Frisco Murder Defense Attorneys

Murder is a first-degree felony in Texas, with punishment of 5 to 99 years or life in prison. Capital murder is a capital felony, punishable by life without parole or death. These are the most serious cases in the Texas criminal justice system, and they operate under specialized rules including the bifurcated guilt/punishment trial structure, the capital voir dire process, the particular procedural protections that apply to capital cases, and the specific evidentiary rules that govern murder prosecution. The defense of a murder case requires resources, experience, and time that few practice areas demand.

Murder charges arising in Frisco present an unusual procedural feature. Frisco straddles the Collin County / Denton County line roughly along the Dallas North Tollway, with eastern Frisco in Collin County and western Frisco in Denton County. Criminal jurisdiction follows the location of the arrest. A case arising in eastern Frisco is prosecuted by the Collin County District Attorney’s Office at the Collin County Courthouse in McKinney. A case arising in western Frisco is prosecuted by the Denton County District Attorney’s Office at the Denton County Courthouse in Denton. 

Deandra Grant Law has defended criminal charges in both Collin County and Denton County for more than 30 years. Our Allen office serves the Collin County side of Frisco, and our Denton office serves the Denton County side. We are positioned for cases on either side of the county line without the client having to adjust representation based on where the stop occurred. Managing Partner Deandra Grant is a trained SFST instructor and holds the ACS-CHAL Forensic Lawyer-Scientist designation along with a Master of Science in Pharmaceutical Science and a Graduate Certificate in Forensic Toxicology. Partner Douglas Huff holds the same ACS-CHAL designation.

How Texas Defines Murder

Murder is defined in Texas Penal Code § 19.02. Contrary to the common-law language many out-of-state resources still use, Texas murder does not require “malice aforethought.” It requires one of three culpable states of mind described in § 19.02(b):

• Intentional or knowing conduct that causes the death of an individual (§ 19.02(b)(1)). The state must prove the defendant’s conscious objective was to cause death, or that the defendant was aware his conduct was reasonably certain to cause death.
• Intent to cause serious bodily injury combined with an act clearly dangerous to human life that causes death (§ 19.02(b)(2)). The state does not have to prove the defendant intended death (only serious bodily injury plus a clearly dangerous act that resulted in death).
• Felony murder (§ 19.02(b)(3)). A death caused during the commission, attempted commission, or immediate flight from a felony other than manslaughter, where the defendant committed an act clearly dangerous to human life. The state does not have to prove any intent to kill or injure. This is the doctrine by which a co-conspirator who never pulled a trigger can be convicted of murder.

Punishment for Murder

Murder is a first-degree felony. Under Texas Penal Code § 12.32, the punishment range is 5 to 99 years or life in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, and a fine of up to $10,000.

Sudden Passion

Texas Penal Code § 19.02(d) allows a defendant to raise sudden passion arising from adequate cause at the punishment phase. If the jury (or judge, in a bench trial on punishment) finds by a preponderance of the evidence that the defendant caused the death under the immediate influence of sudden passion arising from an adequate cause, the offense is punished as a second-degree felony (2 to 20 years and a fine of up to $10,000). Sudden passion does not reduce the conviction; it reduces the punishment range. The jury still finds the defendant guilty of murder.

Capital Murder

Capital murder is defined in Texas Penal Code § 19.03. A person commits capital murder by committing murder under § 19.02(b)(1) (intentionally or knowingly causing death) plus one or more aggravating circumstances. As of the 2023 legislative session, there are ten aggravators:

• Murder of a peace officer or fireman acting in the lawful discharge of an official duty, when the defendant knows the victim’s status (§ 19.03(a)(1)).
• Intentional murder in the course of committing or attempting to commit kidnapping, burglary, robbery, aggravated sexual assault, arson, obstruction or retaliation, or a terroristic threat under § 22.07(a)(1), (3), (4), (5), or (6) (§ 19.03(a)(2)).
• Murder for remuneration or the promise of remuneration, or hiring another to commit murder for remuneration (§ 19.03(a)(3)).
• Murder while escaping or attempting to escape from a penal institution (§ 19.03(a)(4)).
• Murder by a person incarcerated in a penal institution of an employee of the institution, or murder with intent to establish, maintain, or participate in a criminal combination (§ 19.03(a)(5)).
• Murder by a person while incarcerated for capital murder, murder, or serving a life or 99-year sentence for aggravated kidnapping, aggravated sexual assault, or aggravated robbery (§ 19.03(a)(6)).
• Murder of more than one person during the same criminal transaction, or during different transactions pursuant to the same scheme or course of conduct (§ 19.03(a)(7)).
• Murder of an individual under 10 years of age (§ 19.03(a)(8)).
• Murder of an individual 10 years of age or older but younger than 15 (§ 19.03(a)(9), added by Lauren’s Law). The death penalty is not available when this is the sole aggravating factor.
• Murder in retaliation for or on account of the service or status of a judge or justice of any listed Texas court (§ 19.03(a)(10)).

Punishment for Capital Murder

Capital murder is a capital felony. Under Texas Penal Code § 12.31, if the state seeks the death penalty and the defendant was 18 or older at the time of the offense, punishment is either death or life without parole, determined by jury answers to the special issues in Code of Criminal Procedure Article 37.071. If the state does not seek death, or if the defendant was under 18 at the time of the offense (United States Supreme Court, Roper v. Simmons), the punishment is mandatory life without parole. There is no parole eligibility on a capital murder conviction.

Other Offenses

Chapter 19 of the Penal Code includes two offenses that often become the actual focus of plea negotiation or a lesser-included instruction at trial.

Manslaughter (§ 19.04)

Recklessly causing the death of another. Second-degree felony; 2 to 20 years and a fine of up to $10,000.

Criminally Negligent Homicide (§ 19.05)

Causing the death of another by criminal negligence. State jail felony; 180 days to 2 years and a fine of up to $10,000.

Intoxication Manslaughter (§ 49.08)

A death caused by the defendant’s intoxication while operating a motor vehicle, watercraft, aircraft, or amusement ride. Second-degree felony; 2 to 20 years, a fine of up to $10,000, and 240 to 800 hours of community service. Enhanced to first-degree felony (5 to 99 years or life) if the victim is a peace officer, firefighter, or emergency medical services personnel on duty.

The Forensic Framework

Murder cases are forensic cases. Modern prosecutions involve multiple evidentiary streams, each with its own methodology and its own contestability:

• Autopsy and cause-of-death analysis. Medical examiner conclusions on cause and manner of death, time of death, mechanism, and toxicology are central to most murder cases. Autopsy protocol adherence, qualifications of the examiner, and the differential diagnoses considered are all examinable.
• Ballistics and firearms examination. Bullet matching, trajectory analysis, distance-of-fire determinations, and firearms identification are specialty forensic disciplines with known error rates. The National Academy of Sciences has expressed concern about overstatement of the reliability of certain firearms identification claims.
• DNA evidence. Collection, chain of custody, laboratory analysis (typically at the DPS Crime Lab in Garland, which serves both Collin and Denton Counties), and statistical interpretation are all examinable. Touch DNA and mixture interpretation raise specific challenges.
• Digital evidence. Cell phone location records, text messages, social media, vehicle telematics, and surveillance footage are increasingly central to murder investigations. Partner Douglas Huff’s digital forensics training applies directly to this evidence stream.
• Eyewitness identification. Eyewitness misidentification is the leading cause of wrongful conviction in murder cases. Identification procedures (photo arrays, live lineups, showups) must meet due process standards. Suggestive procedures can render identifications unreliable.
• Custodial statements and Miranda. Miranda warnings, the voluntariness of any waiver, and compliance with Texas CCP Article 38.22 on statements of the accused are foundational. Suppressed statements frequently change the trajectory of a murder case.