Kaufman Criminal Defense Lawyers
Direct-to-attorney criminal defense for Kaufman arrests and Kaufman 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, approximately 55 miles from Kaufman.
L and L Law Group represents clients arrested in Kaufman, Texas and clients facing charges in the Kaufman 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 Kaufman matter. Our office is in Frisco, approximately 55 miles from Kaufman (70 minutes). Free 24/7 consultation: (972) 370-5060.
Common Kaufman criminal charges we defend
Kaufman County runs its own Public Defender's Office. For a county this size that is genuinely uncommon, and it is the most useful single thing to understand about how a criminal case works here. The county frames the office against the Texas Fair Defense Act of 2001, noting that before that Act only five Texas counties - Colorado, Dallas, El Paso, Webb and Wichita - operated public defender offices serving adult defendants, and that the number has since doubled with the help of state fiscal assistance. The Public Defender is Andrew Jordan, at 1902 E US Highway 175, Suite 500, Kaufman, TX 75142, phone 469-376-4534.
The practical effect is that an indigent defendant here is represented by a standing office with its own staff and its own suite in the courthouse building, rather than by whichever private attorney comes up next on an appointment rotation. It also means the counsel question gets settled early and formally. Whether you qualify for appointed counsel, and whether you would rather retain your own, are two separate decisions, and both usually have to be made in the first days of a case.
The whole system fits inside one small city
Kaufman is the seat of Kaufman County. The Handbook of Texas records that King's Fort was renamed Kaufman and became the county seat in March 1851, after four elections. The result is unusual density. Three district courts - the 86th, the 422nd and the 489th - along with two County Courts at Law, four Justice of the Peace precincts, the Criminal District Attorney and the Public Defender are all administered from the Kaufman County Justice Center at 1902 E. US Highway 175. The Sheriff's detention center is next door at 1900 E US-175, while the city's own police department and municipal court share a single address about a mile west. One sign of how tightly the two sides interlock: the non-emergency dispatch number the Kaufman Police Department publishes, 469-376-4500, is the same number the Sheriff's Office publishes as its Communications line.
| Office | Address | Published line |
|---|---|---|
| City of Kaufman Municipal Court | 209 S. Washington St. | 972-932-2216, metro 972-962-5321 |
| Kaufman Police Department | 209 S. Washington St. | 972-932-3094 |
| District courts and County Courts at Law | 1902 E. US Hwy 175 | 469-376-4100 |
| Criminal District Attorney | 1902 US Hwy 175, 2nd Floor | (469) 376-4760 |
| Public Defender | 1902 E US Hwy 175, Suite 500 | 469-376-4534 |
| Kaufman County Detention Center | 1900 E US-175 | 972-932-4337 |
One office prosecutes every level of case
Kaufman County's prosecutor is a Criminal District Attorney, and the title is not decorative. A single office carries both felony and misdemeanor prosecution, rather than the split arrangement where a District Attorney takes felonies and a separate County Attorney takes misdemeanors. The office publishes distinct Intake, Felony, Misdemeanor, Investigators and Victim Services divisions, so a case here stays with one prosecuting office from intake through disposition no matter what level it was filed at, and it does not change agencies if the level of the charge shifts as the file develops. The Criminal District Attorney is Erleigh Norville Wiley, who graduated from Kaufman High School, was elected a County Court-at-Law judge in this county in 2002, was appointed District Attorney by Governor Perry in 2013 and was elected to a third term in 2022.
What the offense level actually decides
- A Class C filed by the City of Kaufman
- The municipal court describes its responsibilities as "the adjudication of all traffic citations, criminal cases arising under City ordinances and Class-C Misdemeanors filed in the City of Kaufman." Its counter is open Monday through Friday, 8 to 11 a.m. and Noon to 5 p.m., closing across the middle of the day, and two Municipal Court Clerks, Kari Fuller and Autumn McBee, staff it. The city lists the court under Finance rather than as a standalone department, and the court points defendants to the state self-help resources at sll.texas.gov.
- A Class A or Class B misdemeanor
- Misdemeanors above Class C are county-level work. Kaufman County has two such courts, listed as County Court at Law and County Court at Law 2, both at the Justice Center rather than at the municipal building on Washington Street.
- A felony
- Felonies are district court work, and this county publishes three district courts. The courts page lists the 86th, the 422nd and the 489th without stating how criminal, civil and family work divides among them, so which court holds a given case comes off the filing paperwork rather than off a website. Having a third district court at all is a growth marker in a county that says the Census Bureau recently named it the fastest-growing county over 100,000 in the nation.
Jail mail goes to Longview, and it does not come back
The Kaufman County Detention Center does not handle general inmate mail on site. Everything except legal mail, newspapers, magazines and bulk mail must be sent to PO Box 591, Longview, Texas 75606 - a different city entirely - where it is scanned, delivered to the inmate electronically, and then destroyed rather than returned. Mail is capped at five pages, scanned on the front side only, with one photo per mailing. Legal and medical mail are expressly excluded from that process and must go to the facility where the person is actually housed, at 1900 E US-175. Two things follow. Do not put an original document you need back into general inmate mail, and do not treat correspondence about a pending case as ordinary mail. The Sheriff's Office also publishes an Approved Bail Bond Companies list alongside its jail information, court coordinator, inmate records and inmate services pages.
Structure in Kaufman County is published and easy to confirm: the courts, the single prosecuting office, the public defender, the detention center. Eligibility for any alternative to an ordinary disposition is not a website question in any county, because it turns on the charge, the history and how far the case has already gone. In a place growing this quickly it is worth asking rather than assuming: the city went from 6,797 residents in the 2020 census to a July 1, 2025 estimate of 10,717. Start with the charges we defend, and bring whatever paperwork you were handed, because here that paperwork is what tells you which court you are in.
Kaufman criminal defense FAQs
Does Kaufman County have a public defender, or do I get an attorney off an appointment list?
Kaufman County operates its own Public Defender's Office, which is unusual at this county size. The Public Defender is Andrew Jordan, at 1902 E US Highway 175, Suite 500, phone 469-376-4534. The county frames the office against the Texas Fair Defense Act of 2001, noting that before that Act only five Texas counties - Colorado, Dallas, El Paso, Webb and Wichita - ran public defender offices for adult defendants, and that the number has since doubled with state fiscal assistance. Appointment still depends on a finding that you cannot afford counsel, so it is not automatic.
Who prosecutes a misdemeanor in Kaufman County?
The same office that prosecutes felonies. Kaufman County's prosecutor is a Criminal District Attorney, meaning one office carries both levels rather than splitting them between a District Attorney and a separate County Attorney. It publishes distinct Intake, Felony, Misdemeanor, Investigators and Victim Services divisions, and it sits on the second floor of the Justice Center at 1902 US Hwy 175, phone (469) 376-4760. The practical consequence is continuity: the file does not transfer to a different agency if the level of the charge changes as the case develops.
Which district court will a Kaufman County felony be assigned to?
That comes off the filing rather than off a website. The county publishes three district courts - the 86th, the 422nd and the 489th - along with two County Courts at Law and four Justice of the Peace precincts, all administered from the Kaufman County Justice Center at 1902 E. US Highway 175, main line 469-376-4100. The courts page lists those three district courts without stating how criminal, civil and family work is divided among them. So the court number printed on your paperwork is the reliable answer, and it is worth confirming before anyone drives to the courthouse.
Can I mail a letter or photos to someone in the Kaufman County Detention Center?
Yes, but not to the jail. All inmate mail except legal mail, newspapers, magazines and bulk mail goes to PO Box 591, Longview, Texas 75606, where it is scanned, delivered to the inmate electronically, and then destroyed rather than returned. The published limits are five pages, scanned on the front side only, and one photo per mailing. So never send an original you need back - a birth certificate, a sole copy of a document, an irreplaceable photograph - because the process does not return it to you.
How does legal mail reach someone held in Kaufman County?
Differently, and this is the part people get wrong. Legal and medical mail are expressly excluded from the Longview scanning process and must be sent to the facility where the person is actually housed - the Kaufman County Detention Center, 1900 E US-175, Kaufman, Texas 75142, main line 972.932.4337. Routing case correspondence through the general mail address instead means it gets scanned and then destroyed. If you are unsure whether something counts as legal mail, treat it as though it does and send it to the facility rather than to the post office box.
When is the Kaufman municipal court counter actually open?
Monday through Friday, 8 to 11 a.m. and Noon to 5 p.m. The counter closes across the middle of the day, which catches people who plan to use a lunch hour to deal with a citation. The court is at 209 S. Washington St., phone 972-932-2216 with a metro line at 972-962-5321 and a fax at 972-932-0307, and two Municipal Court Clerks, Kari Fuller and Autumn McBee, staff it. The city lists the court under Finance rather than as its own department, which is why it can be hard to find on the city website.
More Kaufman questions
Why do the Kaufman police and the municipal court share an address?
Because they share a building at 209 S. Washington St. That address covers the city side of the system only. Everything on the county side sits about a mile east on US Highway 175: the Justice Center at 1902 E. US Highway 175 holds the district courts, the County Courts at Law, the Criminal District Attorney and the Public Defender, and the Sheriff's detention center is at 1900 E US-175. Going to Washington Street about a county case, or out to US-175 about a city citation, is a wasted trip on a day that probably has few to spare.
I called the Kaufman police non-emergency line and reached county dispatch. Is that normal?
It appears to be by design. The non-emergency dispatch number the Kaufman Police Department publishes, 469-376-4500, is the same number the Kaufman County Sheriff's Office publishes as its Communications line. The department's own quick links also point straight to the Kaufman County Jail rather than to any city facility. The published emergency numbers are 911 or 469-376-4598, and the department's direct line is 972-932-3094. If what you are actually trying to do is locate someone after an arrest, start with the county detention center at 972.932.4337.
Is there a program in Kaufman County that would keep a case off my record?
That is a question to put to the Criminal District Attorney's office at (469) 376-4760 and to the court holding your file, rather than one to settle from a website. Eligibility for any alternative to an ordinary disposition turns on the specific charge, your history, and how far the case has already gone, and those are individual facts rather than published ones. Kaufman County is also moving fast, describing itself as one of the fastest-growing counties in the nation, so local practice is worth re-confirming rather than assuming from what someone heard last year.
Will a Kaufman DWI be handled at the municipal court on Washington Street?
No. That court's published responsibilities are the adjudication of traffic citations, criminal cases arising under City ordinances, and Class-C misdemeanors filed in the City of Kaufman. A driving while intoxicated charge sits above that level, so it moves to the county side about a mile east, where the Criminal District Attorney prosecutes it and the court that hears it depends on the level charged. Our page on a Texas DWI charge explains what changes as the level rises, which is the part that decides where a case ends up.
Can a Kaufman County case be cleared from my record afterward?
Sometimes, and it depends far more on how the case ended than on what it was originally charged as. Record clearing in Texas is a separate proceeding brought after the criminal case is over, with its own requirements and waiting periods, and convictions generally do not qualify. One local advantage: because a single Criminal District Attorney's office handled the matter from intake through disposition, there is one prosecuting file rather than two to reconstruct. Our Texas expunction and record-clearing page sets out how the routes differ.
Why does a city this small have three district courts?
Because Kaufman is the county seat, so the county's entire criminal system sits physically here rather than spread across a metro area. Growth explains the third court. The city itself went from 6,797 residents in the 2020 census to a July 1, 2025 estimate of 10,717. The county describes itself as adjacent to Dallas County on the east, home to more than 195,000 people, 16 cities, six independent school districts and two colleges, and founded in 1848. Its own site is inconsistent on that population figure, listing more than 140,000 on a departments page.
Arrested in Kaufman?
Free, confidential consultation — direct to attorney, 24/7. We pick up jail-release calls at all hours.
Call (972) 370-5060Why a Kaufman case stays at the county-seat courthouse in town
Kaufman is the seat of Kaufman County, which puts the courthouse that decides serious cases right inside the city rather than a county or two away. When a felony or a Class A or B misdemeanor is filed here, the Kaufman County district attorney brings it and the Kaufman County courts hear it in town, with pretrial detention handled at the county jail locally. For residents of the surrounding area, that hub status matters: charges filed across this largely rural county are routed back to Kaufman, so the courthouse on the square is the destination court for far more than just the city limits. Knowing the building and the rhythm of its docket is part of how we prepare a defense here.
Not every case filed in Kaufman lands at the county courts, and the difference is worth understanding early. Fine-only Class C matters — most traffic citations and city-ordinance violations — go to the Kaufman Municipal Court, which runs separately from the county system. A speeding ticket or a similar fine-only offense is resolved through the municipal court; a felony or a Class A or B misdemeanor moves to the county courts that share the same town. The two tracks carry very different stakes, deadlines, and consequences, so one of the first things we sort out is which court a charge actually belongs in before deciding how to respond to it.
Enforcement around Kaufman concentrates on the highways that feed the county seat. US-175 and US-80 carry traffic between this part of the metroplex and Dallas to the northwest, while SH-34 and SH-243 connect Kaufman to the smaller communities around it. Stops along those corridors are where a routine traffic encounter can turn into a DWI, drug, or warrant matter, and the southeast-of-Dallas setting gives the county its own pace and patrol patterns. Because Kaufman sits at the center of a rural county rather than inside a dense urban grid, the practical details of where a stop happened and which agency made it can shape how a case develops.
For someone charged in Kaufman, the county-seat layout is a genuine convenience: the court, the prosecutor's office, and the jail are all here in town instead of scattered across the region. That does not make the county courts any less serious, and the local routing still rewards lawyers who know how Kaufman handles its docket. Our team works to understand the specific facts of a stop or arrest, the court a charge belongs in, and the options realistically available — and to walk clients through each step. Anyone facing a charge in Kaufman County can reach us at (972) 370-5060 to talk through their situation.
About the Authors
Criminal Charges We Defend in Kaufman
L&L Law Group represents clients throughout Kaufman and Kaufman 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.