Dallas County Criminal Defense Services

Dallas County criminal-justice infrastructure

Dallas County anchors the eastern half of the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex and is the second-most-populous county in Texas. The 2020 Census counted 2,613,539 residents across roughly 873 square miles of land, with a median household income near $76,547. The county seat and namesake — the City of Dallas — is home to 1,304,379 people, the third-largest city in the state. Other population centers include Irving (256,684), Garland (246,018), Grand Prairie (196,100), Mesquite (150,108), and Carrollton (133,434), together with Richardson, DeSoto, Cedar Hill, Lancaster, and Duncanville.

Felony and misdemeanor cases are concentrated at the Frank Crowley Courts Building, 133 N. Riverfront Boulevard, Dallas, TX 75207, just west of downtown along the Trinity River corridor. Dallas County seats 17 district courts that try felonies — seven of them formally titled Criminal District Court No. 1 through No. 7, plus ten numbered district courts (the 194th, 195th, 203rd, 204th, 265th, 282nd, 283rd, 291st, 292nd, and 363rd) that also carry felony dockets. Class A and Class B misdemeanors, including misdemeanor DWI, are heard in the eleven County Criminal Courts (No. 1 through No. 11) — the designation Dallas County uses rather than “county courts at law.” Class C fine-only offenses land in the justice-of-the-peace and municipal courts.

Every state prosecution runs through the Dallas County District Attorney’s Office, a unified Criminal District Attorney that carries both the felony and the misdemeanor docket; there is no separate county attorney splitting the caseload. The office sits with the courts at 133 N. Riverfront Boulevard, LB 19. The county also operates a wide slate of problem-solving courts — the DIVERT felony drug-diversion program, dedicated Felony and Misdemeanor DWI Courts, a Veterans Treatment Court, and mental-health dockets — alternatives that can matter enormously at disposition. Federal matters arising in the county proceed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas (TXND), Dallas Division.

Services for Dallas County clients

L and L Law Group provides four primary service categories for Dallas County criminal matters. Each has a dedicated information page with the full defense workflow:

Practice areas covered in Dallas County

The firm handles the full charge spectrum in Dallas County, from Class C citations bound for the justice-of-the-peace and municipal courts to first-degree felonies tried in the district courts and federal indictments filed across town in the Northern District. These are the categories that come out of Dallas County arrests most often and move through the Frank Crowley Courts Building:

• DWI and intoxication offenses — Tex. Penal Code Ch. 49. First offense Class B (BAC under 0.15), Class A (BAC 0.15+), felony DWI (third offense or with child passenger), intoxication assault, intoxication manslaughter. See our DWI defense page.
• Drug crimes — Tex. Health & Safety Code Ch. 481. Penalty Group 1, 1-A, 1-B, 2, 2-A, 3, 4 across possession, possession with intent, manufacture, and delivery. See our drug defense page.
• Family violence and protective orders — Tex. Penal Code §§ 22.01, 25.07, 25.11. Class A family-violence assault, continuous family violence felony, violations of protective orders. Federal Lautenberg firearm-ban consequences under 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(9). See our family-violence page.
• Sex crimes — Tex. Penal Code Ch. 21-22 plus § 33.021. Sexual assault, aggravated sexual assault, indecency, child-pornography, online solicitation. Federal Adam Walsh SORNA registration cross-reference. See our sex-crimes page.
• Weapons charges — Tex. Penal Code Ch. 46 + federal 18 U.S.C. § 922(g). UCW, felon-in-possession, prohibited weapons, weapon transfer. See our weapons page.
• White collar and fraud — Tex. Penal Code Ch. 31-34. Theft, fraud, embezzlement, money laundering. See our white-collar page.
• Federal charges — TXND and TXED indictments. Pre-indictment negotiation, Guidelines sentencing, safety-valve and 5K1.1 departures. See our federal defense page.
• Juvenile cases — Tex. Family Code Title 3. § 54.02 transfer-to-adult-court opposition, juvenile-record sealing, juvenile sex-offense conditional registration. See our juvenile defense page.
• Expunction and non-disclosure — Tex. Code Crim. Proc. ch. 55 + Tex. Gov’t Code ch. 411. Eligibility analysis, petition drafting, agency-service distribution, post-order compliance. See our expunction page.

Why retain L and L Law Group for a Dallas County matter

Three operational reasons. First, direct attorney access: every retained matter is handled by Reggie or Njeri London personally — no intake clerk, no junior associate handoff. The partner who takes the consultation is the partner who appears at every hearing. Second, flat-fee structure: engagement fees are quoted in writing at the free initial consult and cover the entire defense through final disposition or trial in chief. Hourly billing in criminal defense creates the wrong incentives because the State controls the case pace. Third, dual prosecutor-and-defense perspective: Reggie’s prior service as a Dallas County Assistant District Attorney informs the firm’s reading of probable-cause affidavits, plea-evaluation thresholds, and trial-preparation escalation. Njeri’s federal admissions (TXND, TXED, 5th Circuit) and motion-practice depth complete the framework.

The firm is in Frisco; Dallas County is in our default coverage area. Office at 5899 Preston Rd, Suite 101, Frisco, TX 75034. Phone (972) 370-5060 24/7. Email info@landllawgroup.com.

Dallas County criminal-defense help, 24/7

Free, confidential consultation — direct to attorney. Flat-fee representation.

Inside the Dallas County criminal-justice system

A Dallas County case usually begins at the Lew Sterrett Justice Center, the county’s central jail at 111 W. Commerce Street, Dallas, TX 75202. Run by the Dallas County Sheriff’s Office, the complex — its North Tower, West Tower, and the Suzanne Lee Kays facility — holds more than 7,100 people and is where booking, fingerprinting, and the first bail decision take place. Under Texas Code of Criminal Procedure Article 15.17, an arrestee must be brought before a magistrate without unnecessary delay and no later than 48 hours after arrest. At magistration the judge delivers the statutory warnings, makes a probable-cause finding, and sets bail and any conditions of release — a step separate from the later arraignment, where a plea is actually entered. Because the jail and the Frank Crowley courtrooms stand only a few blocks apart, bond posting and first settings tend to move quickly once counsel is engaged. Defendants who live outside the county still have every setting heard at the Dallas complex unless venue is transferred under Code of Criminal Procedure Chapter 31.

Geography, transportation, and policing

Policing in Dallas County is layered. The Dallas Police Department — one of the largest municipal forces in the country — makes most arrests inside the city, while separate departments cover the surrounding suburbs: Irving PD, Garland PD, Grand Prairie PD, Mesquite PD, Carrollton PD, and Richardson PD, among others. The Dallas County Sheriff’s Office patrols unincorporated territory, serves countywide warrants, and operates the jail, while Texas DPS troopers work the freeways. And there is a great deal of freeway to work: I-35E (Stemmons), I-30 (the Tom Landry/R.L. Thornton), I-20, I-45 (Julius Schepps), the I-635 LBJ Freeway loop, US-75 (Central Expressway), US-175 (C.F. Hawn), the President George Bush Turnpike, and the Dallas North Tollway all thread the county and feed a steady stream of DWI, drug, and weapons stops. After an arrest on any of them, the defendant is booked into the Lew Sterrett Justice Center on Commerce Street, where bond is posted directly or arranged through a licensed surety near the courthouse.

Why local defense practice matters in Dallas County

No two Dallas County courtrooms run quite the same way; each has its own docket rhythm, plea-and-trial calendar, and disposition tendencies. The DA's office staffs prosecutors who specialize in DWI, narcotics, sex offenses, family violence, and white-collar prosecutions — each unit operates with its own internal policies on plea offers, diversion eligibility, and trial readiness. Defense attorneys who appear regularly in the Dallas courts develop case-specific intelligence: which judges grant motions to suppress, which prosecutors will offer pretrial diversion in first-offense possession cases, which probation officers respond to early-termination motions favorably. That granular practice knowledge is the practical difference between an effective local defense and a generic representation that misses opportunities available only through local relationships.

L and L Law Group appears regularly in the Dallas County criminal courts. Co-founding partners Reggie London (Texas Bar No. 24043514) and Njeri London (Texas Bar No. 24043266) handle felony and misdemeanor matters at Frank Crowley — DWI, drug possession, theft, assault, family violence, weapons, and sex-offense cases. Part of practicing here is knowing which alternatives to a conviction actually exist: Dallas County runs a DIVERT drug-diversion court, separate Felony and Misdemeanor DWI Courts, a Veterans Treatment Court, and mental-health dockets, and eligibility for one of those programs can reshape an outcome far more than any single courtroom argument. We measure every Dallas matter against both the trial record and the available diversion tracks before recommending a path — and we coordinate bond, surrender, and pretrial logistics with the Lew Sterrett staff and countywide sureties as the case requires.