Is an adult eligible to receive a probated sentence from a jury if he has a juvenile TYC committment for a felony?

42.12 speaks only of a "conviction" for a felony.

Adjudication as a juvenile is not a conviction, insofar as probation eligibility is concerned. It does amount to a conviction for enhancement purposes, but that is only because the enhancement statute expressly makes it so. (For more confusion on the meaning of a conviction, see the repeat sex offender law that makes deferred adjudication a conviction or federal immigration law that makes deferred adjudicatin a conviction.) In the wonderful world of the Penal Code, things mean whatever we say they mean.

By the way, this question has come up before. For that thread, go to this link.

Posters are encouraged to try the search function at the top of this user group for past postings that might be relevant to their question. After several years of postings, many answers are already here somewhere.

Thanks, John.

Thanks also for the heads up on the search function. I've never used it on this forum but I'll give it a whirl next time.

If you can add a TYC paragraph (offense had to occur after 1/1/96, I believe -- penal code refers you to the family code) on a 1st degree, the defendant becomes, in essence, not eligible for probation. It's a loophole in the law.

The reason? If you add a paragraph to a first degree, the bottom range becomes 15 years. Probation is only an option if the jury sentences the defendant to 10 years or less. Well, if his minimum is 15, then he can't get probation! For voir dire purposes, the defendant is "probation eligible" because the jury, in theory, could find the enhancement paragraph "not true."

Be careful if you add a TYC paragraph because it is not a "conviction." Use the proper juvenile adjudication language. Also, what your charge AND you jury argument!

I believe there is case law to the contrary, allowing an eligible person to get probation even if the punishment range starts at 15 years. I recall that ruling in a drug case with a larger amount of drugs. I do not have the citation handy.