Carrollton Criminal Defense Lawyers
Direct-to-attorney criminal defense for Carrollton arrests and Dallas, Denton, and Collin County criminal-court matters. Co-founders Reggie and Njeri London handle every retained case personally — from arraignment through trial or appeal — from our Frisco office, 20 miles from Carrollton.
L and L Law Group represents clients arrested in Carrollton, Texas and clients facing charges in the Dallas County Courthouse on the full Texas Penal Code and Health & Safety Code spectrum. Founding partners Reggie London (Texas Bar No. 24043514, former Dallas County Assistant District Attorney) and Njeri London (Texas Bar No. 24043266, admitted TXND, TXED, 5th Circuit) personally handle every Carrollton matter. Our office is in Frisco, 20 miles from Carrollton (28 minutes). Free 24/7 consultation: (972) 370-5060.
Common Carrollton criminal charges we defend
Almost everyone holding a Carrollton address assumes a Carrollton arrest is a Dallas County case. For most of the city, that is the wrong county. Carrollton spans three of them, and the Census Bureau’s 2024 place-within-county figures put 83,516 Carrollton residents in the Denton County portion, 51,247 in the Dallas County portion and 693 in the Collin County portion, out of 135,456 citywide. Denton County is the majority county by a wide margin, roughly 62 percent against about 38 percent. So the charge written on the paperwork is only half of what decides a Carrollton case. The other half is which of three elected prosecutors received the file, because that answer moves the courthouse, the misdemeanor docket, the route to appointed counsel and the programs a case can reach.
Step one: work out which county the case filed in
- Go by where it happened, not where you live. Carrollton cases are prosecuted by three different elected prosecutors depending on where inside the city the offense occurred, so a resident of the Denton County side can still be charged out of Dallas County, and the reverse.
- Read the bond paperwork and the charging documents. Both name the prosecuting county, and that is the fastest reliable answer available on the first day.
- Check the return address on anything a prosecutor sends. The Denton County Criminal District Attorney is at 1450 E. McKinney Street, Suite 3100 in Denton, 940-349-2600. The Dallas County Criminal District Attorney is in the Frank Crowley Courts Building at 133 N. Riverfront Blvd. in Dallas. The Collin County Criminal District Attorney is at 2100 Bloomdale Rd. in McKinney, (972) 548-4323.
- Settle it before anyone drives. Three counties means three courthouses in three separate cities, and not one of them is in Carrollton.
Denton, Dallas and Collin do not run the same track
| What changes | Denton County portion | Dallas County portion | Collin County portion |
|---|---|---|---|
| Share of Carrollton residents | 83,516, about 62 percent | 51,247, about 38 percent | 693, about half a percent |
| Who prosecutes | Denton County Criminal District Attorney, Denton, 940-349-2600 | Dallas County Criminal District Attorney, Frank Crowley Courts Building, Dallas | Collin County Criminal District Attorney, McKinney, (972) 548-4323 |
| Where a felony is heard | Denton County district courts, City of Denton | Frank Crowley Courts Building, 133 N. Riverfront Blvd., Dallas | Collin County district courts, McKinney |
| Class A and Class B misdemeanor forum | County Criminal Courts 1 through 5 | Eleven County Criminal Courts | Seven County Courts at Law |
Denton County alone lists twelve district courts, so even inside the majority track a Carrollton felony can be assigned to any of several rooms. Denton County also runs a standing Magistrate Court with a published weekly docket and a standing order, which is where a Denton County arrestee is first brought before a magistrate, and it publishes a Statutory County Courts Indigent Defense Plan alongside an online Request for Court Appointed Attorney process. Among the treatment courts Denton County publishes are a Mental Health Treatment Court, which has its own application booklet, and a Veterans Treatment Court Program. None of that follows a Carrollton case that filed in Dallas or Collin County, where eligibility has to be checked against that county’s own courts rather than assumed from the Denton menu.
The part of a Carrollton case that never crosses a county line
Long before any of that, most people meet the city’s own campus at 2001 E. Jackson Road, where the Carrollton City Jail sits physically between the Police and Courts Buildings and Carrollton Municipal Court shares the same address. The jail runs 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Booking includes a photograph and fingerprints, and an arraignment before a judge covers the charges, the rights attached to them, and bond amounts. The lobby handles inmate lookups in person or by phone at (972) 466-3335, and city employees will not recommend a bail bond company or an attorney, so that search falls to the family.
Two Carrollton-specific traps sit on that campus. The municipal court enforces a written dress code, and a defendant who appears in prohibited attire is turned away and required to post a bond for a new court date, which turns a wardrobe question into a bond question. Cellphones are not allowed in the courtrooms without the judge’s permission. The court publishes local rules of court, a docket schedule and courtroom attire rules, and the same line, 972-466-3348, is answered in Spanish. If a vehicle was towed with the arrest, the city contracts impound storage to Grahams Wrecker at 1755 Vantage Dr. in Carrollton, 972-416-6404.
Where the county split actually bites
- Impaired driving
- If the charge is graded as a Class A or Class B misdemeanor, the Denton County portion of Carrollton sends it to County Criminal Courts 1 through 5 and the Dallas County portion sends it to one of eleven County Criminal Courts. Same road, same night, different prosecutor and different docket.
- Family violence allegations
- Conditions of bond are set at the front of a case. On the Denton County side, that first appearance before a magistrate runs through the county’s standing Magistrate Court, and the conditions entered there can govern contact and housing for months.
- Drug possession
- Whether an allegation is graded as a misdemeanor or a felony decides which forum hears it, and the felony answer sends a Carrollton defendant to Denton, to the Frank Crowley Courts Building in Dallas, or to McKinney.
- Theft and property offenses
- Grading can put the same accusation in either the county-level courts or the district courts, so the county that filed determines both the room and the prosecutor you are negotiating with.
- Citations and other city-level matters
- Not every Carrollton matter travels to a county courthouse. Carrollton Municipal Court sits at 2001 E. Jackson Road, 972-466-3348, on the same campus as the city jail, and it publishes its own local rules of court, docket schedule and courtroom attire rules that govern how an appearance there has to be made.
Every one of those paths begins with the same unglamorous step: establishing which county holds the file before anyone agrees to a setting, posts a bond, or answers an investigator. You can review the full range of charges we defend, and on a Carrollton matter, the county comes first.
Carrollton criminal defense FAQs
Is a Carrollton arrest automatically a Dallas County case?
No, and for most of the city that is the wrong assumption. Carrollton spans three counties, and Census Bureau place-within-county figures for 2024 put 83,516 Carrollton residents in Denton County, 51,247 in Dallas County and 693 in Collin County, out of 135,456 citywide. Denton County is the majority county by a wide margin, roughly 62 percent against about 38 percent. Prosecution follows where inside the city the alleged offense occurred, so a Carrollton address by itself tells you very little about which elected district attorney received the file.
How do I find out which county my Carrollton case was filed in?
Work from the documents rather than from your home address. The bond paperwork and the charging documents both name the prosecuting county, and any mail from a prosecutor carries a return address that settles it. The Denton County Criminal District Attorney is at 1450 E. McKinney Street, Suite 3100 in Denton, 940-349-2600. The Dallas County Criminal District Attorney is in the Frank Crowley Courts Building at 133 N. Riverfront Blvd. in Dallas. The Collin County Criminal District Attorney is at 2100 Bloomdale Rd. in McKinney, (972) 548-4323. Confirm it before anyone drives to a courthouse.
Someone was just booked into the Carrollton city jail. How do I find them?
Start at the jail lobby at 2001 E. Jackson Rd., which sits between the Police and Courts Buildings and is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Inmate lookups are handled in person at that lobby or by phone at (972) 466-3335. Booking includes a photograph and fingerprints, and an arraignment before a judge covers the charges, the rights that go with them, and bond amounts. Be ready for one limit: city employees will not recommend a bail bond company or an attorney, so that research falls to whoever is making calls.
Does a Carrollton DWI go to Denton County or Dallas County?
Whichever county the stop occurred in, and in Carrollton the odds actually favor Denton County rather than Dallas. If the charge is graded as a Class A or Class B misdemeanor, the Denton County portion of the city routes it to County Criminal Courts 1 through 5, while the Dallas County portion routes it to one of eleven County Criminal Courts. That means a different prosecutor, a different courthouse city and different docket practices. Our page on a Texas DWI charge covers the charge itself; the county question decides where it gets answered.
Where would a felony out of Carrollton actually be tried?
In one of three courthouses, in three different cities, none of them Carrollton. A Denton County felony goes to the Denton County district courts in the City of Denton, where the county lists twelve district courts. A Dallas County felony goes to the Frank Crowley Courts Building at 133 N. Riverfront Blvd. in Dallas. A Collin County felony goes to the Collin County district courts in McKinney. Families regularly plan around the closest courthouse and learn at the first setting that the case is being handled in a different county entirely.
Which court hears a Class A or Class B misdemeanor from Carrollton?
That depends on the county portion the case filed in. Denton County files Class A and Class B misdemeanors in County Criminal Courts 1 through 5. Dallas County files them across eleven County Criminal Courts. Collin County files them across seven County Courts at Law. Denton County also lists County Court at Law 1 and County Court at Law 2 alongside its five criminal courts. Because roughly 62 percent of Carrollton sits in Denton County, the Denton misdemeanor docket is the likeliest destination, but likeliest is not the same as confirmed.
More Carrollton questions
Can Carrollton Municipal Court turn me away over what I am wearing?
Yes. The court publishes courtroom attire rules along with its local rules of court and its docket schedule, and a defendant who appears in prohibited attire is turned away and required to post a bond for a new court date. That converts a clothing problem into a bond problem plus a second trip. Cellphones are also not allowed in the courtrooms without the judge’s permission. The court is at 2001 E. Jackson Road, sharing a campus with the city jail, and the same number, 972-466-3348, is answered in Spanish.
My car was towed after a Carrollton arrest. Who has it?
The City of Carrollton contracts vehicle impound storage to Grahams Wrecker at 1755 Vantage Dr. in Carrollton, 972-416-6404. That is the vendor a defendant deals with to recover a car towed incident to an arrest. It runs on a separate track from the criminal case, it does not pause while the charge is pending, and it does not resolve itself when the case does. Storage charges accumulate from day one, which is why the release is worth handling early rather than after the first court setting.
What is the first court appearance on the Denton County side of a Carrollton case?
Denton County runs a standing Magistrate Court with a published weekly docket and a standing order, and that is where a Denton County arrestee is first brought before a magistrate. Separately, the Carrollton City Jail’s own booking process includes an arraignment before a judge covering the charges, rights and bond amounts. The city does not publish which county facility receives a transfer or when, so if you need to know where someone will be held next, call the jail lobby at (972) 466-3335 instead of guessing from the arrest location.
Are there treatment courts for a Carrollton case filed in Denton County?
Denton County publishes a Mental Health Treatment Court, which has its own application booklet, and a Veterans Treatment Court Program with published program information and instructions, both listed among the county courts. Neither is automatic, and admission is assessed case by case, so the practical question is whether an application is worth making on the facts you have. If a Carrollton case filed in Dallas or Collin County instead, eligibility has to be checked against that county’s own courts rather than borrowed from the Denton list.
I cannot afford a lawyer on a Carrollton case filed in Denton County. What now?
Denton County publishes a Statutory County Courts Indigent Defense Plan and runs an online Request for Court Appointed Attorney process, and that is the formal route to appointed counsel on the Denton County portion of Carrollton. Make the request through that process rather than waiting to raise it out loud at a setting, because a missed appearance carries the same consequences whether or not counsel had been appointed yet. If the case filed in Dallas or Collin County, the request goes through that county’s own system instead.
Can a Carrollton charge be cleared off my record later?
Sometimes, and it turns far more on how the case ended than on what it was called at the beginning. Texas separates expunction, which destroys records, from an order of non-disclosure, which seals them from most public view, and each remedy is tied to particular dispositions. A dismissal and a conviction are not treated alike. Because a Carrollton case can end inside any of three county systems, read the disposition language on the actual order before assuming anything. Our Texas expunction and record-clearing page explains which endings open which remedy.
Arrested in Carrollton?
Free, confidential consultation — direct to attorney, 24/7. We pick up jail-release calls at all hours.
Call (972) 370-5060Why a Carrollton charge can land in three different counties
Carrollton is one of the few DFW cities whose limits cross three county lines at once — Dallas, Denton, and Collin. Because of that footprint, the spot where an arrest happens, not the city you live in, decides who prosecutes the case. A stop on one side of town may be filed at the Frank Crowley Courts Building in Dallas; a few miles away the same charge could route to the Denton County courts in Denton or the Collin County courts in McKinney. Each path carries its own district attorney's office, its own bond practices, and its own docket calendar, so two neighbors charged with nearly identical conduct can end up in entirely separate courthouses.
For anyone facing a serious charge here, that means the first question our team asks is a jurisdictional one: where, precisely, did the stop or arrest occur? Pinning down the filing county shapes everything that follows — which prosecutor holds the file, how quickly a bond gets set, and where future court dates will be heard. We treat that determination as step one rather than an afterthought, because building a defense around the wrong county wastes the early window that often matters most.
Separate from all of that sits Carrollton Municipal Court, which handles Class C misdemeanors — traffic citations and city-ordinance matters — no matter which of the three counties a more serious charge would fall into. That fine-only court is distinct from the county-level courts that handle Class A and B misdemeanors and felonies. Sorting out which court a given citation or charge actually belongs in keeps clients from showing up at the wrong building on the wrong date, a small mistake that can carry real consequences.
Carrollton's enforcement context reflects how people move through it. I-35E, the President George Bush Turnpike, and Trinity Mills Road carry heavy commuter traffic, and the city anchors the DART Green Line at the Trinity Mills transit hub. Traffic stops along those corridors feed a steady share of the local caseload. Whatever the charge, our team starts by mapping the case to its correct county and court, then works the facts from there.
About the Authors
Criminal Charges We Defend in Carrollton
L&L Law Group represents clients throughout Carrollton and Dallas County against the full range of Texas criminal charges. These are the charges our defense team handles most often — or call (972) 370-5060 for a free, confidential consultation.