3g Offenses

From the Law Office of Alison Grinter in Dallas, Texas

What are 3g Offenses?

"3g" offenses, as they are called, are those crimes named in the Texas Code of Criminal Procedure § 42.12 Sec. 3(g). These crimes have been singled out by the legislature as deserving special treatment (read: harsher, more inflexible punishment) 

Murder, Capital Murder,Indecency with a Child, Aggravated Kidnapping, Sexual Assault, Aggravated Sexual Assault, Aggravated Robbery, offenses under the Controlled Substances Act involving use of a child or a second Drug Free Zone offense, Injury to a Child, Injury to an Elderly Person, Injury to a Disabled Person, Sexual Performance by a Child, or offenses where there is a finding of a Deadly Weapon.

How are they different?

3g offenses are different in a lot of ways.

• No JUDGE can grant Probation to those convicted of 3g offenses. Probation can be given by a jury in many cases, and judges can still, in many cases give Deferred Adjudication.
  
• Bail on a 3g charge can not be reduced without notice to the state and a hearing.
  
• Those sentenced to prison time on a 3g charge are not eligible for parole until the actual time served equals one-half of the sentence imposed or 30 years, whichever is less, without consideration of any good conduct time, and can not be paroled until they have served two years even if the prison sentence was less than four years
  
• Not eligible for bail pending appeal regardless of the sentence.
  

Statute

Texas Code of Criminal Procedure 42.12 Sec. 3g.
Text of subsection as amended by Acts 2007, 80th Leg., R.S., Ch. 405, Sec. 1

(a) The provisions of Section 3 of this article do not apply:
   (1) to a defendant adjudged guilty of an offense under:
        (A) Section 19.02, Penal Code (Murder);
        (B) Section 19.03, Penal Code (Capital murder);
        (C) Section 21.11(a)(1), Penal Code (Indecency with a child);
        (D) Section 20.04, Penal Code (Aggravated kidnapping);
        (E) Section 22.021, Penal Code (Aggravated sexual assault);
        (F) Section 29.03, Penal Code (Aggravated robbery);
        (G) Chapter 481, Health and Safety Code, for which punishment is increased under:
             (i) Section 481.140, Health and Safety Code; or
             (ii) Section 481.134(c), (d), (e), or (f), Health and Safety Code, if it is shown that the defendant has been previously convicted of an offense for which punishment was increased under any of those subsections;
        (H) Section 22.011, Penal Code (Sexual assault);
           or
        (I) Section 22.04(a)(1), Penal Code (Injury to a child, elderly individual, or disabled individual), if the offense is punishable as a felony of the first degree and the victim of the offense is a child; or
    (2) to a defendant when it is shown that a deadly weapon as defined in Section 1.07, Penal Code, was used or exhibited during the commission of a felony offense or during immediate flight therefrom, and that the defendant used or exhibited the deadly weapon or was a party to the offense and knew that a deadly weapon would be used or exhibited. On an affirmative finding under this subdivision, the trial court shall enter the finding in the judgment of the court. On an affirmative finding that the deadly weapon was a firearm, the court shall enter that finding in its judgment.

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