Waxahachie Criminal Defense Lawyers
Direct-to-attorney criminal defense for Waxahachie arrests and Ellis 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 Waxahachie.
L and L Law Group represents clients arrested in Waxahachie, Texas and clients facing charges in the Ellis 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 Waxahachie matter. Our office is in Frisco, approximately 55 miles from Waxahachie (65 minutes). Free 24/7 consultation: (972) 370-5060.
Common Waxahachie criminal charges we defend
Waxahachie is the Ellis County seat, and that one fact explains most of how a case here behaves. The county courthouse, the county jail and the prosecuting attorney's office all sit inside the city limits, so a Waxahachie case that outgrows the municipal court does not leave town. It moves a few blocks. Ellis County was established by the Texas Legislature on December 20, 1849 and now has over 237,000 residents, while Waxahachie itself counted 41,140 in the 2020 census against a Census Bureau estimate of 50,090 for July 1, 2025. A county that size running its whole criminal system out of one downtown is convenient, and it is also why people turn up at the wrong door.
Start with the address on your paperwork
In most cities the building tells you nothing. In Waxahachie it tells you nearly everything, because each office does one job and several of them sit within a few blocks of each other.
| Address | What is there | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| 412 S Rogers Street, Suite 105 | Waxahachie Municipal Court | Class C misdemeanors only: parking, traffic, state codes and city ordinances. Maximum fine $500. Line 469-309-4070. |
| 109 South Jackson Street | Courts and Administration, and the County and District Attorney | The district courts and county courts at law, plus the prosecutor. Courts 972-825-5000, prosecutor 972-825-5035. |
| 101 West Main Street | Historic Courthouse | A separate courthouse building. Read which one your notice actually names. |
| 300 S. Jackson Street | Ellis County Sheriff's Office and jail | Custody. Jail information 972-825-4931, dispatch 24 hours at 972-937-6060. |
| 2272 FM 878 | Sheriff's Law Enforcement Center | A second Sheriff's address, distinct from the downtown jail. |
| 630 Farley Street | Waxahachie Police Department | City police. Non-emergency 469-309-4400. |
The row worth pausing on is the second one. In Ellis County the courts and the prosecutor share a street address, which is quietly consequential: the office reviewing your file and the courtroom hearing it are in the same place.
What the city court can and cannot reach
The Waxahachie Municipal Court's jurisdiction stops at Class C misdemeanors, covering parking, traffic, state codes and city ordinances, and its maximum fine is $500. It runs Monday through Friday, 8am to 5pm, excluding weekends and holidays. Anything above Class C is not something that court gives up along the way; it is filed with the county from the start.
For the citations it does keep, the court publishes a defined menu. A defensive driving course carries a 90-day completion window. Deferred disposition carries a 90-day probation period. Payment plans are available, with a one-time $15 fee if payment extends past 30 days, and community service can be requested of the court. The court also lists compliance dismissals for particular violations, including an expired license, registration issues and address changes. Every one of those options has a deadline attached to it, and the deadline is the part people miss.
Above Class C: several benches, one prosecutor
Ellis County runs four Justice of the Peace precincts, three County Courts at Law and four judicial district courts. The district structure has a wrinkle worth knowing: the 378th Judicial District Court is designated to hear family law cases only, so felony criminal work in Ellis County concentrates in the remaining district courts, the 40th, the 443rd and the 504th, rather than spreading evenly across all four. Underneath them, three courts at law and four JP precincts give the county more misdemeanor-level capacity than felony-level bench.
What does not change as a case moves up is the prosecutor. Ellis County elects a combined County and District Attorney, currently Lindy Beaty, rather than separate county and district attorneys or a criminal district attorney. That single office states that it prosecutes felony, misdemeanor and juvenile cases, and it also operates a Criminal Division, a Hot Check Division and a Victim Assistance division while handling protective orders and mental health commitments. So the office that screens a misdemeanor is the office behind a felony and the office that would handle a juvenile file.
The cases that fill those dockets
The charges we defend in these courts run the ordinary range of a fast-growing county: driving while intoxicated, possession and delivery of controlled substances, assault and family violence allegations, theft and property offenses, weapons charges and juvenile matters. What shifts between them in Ellis County is not who is prosecuting. It is which courtroom the offense level puts you in, whether a fine-only allegation stays with a Justice of the Peace or the municipal court, and whether history lifts a misdemeanor into a district court. Settling that grading question early matters, because it decides which building, which docket and which range of consequences is actually in play.
The last step is an Ellis County step too
Clearing a record afterward is handled locally as well. The Ellis County District Clerk publishes an official expunction page listing the agencies a petitioner may need to name, with contact details for the District Attorney, the Sheriff's Office and all four Justice of the Peace precincts. Its two most useful instructions are restrictive rather than expansive. First, the county states plainly that you are not required to include every agency on those lists and should not include agencies that hold no records related to your case. Second, it confirms that the Texas Department of Public Safety forwards the expunction notice downstream to entities including the FBI, TCIC and NCIC, so listing DPS reaches them without naming each one separately. Over-naming agencies is the common self-inflicted delay. Our page on Texas expunction and record clearing covers which case endings open that door to begin with.
Waxahachie criminal defense FAQs
My notice lists 101 West Main but I was told the courts are on South Jackson. Which building do I go to?
Ellis County splits its courts between two buildings in downtown Waxahachie. Courts and Administration is at 109 South Jackson Street, main line 972-825-5000, and the Historic Courthouse is a separate building at 101 West Main Street. The address printed on your citation, notice or bond paperwork is the one that controls, so read it rather than assuming the newer building is correct. If the paperwork is ambiguous, or you are holding two documents naming two addresses, call the Courts and Administration line before the setting rather than after you have missed it.
Does a Waxahachie criminal case ever leave Waxahachie?
Usually not, because Waxahachie is the Ellis County seat. The district courts, the county courts at law, the County and District Attorney's office and the county jail are all inside the city. A case that grows past the municipal court's Class C jurisdiction moves from 412 S Rogers Street to the county courts at 109 South Jackson Street, which is a change of building rather than a change of city. Families here are spared the cross-county drive that people living in cities split between two counties routinely have to make.
What is the most the Waxahachie Municipal Court can fine me?
Five hundred dollars. That court's jurisdiction is limited to Class C misdemeanors, meaning parking, traffic, state code and city ordinance violations, and the maximum fine is $500. It sits at 412 S Rogers Street, Suite 105, its number is 469-309-4070, and it is open Monday through Friday from 8am to 5pm excluding weekends and holidays. Anything above Class C belongs to the Ellis County courts at 109 South Jackson Street instead. What the city court does control is the calendar, and an unresolved citation is how a fine-only matter becomes a larger problem.
How long does deferred disposition run in the Waxahachie Municipal Court?
Ninety days, and it is not the only 90-day clock on that court's menu. The Waxahachie Municipal Court lists deferred disposition with a 90-day probation period and, as a separate option, a defensive driving course with a 90-day completion window. They are different paths with different requirements, and both apply to qualifying Class C citations only. Missing either window is a scheduling failure rather than a legal one, but the court is not obliged to reopen it. If you are choosing between them, work out which you can realistically finish before committing to it.
I cannot pay a Waxahachie fine in one lump sum. What does the court list?
The Waxahachie Municipal Court publishes a payment plan option and notes a one-time $15 fee if payment extends beyond 30 days. Community service is also available by request of the court. For specific violations, including an expired license, registration issues and an address change, the court lists compliance dismissals, which turn on showing that the underlying problem has been corrected. All of it runs through the court at 412 S Rogers Street, Suite 105, or 469-309-4070, and all of it is time-limited, so ask before the due date rather than after it.
Who prosecutes a felony filed out of Waxahachie?
The Ellis County County and District Attorney, currently Lindy Beaty, at 109 S Jackson Street in Waxahachie, phone 972-825-5035, open Monday through Friday from 8:00am to 4:30pm. Ellis County uses a combined office rather than separate county and district attorneys, and that office states it prosecutes felony, misdemeanor and juvenile cases. It also runs a Criminal Division, a Hot Check Division and a Victim Assistance division, and it handles protective orders and mental health commitments. The practical consequence is that moving from a misdemeanor to a felony does not hand your file to a different agency.
More Waxahachie questions
Which Ellis County court would hear a felony?
One of the judicial district courts, which sit in Courts and Administration at 109 South Jackson Street, main line 972-825-5000. Ellis County has four district courts, the 40th, the 378th, the 443rd and the 504th, but the 378th is designated to hear family law cases only. Felony criminal work therefore concentrates in the remaining district courts rather than spreading across all four. Below that level the county runs three County Courts at Law and four Justice of the Peace precincts, so its misdemeanor and fine-only capacity is broader than its felony bench.
Who answers at 2am about an Ellis County jail booking?
Communications and Dispatch, at 972-937-6060, which the Sheriff's Office runs 24 hours a day. Jail information is 972-825-4931 and Sheriff's administration is 972-825-4901, but those administrative lines keep business hours. One address trap is worth knowing before anyone drives over: the Ellis County Sheriff's Office and jail are at 300 S. Jackson Street downtown, while the Sheriff's Law Enforcement Center is a separate facility at 2272 FM 878. Criminal Investigations is a third number again, 972-825-4913. Confirm which building you are being directed to before leaving with bond money.
Is a Waxahachie DWI handled at the city court on Rogers Street?
No. The Waxahachie Municipal Court's jurisdiction covers Class C misdemeanors only, with a $500 maximum fine, so an intoxicated driving allegation sits outside it from the beginning. Those cases go to the Ellis County and District Attorney at 109 S Jackson Street and are heard in the county courts at law or, depending on the offense level, in one of the district courts. That routing shapes nearly everything that follows it. Our page on a Texas DWI charge sets out what changes as the level moves.
Ellis County's expunction page asks for a list of agencies. Do I name all of them?
No, and the county says so in its own guidance. The expunction page maintained by the Ellis County District Clerk states that you are not required to include every agency on its lists, and that you should not include agencies in your petition that hold no records related to your case. The page supplies contact information for the District Attorney, the Sheriff's Office and all four Justice of the Peace precincts so a petitioner can work out which ones actually touched the file. Our Texas expunction and record clearing page covers the wider rules.
Do I have to name the FBI and the national databases separately in an Ellis County expunction?
Ellis County's own guidance says that is unnecessary. The county notes that the Texas Department of Public Safety forwards the expunction notice to downstream entities including the FBI, TCIC and NCIC, so listing DPS reaches them without naming each of those separately. That is a meaningful simplification, because every additional agency named in a petition is another entity to serve and another place the process can stall. Ellis County publishes this on the expunction page maintained by its District Clerk, alongside the local agency contacts for the county's own offices.
Who handles sex offender registration questions in Ellis County?
The Ellis County Sheriff's Office maintains its own Sex Offender Registrar, reachable directly at 972-825-4956, rather than routing registration and verification questions through a general line. Having that specific number matters, because registration obligations run on a schedule of their own, separate from the progress of a criminal case. The Sheriff's Office is at 300 S. Jackson Street in Waxahachie, with administration at 972-825-4901 during business hours and Communications and Dispatch reachable at 972-937-6060 around the clock if the question will not keep until Monday.
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Call (972) 370-5060Why a Waxahachie charge stays inside Ellis County
As the Ellis County seat, Waxahachie keeps its serious criminal cases close to home. Felonies and Class A and B misdemeanors arising here are filed by the Ellis County district attorney and heard at the county courts in town, with pretrial detention at the county jail locally — no drive up to Dallas to answer a charge. That hub status is the practical backbone of any case that starts in Waxahachie: the courthouse anchoring the historic square is the same building where the county's matters are routed, so an Ellis County filing and an Ellis County hearing happen in one place rather than scattering across jurisdictions the way a multi-county city's cases would.
Not every citation lands in those county courts, though. Waxahachie Municipal Court handles Class C misdemeanors — traffic tickets, city-ordinance issues, and other fine-only matters — on a separate track from the felony and Class A/B docket. Sorting which forum a charge belongs in is an early, concrete step, because a fine-only municipal matter and a county-court misdemeanor carry very different stakes, procedures, and timelines. We read the charge level first so a client understands from the outset whether they are dealing with the municipal court or the more serious county docket, and what the path through each looks like.
Geography drives much of the local enforcement picture. I-35E runs straight through Ellis County as the main artery south of Dallas, carrying heavy through-traffic, and US-77 and FM-66 thread the rest of the area — corridors where stops, DWI investigations, and roadside searches commonly begin. Beyond the highways, Waxahachie's draw as a destination shapes its caseload: the 1897 Victorian courthouse and the surrounding "Gingerbread" architecture make the town a frequent film-shoot location and visitor stop, which means a share of cases here involve people passing through or in town for an event rather than longtime residents.
For someone charged in Waxahachie, that combination is worth understanding early. Where the stop happened often points to how the case will move, and whether a charge sits in municipal court or the county docket sets the procedure that follows. Our team works these Ellis County matters with attention to how a local case actually proceeds in this courthouse, and we are ready to talk through the specifics at (972) 370-5060.
About the Authors
Criminal Charges We Defend in Waxahachie
L&L Law Group represents clients throughout Waxahachie and Ellis 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.