By Deandra Grant & Griffin Grant
Welcome to The Defense File where we examine the criminal cases of public figures through the lens of Texas criminal law. Each entry looks at what happened in court, what the defense argued, and what a defendant would have faced (and how they might have been defended) if the same facts had occurred in Texas.
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The Incident
In the early morning hours of July 14, 2021, Richard Sherman (five-time Pro Bowl cornerback, Super Bowl champion, and Stanford graduate) was in crisis. An argument with his wife, Ashley Moss, had escalated into something far more serious. Sherman, reportedly intoxicated, crashed his SUV into a highway construction zone in Redmond, Washington, causing significant property damage. He then went to his in-laws’ home and attempted to force entry through the door, an episode captured on surveillance video. His father-in-law, Raymond Moss, deployed pepper spray to stop him. When police arrived, Sherman resisted arrest, leading to a struggle that involved a K-9 unit and resulted in minor injuries to Sherman and an officer.
Behind all of this, according to the 911 call his wife made that night, was something more troubling than intoxication: Sherman had been making suicidal statements and drinking heavily. Ashley Moss’s call to emergency services was not that of someone reporting a threat. It was that of a wife trying to get help for a husband in a mental health crisis.
Sherman was booked into King County Correctional Facility at 6:08 a.m. on charges including felony burglary with a domestic violence designation, criminal trespass, malicious mischief, DUI, and resisting arrest.
The Charges and What Happened in Court
The initial charge list was serious. Felony burglary (for the attempt to force entry into the Moss home) carried the most significant exposure. The domestic violence designation on the burglary charge added another layer of consequence beyond the criminal penalties.
The case proceeded in King County. On July 15, 2021, a judge released Sherman without bail, describing him as a “pillar of the community” given his lack of prior criminal history, while imposing conditions including no alcohol or drugs and no contact with his father-in-law. The case moved toward resolution over the following months.
On March 7, 2022, Sherman pleaded guilty to:
- First-degree negligent driving (a reduction from DUI)
- Second-degree criminal trespass (a reduction from felony burglary)
- A speeding infraction in the construction zone
The felony burglary charge was dropped entirely. Sherman received a 90-day suspended sentence, credit for two days served, and two years of court supervision. He paid $825 in legal fees, $500 for the speeding infraction, and restitution for damages. He was also required to attend a DUI victim impact panel.
Sherman expressed remorse publicly and described the episode as a turning point that led him toward therapy. His willingness to engage in treatment and his lack of prior criminal history almost certainly contributed to the resolution the prosecution offered.
The second incident came on February 24, 2024. Sherman was stopped at 2 a.m. in Bellevue, Washington, for driving 79 miles per hour in a 60 mph zone. The officer noted bloodshot eyes and the odor of intoxicants. Sherman admitted to consuming two margaritas, declined to submit to a breath test, and was booked into King County Jail. Bail was set at $5,000. This arrest occurred while Sherman was still under the two-year court supervision imposed from the 2022 resolution which is a fact with significant legal consequences.
The Texas Analysis
In Texas, the 2021 arrest would have generated a more serious charge landscape than what Sherman faced in Washington, particularly on the burglary count. And the 2024 DUI arrest during supervision would have triggered a motion to revoke with mandatory minimum jail time.
DWI in Texas: Texas Penal Code §49.04
Sherman’s 2021 DUI would be charged in Texas as Driving While Intoxicated under Texas Penal Code §49.04. The Texas definition of intoxication has two prongs: a blood alcohol concentration of 0.08% or greater, or not having the normal use of mental or physical faculties by reason of the introduction of alcohol or another substance. Sherman’s blood alcohol level is not publicly confirmed from that night, but the observations at the scene (a crash, odor of intoxicants, and behavior consistent with significant impairment) might have supported the not having the normal use prong.
A first-offense DWI in Texas is a Class B misdemeanor carrying a mandatory minimum of 72 hours in county jail, up to 180 days, and a fine up to $2,000. A finding that his BAC was 0.15% or higher would elevate it to a Class A misdemeanor.
The 2024 arrest during supervision is where Texas law creates the most serious consequences. Sherman’s 2022 resolution placed him on two years of court supervision. In Texas, the equivalent would be community supervision (probation). A new DWI arrest while on community supervision for a prior DWI-related offense triggers a Motion to Revoke. Unlike the original offense, a revocation hearing uses a preponderance of the evidence standard (not beyond a reasonable doubt). The State does not need a conviction on the new charge to revoke the prior supervision. An arrest and credible evidence of violation is enough. If revoked, Sherman would face sentencing on the original offense, which could include the suspended jail time that was never served.
The breath test refusal in 2024 carries additional Texas consequences. Sherman declined to submit to a breath test when stopped in Bellevue. In Texas, refusal to provide a breath or blood specimen after a DWI arrest triggers an Administrative License Revocation proceeding which is a civil license suspension separate from the criminal case. For a first-offense refusal, the suspension is 180 days. The refusal itself is also admissible at trial as circumstantial evidence of consciousness of guilt. A Texas DWI defendant who refuses chemical testing does not avoid the evidence problem; they trade one type of evidence for another.
Burglary of a Habitation: Texas Penal Code §30.02
This is where the Texas exposure would have been significantly more serious. The felony burglary charge in Washington (which was ultimately dropped and reduced to a misdemeanor criminal trespass) would be analyzed in Texas under Texas Penal Code §30.02.
Burglary of a habitation in Texas is a second-degree felony carrying 2 to 20 years in TDCJ and a fine up to $10,000. If the entry was made with intent to commit a felony other than felony theft (such as sexual assault or aggravated assault) the charge elevates to a first-degree felony carrying 5 to 99 years or life.
The elements in Texas: (1) a person enters a habitation (2) without the effective consent of the owner (3) with intent to commit a felony, theft, or assault, or enters and commits or attempts to commit a felony, theft, or assault. The Moss family home was a habitation. Sherman’s attempt to force entry was without consent. His father-in-law’s use of pepper spray to repel him makes that clear. The question of intent (whether the entry was made with intent to commit assault or some other offense) would determine whether the charge was second- or first-degree.
The Washington charge was ultimately resolved as misdemeanor criminal trespass. In Texas, the same prosecutorial discretion might have produced a similar negotiated outcome. But the statutory exposure going in would have been dramatically higher, and the leverage in negotiation reflects that gap.
The Family Violence Affirmative Finding
Both incidents involved a domestic context. The 2021 arrest included a domestic violence designation. In Texas, this translates to the family violence affirmative finding under Texas Family Code §71.004, which can be attached to the judgment in any assault or related offense involving a family or household member.
The family violence affirmative finding in Texas is permanent and carries consequences that extend far beyond the sentence itself:
- Federal law (18 U.S.C. §922(g)(9), the Lautenberg Amendment) permanently prohibits anyone convicted of a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence from possessing firearms or ammunition. This prohibition applies even to law enforcement and military personnel.
- A prior family violence conviction enhances future assault charges from a Class A misdemeanor to a third-degree felony.
- A family violence finding affects child custody proceedings and may be considered in divorce proceedings.
- Expunction of any offense carrying the affirmative finding is unavailable.
Sherman’s Washington resolution (criminal trespass without the felony burglary domestic violence conviction) likely avoided the most severe permanent consequences. In Texas, the negotiation over whether the family violence affirmative finding attaches to a judgment is often as important as the underlying charge level.
Case Results
Resisting Arrest: Texas Penal Code §38.03
The resisting arrest charge in Washington would track to Texas Penal Code §38.03 which is intentionally preventing or obstructing a peace officer from effecting an arrest by using force against the officer. A Class A misdemeanor carrying up to one year in county jail and a fine up to $4,000. If serious bodily injury resulted from the resistance, the charge elevates to a third-degree felony. The injuries described in Sherman’s case were characterized as minor, which keeps the analysis at the misdemeanor level.
How Would the Defense Approach This in Texas?
The defense in Texas would pursue several lines simultaneously:
- Mental health diversion. Texas has mental health specialty courts and diversion programs that allow defendants whose criminal conduct is driven by mental health crises to access treatment rather than incarceration. Sherman’s 911 call revealed suicidal ideation and a mental health crisis as the context for the night’s events. A Texas defense team would pursue mental health diversion aggressively from the outset, because a successful diversion resolves the case without a conviction and addresses the underlying condition.
- Voluntary intoxication is not a defense — but the crisis context matters at sentencing. Texas Penal Code §8.04 provides that voluntary intoxication does not constitute a defense to a criminal charge. But the context of a mental health crisis, combined with intoxication and suicidal ideation, is powerful mitigation evidence at the punishment phase and in plea negotiations. The question of what Sherman actually intended (and whether impaired judgment in a crisis moment reflects the same culpability as calculated criminal conduct) is squarely before a Texas jury in the punishment phase.
- Consent and the habitation. The burglary analysis in Texas turns on consent. Sherman’s in-laws’ home was his wife’s family home. Whether he had any prior lawful access to the property, whether consent had ever been given, and the nature of the family relationship would all be factual issues the defense would develop to contest the “without consent” element.
- Article 38.23 — the DWI evidence. In a Texas DWI case, the defense begins with the lawfulness of the stop and arrest. The construction zone crash gave law enforcement ample basis to approach Sherman. But the chain of events (crash, approach, arrest) and whether each step was constitutionally sound would be examined. In the 2024 incident, the speed (79 mph in a 60 mph zone) provided a lawful basis for the stop, making suppression on that ground unlikely.
- The motion to revoke: fighting the new charge is fighting the revocation. In the 2024 scenario under Texas supervision, the defense strategy on the new DWI charge is inseparable from the revocation defense. Because the revocation standard is preponderance (and not beyond a reasonable doubt) a not-guilty verdict at trial on the new DWI is the cleanest way to defeat the revocation motion. Alternatively, the defense would negotiate the new charge to a non-DWI resolution that the court would not treat as a violation of the no-alcohol supervision condition.
What This Case Illustrates
The Sherman case is not a case about a predatory criminal. It is a case about a person in acute mental health crisis whose behavior that night put himself and others at risk and resulted in charges that would follow him legally and reputationally for years. The Washington legal system, to its credit, reached a resolution that acknowledged the context: suspended sentence, supervision, treatment requirements, no felony conviction.
In Texas, the statutory exposure (particularly on the burglary charge) would have been more severe, and the permanent consequences of any family violence finding would have been more significant. The defense would have needed to identify and pursue mental health diversion from the very first appearance, before the prosecution’s framing of the case hardened into a felony prosecution.
And the 2024 arrest (during supervision, with a breath test refusal) illustrates why the resolution of the first case matters so much. In Texas, every condition of community supervision is an ongoing obligation that can be revoked on a preponderance of evidence. The second arrest is never just about the second arrest.
Related Reading on Deandra Grant Law
- DWI Defense in Texas — First offense through felony DWI, the ALR deadline, and what a breath test refusal means.
- Assault and Family Violence Defense — The family violence affirmative finding and its permanent firearms and enhancement consequences.
- Texas Burglary Defense — Elements of burglary of a habitation and the distinction between first- and second-degree charges.
- Probation Violations in Texas — How Motion to Revoke hearings work, the preponderance standard, and early termination options.
Sources
- ESPN — Richard Sherman arrest report and case timeline: espn.com
- Seattle Times — Sherman guilty plea, March 2022: seattletimes.com
- Associated Press — Sherman 2024 DUI arrest: apnews.com
- King County District Court records — No. 21-1-02785-1 SEA
- Texas Penal Code §49.04 (DWI): statutes.capitol.texas.gov
- Texas Penal Code §30.02 (Burglary): statutes.capitol.texas.gov
- 18 U.S.C. §922(g)(9) (Lautenberg Amendment): law.cornell.edu
- The Defense File is an educational series. All Texas analysis is hypothetical and does not constitute legal advice about any specific case.
If you are facing DWI, burglary, or family violence charges in Texas, call (214) 225-7117 for a free, confidential consultation. Or schedule online at texasdwisite.com.
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