a suppression motion that removes the core evidence; or a sentence well below the range on a variance. Those outcomes are common and they are worth a great deal. Outright acquittals happen, but a defense built solely on that hope is not a strategy.

Why is my case federal instead of state?

Because a federal agency investigated it, because federal jurisdiction attaches through interstate commerce or federal property, or because a task force adopted a case local officers began.

The consequences are real: no parole, mandatory minimums with no state analogue, harder pretrial release, and the loss of Texas’s broader exclusionary rule under article 38.23. The same conduct can produce very different outcomes depending on which system takes it.

Can I be charged federally after the state case?

Generally yes. Under the dual sovereignty doctrine, successive state and federal prosecutions for the same conduct do not violate double jeopardy. Justice Department internal policy discourages it absent a substantial unvindicated federal interest, and that policy is worth invoking with a prosecutor — but it is not an enforceable right.

Do federal inmates really serve 85% of the sentence?

Roughly, yes. There is no parole in the federal system. Federal prisoners can earn up to 54 days per year of good conduct time, which works out to about 85% of the imposed term. First Step Act earned-time credits can reduce time in custody further for eligible prisoners by moving them to prerelease custody sooner.

Supervised release then follows the prison term — it is added to the sentence, not served instead of part of it, and violating it can mean new prison time. See supervised release violations.

How long will this take?

Longer than you expect. The investigation that preceded the charge often ran a year or more. From indictment to sentencing, a straightforward case may take six to twelve months; a document-heavy or multi-defendant case routinely takes longer, because continuances are usually granted and discovery is enormous.

The Speedy Trial Act sets outer limits, but they are subject to exclusions that make the practical timeline much longer than the statute suggests.