I have a defendant charged with indecency, 2nd degree. He has a 1971 prior charge of Maiming that was reduced to Aggravated Assault, which he pleaded guilty to and was convicted.

Question: Was Aggravated Assault a felony back in 1971? I cannot find a copy of the judgment, only his stipulation and judicial confession and a docket sheet.

Obviously, this impacts the defendant's ability to receive probation from jury.

in 1971 (the year Paul and Linda McCartney formed Wings), the punishment for aggravated assault was a fine of not less than 25 dollars and no more than 1000 dollars and jail time of not less than one month, but no more than 2 years. this was in article 1148 Vernon's P.C. I found a case cite detailing the punishment range at Mesa v. State, 462 S.W.2d 600, n. 1 (Tex. Crim. App. 1971). I also found another case from 1969 where a defendant was found guilty of "misdemeanor aggravated assault." Chavez v. State, 462 S.W.2d 283 (Tex. Crim. App. 1971). hope that helps.

David's post is interesting. Since the maximum punishment was apparently 2 years, it would appear that the crime could be a felony. When comparing laws of different jurisdictions (especially to federal offenses, which are frequently not described as felony or misdemeanor), one key seems to be that the maximum punishment is more than 1 year, which is generally accepted to mean that the offense may be considered a felony (mostly arising in enhancement situations).

In 1971 aggravated assault was a misdemeanor.

Thanks for your responses. It looks like I'm stuck with a very remote conviction for punishment evidence.