Military Defense Lawyer in Austin: Criminal Defense for Service Members, Licensed Professionals and Students in Travis County

A criminal charge rarely stays in one place when you wear a uniform, hold a state license or attend a university. The case in a Travis County court is only the first problem. Your commander, your licensing board or your dean can open a separate matter, work from the same facts and reach a decision long before the criminal case ends. Barton & Associates defends service members, licensed professionals and students in Austin and across Central Texas who face both, and we plan the criminal defense around what the second proceeding could take from you.

Our Austin criminal defense attorney team starts every one of these cases by testing the evidence, because a weak case helps you everywhere else too. This page explains how the military, licensing and campus processes work, which charges put your status at the greatest risk and what to do in the first days. We are civilian defense lawyers, and the first consultation is free.

Why the Same Charge Hits Harder When You Have a Career to Protect

A first-time misdemeanor can end with a fine for one person. For a soldier it can start a separation. For a nurse it can start a board file, and for a sophomore at UT it can mean a hearing in front of a conduct officer. The court is not the only decision-maker, and the others do not use the same rules.

• A military command can reprimand, restrict, punish or begin separating a service member, and it does not need a conviction to do it.
• A state licensing agency can investigate, discipline or revoke a license on its own schedule, and Austin is where many of those agencies sit.
• A school can suspend or expel a student under its own conduct code, usually deciding by a lower standard of proof than a criminal jury would apply.

Because of this, a good result in the criminal case is not just an acquittal or a dismissal. It is the outcome that leaves the command, the board or the school the least to work with. A dismissal, a deferred adjudication, a plea to a lesser offense and a conviction as charged are read very differently by each of them, and we weigh that before any offer is accepted.

Military, Professional and Student Cases We Handle in Austin

The pages below go deeper on each type of proceeding. Many people need more than one, such as a Guard member who is also a licensed nurse, or a clearance holder finishing a degree.

• Enlisted administrative separation boards: the hearing in which an enlisted member contests separation and the characterization of service.
• Chapter separation proceedings: separations under the Army’s chapter system and the matching rules of other branches, including a request to leave instead of facing trial.
• Arrested as active duty or veteran: what happens when a current or former service member is arrested by civilian police.
• Security clearance defense: reporting duties, suspensions and reviews after an arrest or charge.
• Arrested while holding a professional license: self-reporting, board inquiries and the criminal case behind them.
• NPDB reporting for healthcare professionals: how a licensure action becomes a federal data bank report.
• Arrested during college or high school: the criminal exposure and the school’s separate response.
• Title IX campus misconduct investigations: the school process that follows a sexual misconduct complaint.

Service Members and Guard Members Arrested in Austin

Austin is a state capital with a large civilian population, and service members pass through it on weekends and off duty from installations around Central Texas, including Fort Hood to the north, which was known as Fort Cavazos until 2025. When one of them is arrested here, the Travis County prosecutors have jurisdiction over the offense, and the military has jurisdiction over the person. Neither has to wait for the other. The authorities sometimes coordinate or defer, but nothing requires it, so a service member should assume that both will act.

Camp Mabry in Austin is the headquarters of the Texas Military Department, and Texas National Guard members have their own wrinkle. A Guard member on federal orders is under the Uniform Code of Military Justice, while a member serving on state orders is generally under the Texas Code of Military Justice. Which set of rules applies depends on the orders in effect on the day of the incident, which is the first thing we ask about.

On the military side, a commander has a range of responses:

• Quiet administrative steps. A reprimand, a hold on promotion or school slots, a bar to reenlistment or a change of duties does not require a hearing and can shadow a career for years.
• Article 15. Nonjudicial punishment for a minor offense, which can include reduced rank, forfeited pay, extra duty or restriction. In most cases you may turn it down and ask for a court-martial, a choice that deserves a lawyer’s advice first.
• Court-martial. A criminal trial under the UCMJ with confinement and punitive discharge among the possible results. Charges often seen are Article 92 (disobeying an order or regulation), Article 112a (drugs), Article 113 (drunken or reckless operation of a vehicle), Article 128 (assault) and Article 134 (the general article).
• Administrative separation. A process that can end a career with no criminal trial at all.

Military investigators such as Army CID, Air Force OSI and NCIS can approach a service member after a civilian arrest. Article 31 of the UCMJ requires them to advise you that you do not have to answer before they question you about a suspected offense. The warning is a right, not an invitation, and the sound response to any investigator, military or civilian, is to ask for a lawyer.

Service members are entitled to military defense counsel at no cost for the military case and may also hire a civilian lawyer at their own expense, alongside military counsel or in place of it. Military defense counsel generally does not appear in a Texas court, so the civilian charge needs its own lawyer. We handle that case and coordinate with your military counsel so the two defenses support each other.

Administrative Separation, Court-Martial and Discharge Characterization

Many service members lose their careers through an administrative process rather than a trial. A command can start separation because of a civilian conviction, a pattern of misconduct, a drug test or a treatment failure, and it can do so even when the criminal charge was dropped. You receive written notice and can generally consult military defense counsel and respond. For enlisted members, the Defense Department instruction that governs most separations generally gives a right to an administrative board when you have six or more years of service or when an Other Than Honorable characterization is proposed. Rules vary by branch, and a board is a hearing at which both sides present evidence before the panel recommends an outcome to the separation authority.

The characterization of the discharge matters as much as the separation. Honorable and General (under honorable conditions) are the two better outcomes, and Other Than Honorable is the lowest characterization an administrative process can assign. It can affect VA education and home loan benefits, security clearance eligibility and civilian hiring, though the VA applies its own rules in deciding what benefits a veteran may receive.

A service member facing trial can sometimes ask for discharge instead. The Army calls this a Chapter 10 request under Army Regulation 635-200, and the other branches have counterparts. It avoids the trial and the chance of a court-martial conviction, yet the result is often an Other Than Honorable discharge and the request is hard to take back. Get advice from someone who has seen the evidence before you ask.

Punitive discharges are a different matter. An enlisted member can receive a Bad Conduct Discharge or a Dishonorable Discharge only from a court-martial, and only after a conviction. The Dishonorable Discharge is the more serious and brings a federal ban on firearms. Officers go through other procedures, including boards of inquiry and requests to resign.

Security Clearances and Federal Employment

A clearance supports a military specialty, a federal job or a defense contractor position, and an arrest can put it under review before there is any conviction. Holders are generally expected to report arrests and charges to their security manager, and the reinvestigation questionnaire asks about criminal history. Adjudicators consider what happened, how recently, whether it is part of a pattern and how candid you have been. A DWI or a drug arrest can raise alcohol, drug and conduct concerns together, and a report that minimizes or omits the arrest is often worse than the arrest. Because the clearance can be suspended while the case is open, the timing of the criminal case affects your job. We review any report before it is filed, since it is also a statement about the incident.

Licensed Professionals: Austin Is Where Many Licensing Agencies Sit

Texas licenses a long list of occupations, and Austin is home to many of the agencies that discipline them, including the Texas Medical Board, the Texas Board of Nursing, the Texas Real Estate Commission, the State Board for Educator Certification, the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation and the State Bar of Texas. Criminal history reviews are part of what these agencies do, and a licensee arrested in Travis County should expect the arrest to come to their attention.

Chapter 53 of the Occupations Code is the starting point for convictions. An agency may suspend, revoke or deny a license after a conviction for an offense directly related to the occupation, an offense listed in Article 42A.054 of the Code of Criminal Procedure or a sexually violent offense. A Class C misdemeanor alone generally falls outside the rule, and imprisonment after a felony conviction means revocation. A deferred adjudication that was completed and dismissed generally is not treated as a conviction, though exceptions exist. The agency has to weigh the nature of the offense, how long ago it was, your work history, your rehabilitation and how you handled supervision, which is why mitigation collected early counts.

Chapter 53 covers convictions, but every agency also has its own statute and rules. Many ask a licensee to report an arrest or a charge within a short window, and some open a file on an arrest alone. Missing the report can be a violation by itself. Our guide to reporting duties for license holders shows how to locate the rule for your license, and we confirm the deadline on the first call.

Two groups deserve a word. Real estate license holders and applicants answer to the Texas Real Estate Commission, which looks hard at theft, fraud and misrepresentation because the work is built on trust with clients and funds. Educators answer to the State Board for Educator Certification, and a district may act on an employee’s arrest before the certificate is touched. Pilots must report certain motor vehicle actions to the FAA, and commercial drivers can be disqualified by a DWI conviction even if the car was personal. Healthcare practitioners also face the National Practitioner Data Bank, which receives reports of adverse licensure actions. An arrest alone is not an NPDB event, but a board’s discipline can be, so the goal is to resolve the criminal case in a way that leaves the board little to act on.

Students: UT Austin, Texas State, ACC and Campus Discipline

Every school has its own conduct process, and it moves independently of the court. At the University of Texas at Austin, Texas State University, St. Edward’s University, Huston-Tillotson University, Austin Community College and the others, administrators can act on an arrest alone with an interim suspension, a no-contact order or removal from housing, sometimes within days. Many schools decide by a preponderance of the evidence, which means more likely than not, so a student can be found responsible after a dismissal or an acquittal. Scholarships, athletic eligibility and campus employment often carry conduct conditions of their own, and some require you to report an arrest.

Allegations of sexual misconduct, dating violence or stalking bring Title IX into the picture. The school’s own coordinator investigates under the school’s policy and the federal rules in effect, and police are not part of it. Depending on that policy, you may have the right to written notice, an advisor, the evidence file and a hearing where questions go to the other side. Anything you hand the school may later reach prosecutors, so we line it up with the criminal defense first.

Younger students are treated differently. Texas prosecutes anyone 17 or older as an adult, and a younger child usually goes to juvenile court. School districts in Cedar Park, Round Rock and the surrounding area also discipline on their own under Chapter 37 of the Education Code, which can lead to a disciplinary alternative education program or expulsion regardless of what the court does. Federal student aid no longer hinges on most drug convictions as it once did, but scholarships, housing contracts and graduate or professional applications may still ask about arrests.

Federal Charges Against Service Members, Professionals and Students

Some cases belong in federal court. Austin is the seat of the Austin Division of the Western District of Texas, and federal prosecutors there bring charges such as fraud, counterfeiting, identity theft, firearm and drug trafficking offenses. Offenses on federal property, and offenses involving federal programs or federal employees, can also be charged federally. Federal procedure differs from state procedure in the grand jury process, the discovery rules and the sentencing guidelines, and a federal conviction can end a clearance, a federal job or a license at once. If you think you are the subject of a federal investigation, do not speak to agents without counsel. Our Austin felony attorney hub covers the most serious of these charges in more detail.

Veterans Court and Other Ways a Case Can End

Travis County has listed a veterans treatment court, a docket for veterans whose offense is tied to a service-connected condition such as post-traumatic stress disorder or a traumatic brain injury. The county describes it as voluntary, with entry subject to the prosecutor’s approval, a screening process and an application submitted through an attorney, and a program of 12 to 24 months. It does not fit every case, and the request is stronger when it is made early with documentation behind it.

Other endings depend on the facts: dismissal when the evidence fails, a lesser offense, pretrial diversion or deferred adjudication. Use care with the last two, because some military, clearance and licensing rules count a deferred adjudication or diversion as a conviction for their own purposes even if the civilian record would not. We find out how each decision-maker counts the result before you agree. If you are on probation and the State has moved to revoke, an Austin probation lawyer can step in, since a revocation can hurt a career as much as the first case.

Charges That Raise the Risk to Your Career

Any charge can reach a career, but the categories below do it most often. Each has its own hub on this site.

• DWI. A DWI lawyer in Austin handles the case that can also carry an Article 113 charge for a service member, a license action for a pilot or driver and a clearance review.
• Drugs. The military pursues drug use under Article 112a, often through testing. A drug possession attorney in Austin works on the civilian charge that also raises clearance, license and school questions.
• Family violence. A conviction for a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence brings a federal firearm ban, which can end duties that require a weapon, and an allegation can lead to a command referral. An Austin domestic violence attorney addresses both.
• Theft and fraud. Boards, employers and commands read a dishonesty offense as a question about character, even when the penalty is light. A misdemeanor lawyer in Austin can push for a disposition that blunts that effect.
• Sex offenses. An accusation of this kind can mean Article 120 exposure, a Title IX case on campus and registration questions in court, and it calls for a sex crimes attorney in Austin ready to handle all three.
• Weapons. A gun on a base, in a car or on a campus is governed by different rules for a service member and for a student, and a weapons charges attorney in Austin can identify which ones apply to you.

What to Do in the First Days After an Arrest or Notice of Investigation

Early choices are the hardest to reverse, and the steps are the same whether the other side is a command, a board or a school. Our overview of your rights during a police stop covers the roadside and booking stage.

1. Say little. Give your name and identifying details, ask for a lawyer and stop. That applies to police, military investigators, supervisors, deans and board staff.
2. Hold your signature. A statement, an Article 15 acceptance, a board waiver, a discharge request, a resignation or a school form should reach a lawyer before it reaches the other side.
3. Find the reporting rule. Your unit, security office, licensing agency or school may require a report on a short deadline. Tell us which applies or let us find it.
4. Keep a record. Write down what happened while you remember it and save every notice, text and email. Share the notes only with your lawyer.
5. Stay away from the complaining witness and stay off social media about the case.
6. Tell us your status at the start. Branch, years of service, license type or school changes how we handle the criminal case.

How We Handle Both Cases at Once

The two cases share witnesses and paperwork, so they have to be managed together.

• Evidence first. We examine the stop, the search, the testing and the statements, and file a motion to suppress when the facts support one.
• Outcome planning. Before we recommend any offer, we ask how a commander, a board or a dean would read it.
• Controlled statements. Anything sent to a command, a board or a school is reviewed first because it can be used in the criminal case.
• Early mitigation. Service records, evaluations, treatment, employment history and character letters help in negotiation and in every administrative hearing.
• Calendar control. A court setting, a board response and a campus hearing can land in the same week, and we track all of them.

Limiting the Record Afterward

Once a case ends well, you will want to know what remains on your record. A dismissal or acquittal may support an expunction, and a completed deferred adjudication may allow nondisclosure after a waiting period, with exclusions for some offenses. Our guides to Texas expunction and Texas nondisclosure orders lay out the rules, and an expunction lawyer in Austin can tell you if your case qualifies. The relief has limits. Some licensing agencies can still see nondisclosed information, and federal and professional forms may keep asking after a state record is sealed, so we read each form before advising you how to answer. If you hope to enlist or commission, the moral waiver process will consider an old arrest, so talk to us before you answer a recruiter.

Why Austin Clients With a Career at Stake Choose Barton & Associates

When a paycheck, a license or a degree depends on the result, choose a team that sees the criminal case as the base of everything else. Gary J. Barton, our founding attorney, is a former Capital Murder prosecutor, is Board Certified in Criminal Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization and has tried more than 100 cases to a jury. Managing attorney Duane Graeff has practiced more than 26 years in Texas state and federal courts, which helps when a federal agency or installation is involved. Jim Erickson, a senior trial attorney in our Austin office, has defended criminal cases since 1985 and has more than 250 jury verdicts in over 60 counties. They work alongside the other criminal defense trial attorneys at the firm. The State Bar of Texas directory lets you check any Texas lawyer’s license and board certification, and we encourage you to check ours.

• Civilian lawyers, working with your team. We take the Travis County or federal case and advise on the military, licensing or school matter, and we coordinate with any military defense counsel or campus advisor you already have.
• We read the evidence before we discuss a plea. The stop, the search, the testing and the statements come first, and the discharge request, license negotiation or school settlement comes later, if at all.
• Both exposures, explained. You get the realistic range on the criminal charge and what each choice could mean for your service, license or enrollment.
• No promises about results. No lawyer can make one, and we tell you plainly where a case is strong and where it is weak.

The Austin office is at 316 W 12th Street, Suite 400, Austin, Texas 78701, and directions to our office are a click away. For the first meeting, bring whatever you have: the citation or charging paper, any command notice, Article 15 paperwork or board letter, any licensing agency or school notice and the name of any counsel already assigned. If some of it is missing, call anyway.

Frequently Asked Questions From Service Members, Professionals and Students in Austin

If I am a service member arrested in Austin, who handles my case?

Both sides may. The Travis County or Williamson County prosecutor takes the civilian charge, and your command may open its own matter whether or not the prosecutor files. Many commands expect you to report the arrest yourself, and the rule differs by unit. Until you have spoken with a lawyer, say nothing about the facts to your chain of command, investigators or co-workers. We look at the bond, the evidence and your reporting duties together, because a missed report can create a second problem.

What is an Article 15, and should I take it?

An Article 15 is nonjudicial punishment, a way for a commander to punish a minor offense without a court-martial. Depending on rank, it can include reduction in grade, forfeiture of pay, extra duty and restriction. In most cases you may refuse it and demand a trial by court-martial, except for a member attached to or embarked in a vessel. Refusing has risks, since a court-martial can bring heavier punishment and a conviction, and accepting can still support a later separation. The services generally let you consult military defense counsel first, and you should, then talk with us if a civilian charge is pending, since your Article 15 response can matter there.

Do I need a civilian lawyer for a court-martial or UCMJ case in Texas?

You are entitled to military defense counsel at no charge for the military case, and you may hire a civilian lawyer for it at your own expense, either alongside military counsel or in place of them. Military defense counsel generally does not appear in a Texas or federal civilian court, so the civilian charge needs its own lawyer in any event. Many service members keep their assigned counsel and add a civilian lawyer for the civilian case, and we coordinate so that nothing said or filed in one case harms the other.

How does a court-martial differ from an administrative separation?

A court-martial is a trial. It is a criminal proceeding under the UCMJ, and a conviction can mean confinement, forfeited pay, reduced rank and a punitive discharge. Administrative separation is something a command does without a trial, on grounds such as a civilian conviction or a pattern of misconduct, and it ends in an Honorable, General or Other Than Honorable characterization. The proof required is a preponderance of the evidence, not proof beyond a reasonable doubt, so an acquittal in civilian court does not always stop it. Enlisted members generally can ask for a board hearing at six or more years of service or when Other Than Honorable is proposed.

How do bad conduct and dishonorable discharges compare with an Other Than Honorable discharge?

Other Than Honorable is the lowest result an administrative separation can produce. Bad Conduct and Dishonorable Discharges are punitive, which means only a court-martial can impose them and only after a conviction. The Dishonorable Discharge is the most serious and carries a federal ban on firearms. Benefit eligibility is the VA’s decision under its own rules, so a poor characterization does not automatically cancel every benefit. Discharge review boards and boards for correction of military records can look at a discharge later, but an upgrade is never assured, which is why preventing the bad outcome beats fixing it.

Will an arrest affect my security clearance?

It can, and the review can start before any conviction. Holders are generally expected to tell a security manager about arrests and charges, and a clearance may be suspended while the case is open. Adjudicators look at the conduct, its timing, any pattern and your candor, and hiding an arrest usually does more harm than the arrest. Speak with us before you write or sign any report, since it is also a statement about the incident.

Must I report an arrest to my licensing board?

The answer comes from your agency’s own rules. Some want a report of an arrest or charge within a fixed number of days, others wait for a conviction or the next renewal, so check as soon as you are arrested, because a missed report can be a violation by itself. Under Chapter 53 of the Occupations Code, an agency generally acts after a conviction for an offense directly related to the work, an offense on the Article 42A.054 list or a sexually violent offense, and it must weigh the time that has passed and your rehabilitation. The aim is to end the criminal case in a way that gives the agency less to act on.

Can a criminal charge cost me my real estate license?

It can, depending on the charge. The Texas Real Estate Commission looks closely at offenses involving dishonesty, such as theft, fraud and forgery, because the work depends on trust and the handling of other people’s money. Applicants are asked about criminal history, and license holders may have reporting duties, so check the commission’s current rules and any deadline right away. A dismissal, a deferred adjudication that is completed or a reduction to a lesser offense can matter a great deal, and we plan the criminal case around the license from the start.

What happens to a teacher’s certificate after an arrest?

Two things can happen on separate tracks. The school district may place an employee on leave or begin its own review, and the State Board for Educator Certification can investigate the certificate. Criminal history is part of that review, and the outcome of the criminal case matters. Educators should ask a lawyer about reporting duties before talking to a principal or human resources, because what is said there can reach the board and the prosecutor.

Will my school still discipline me if the criminal charge goes away?

It can. Campus discipline is its own process under the school’s code, and many schools decide by a preponderance of the evidence, so a finding of responsibility is possible after a dismissal or an acquittal. A school may also act before the criminal case ends by suspending you for the time being or removing you from housing. Title IX cases add procedures such as notice of the allegations, a chance to respond, access to the evidence and an advisor. Because a statement to the school may become available to prosecutors, we coordinate it with the defense first.

My child may be expelled from a school in the Cedar Park or Round Rock area. What can we do?

Public school discipline in Texas is governed by Chapter 37 of the Education Code. Certain conduct requires removal from the regular campus, other conduct leaves the decision to the district, and the district must give the family a hearing or conference. The criminal or juvenile case and the school case run separately, and a statement made at the school hearing can be used in the other. A person who is 17 or older is prosecuted as an adult in Texas, while a younger child is generally handled in juvenile court. Call us before the hearing so we can look at the record and the deadlines.

Is there a veterans court in Travis County?

Travis County has listed a veterans treatment court for veterans whose offense is linked to a service-connected condition, such as post-traumatic stress disorder or a traumatic brain injury. The county describes it as voluntary, with an application submitted through an attorney, screening, the prosecutor’s approval and a program of 12 to 24 months. We can tell you whether your charge and history make it worth pursuing and confirm that the court is currently accepting cases, since entry depends on documentation that is easier to build early.

I serve in the Texas National Guard. Which rules apply to me?

It depends on your status when the incident happened. A member on federal orders is generally subject to the UCMJ, while a member serving on state orders is generally subject to the Texas Code of Military Justice. In either case a civilian arrest can bring a command response, and the civilian court is a separate proceeding. Tell us your orders status, unit and years of service on the first call, because they decide which processes you may face.

Can my military status or a criminal charge affect a divorce or custody case?

Yes. Texas family courts decide custody on the best interest of the child, and an allegation of violence, drugs or drinking can enter that analysis. Deployments, training and a move to a new duty station change possession schedules, and a drop in rank, pay or employment after a discharge can be a reason to ask for a support change. Testimony you give in the family case can also be used in the criminal case. If you are divorcing, talk with an Austin divorce attorney at our firm, and about children, an Austin child custody lawyer. They coordinate with your defense.

Talk With a Military Defense Lawyer in Austin About Your Case

Early help keeps more options open, because reporting deadlines and board responses often run on short schedules. Talk with a criminal defense attorney in Austin at Barton & Associates about the charge, the investigation and what to do before you report, respond or sign.

Call our Austin office at 512-THE-FIRM (843-3476) or complete the online Free Consultation form to schedule a confidential meeting. Our office is at 316 W 12th Street, Suite 400, Austin, Texas 78701, and on-site consultations are by appointment only.

Main Category: Criminal Defense Austin
Barton & Associates, Attorneys at Law
316 W 12th St Suite 400, Austin, TX 78701
Office: 512-THE-FIRM (843-3476)