Parole Revocation Hearings

You’ve been given notice that the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles wants to revoke your parole. You need an experienced attorney to handle your case fast or you may wind up back in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice Institutional Division all over again. Typically, you are legally entitled to a preliminary hearing and a revocation hearing. If the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles believes that you have already plead guilty to a new offense, you will proceed automatically to a revocation hearing.

In the preliminary hearing, it will be your word against the system whether or not there is probable cause to believe you violated one or more of the terms of your parole. Think this through. You may think you can effectively represent yourself. You can’t. You need to remain silent and hire an experienced parole attorney immediately. You need an attorney to put on evidence in your favor. At M. Neufeld Law we have represented hundreds of individuals and have decades of experience in parole revocation hearings. If probable cause is found you will proceed immediately to a revocation hearing.

The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles may revoke your parole supervision, but first a parole revocation hearing must take place. This is your right. If you think your rights have been violated, you need an attorney. In a parole revocation hearing the standard of proof to revoke your Texas parole is preponderance of the evidence. Preponderance of the evidence means more than fifty percent of the evidence. A feather on a scale. Just enough to cause it to tip. Fifty-one percent is enough. This standard of proof is far lower than what it took to convict you. There are two phases to the parole revocation hearing. The first phase is the allegation stage. Here evidence will be put on against you that will try and prove that you have violated at least one condition of your rules upon release. The second phase is called the adjustment phase. This is just a mitigation hearing but nonetheless, it is very important. You need to hire an aggressive parole attorney that can enter evidence in your favor. Typically evidence of what you have been doing to be a productive member of society will be entered. The evidence will include your work history, your ties to the community, family support, and your compliance with your conditions.

Once your Texas parole revocation hearing has been completed, the hearing officer will submit an official report to the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles. A three-member panel will review your report, possibly the transcript, and look at the recommendations made at the hearing. Your attorney, the hearing officer, and your parole officer will all make a recommendation to the board. This process usually takes several weeks.

What action can the Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles take against you? If you are in the preliminary hearing phase the board can recommend you proceed to a revocation hearing. The board may also vote to continue your parole by ordering you to ISF which is an Intermediate Sanction Facility. The board can also order you to SAFPF which is a substance abuse felony punishment facility. You may be ordered to another treatment facility or halfway house. You may also be revoked and sent back to TDCJ or you can continue your supervision with or without modification. In some cases, parolees can discharge if you are already past your discharge date.

Having your Texas parole revoked is serious business. You need to take it seriously and hire an attorney with experience in representing parolees in Texas parole revocation and preliminary hearings. Things you do or say in your hearing without representation can have a profound effect on your future. Be smart, call M. Neufeld Law today.