Criminal Defense Attorney Hays County Texas — San Marcos, Kyle, Buda

Criminal Defense Attorney Hays County Texas — San Marcos, Kyle, Buda

If you are facing criminal charges in Hays County — whether in San Marcos, Kyle, Buda, or anywhere else in the county — you need an attorney who knows these courts and understands how the Hays County District Attorney’s office operates. Hays County prosecutors are among the hardest on defendants in Central Texas. General criminal defense experience is not enough here.

Call (512) 369-3737 any time. Attorneys answer after hours.

Kenneth Hines — Hays and Caldwell County Criminal Defense

Kenneth Hines is an associate attorney at the Law Office of David D. White, PLLC. He has been practicing criminal defense in Hays and Caldwell County courts since 2007 — nearly 20 years of results in these specific courtrooms. He handles the majority of the firm’s Hays and Caldwell County cases and has built the kind of institutional knowledge that only comes from nearly two decades of showing up in the same courts, in front of the same judges, across hundreds of cases.

Kenneth’s results in Hays and Caldwell Counties speak for themselves. Charges dismissed. Sentences reduced. Clients who walked away from situations that looked unwinnable on paper. That track record is built on preparation, constitutional analysis, and the willingness to take a case to trial when the evidence demands it.

Kenneth also leads the firm’s expunction practice statewide — helping clients who have earned a dismissal clear their records completely so the arrest does not follow them for the rest of their lives.

David White and Taylor Kacir are available alongside Kenneth for complex cases requiring additional attorney involvement.

The Hays County DA’s Office — What You Are Up Against

The Hays County District Attorney’s office is one of the toughest prosecutorial offices in Central Texas. Defendants who walk into Hays County court expecting the same flexibility they might find in Travis County are often caught off guard by how hard prosecutors push.

Hays County prosecutors are aggressive on drug charges in particular. The county sits along IH-35 between Austin and San Antonio — a major drug interdiction corridor — and the DA’s office treats drug cases accordingly. Plea offers are frequently harsher than what defendants facing similar charges in neighboring counties receive. Trial is a realistic option in Hays County more often than people expect, and Kenneth Hines has the trial experience to take cases there when the facts support it.

Understanding this prosecutorial culture before walking into a negotiation is not optional. It is the starting point for building an effective defense strategy.

Common Criminal Charges in Hays County

Drug charges. Drug possession and delivery cases dominate the Hays County criminal docket. IH-35 runs through the heart of the county and traffic stops along that corridor generate a high volume of drug arrests. Many of those stops have Fourth Amendment problems — the officer lacked reasonable suspicion for the stop, the search exceeded what was legally permitted, or the chain of custody from the arrest to the lab has gaps. When the constitutional foundation of a drug case is defective, the evidence gets suppressed and the case gets dismissed.

This firm obtained dismissal of a drug possession charge in Hays County after the court found the defendant had been detained beyond the scope of the traffic stop without probable cause. The drugs were suppressed. The case was dismissed. That result is available in every drug case where the facts support a suppression challenge — and in Hays County, those facts come up often.

Assault and family violence. Assault family violence charges in Hays County are prosecuted aggressively. The no-drop prosecution policy means the DA’s office will push forward even when the complaining witness recants or refuses to cooperate. The defense investigation — communications between the parties, medical evidence, consistency of the account across multiple tellings — is what creates the path to dismissal or reduction.

DWI. DWI cases in Hays County start with a traffic stop and turn on whether that stop and the subsequent arrest were constitutionally valid. The 15-day ALR window to contest the license suspension begins the day of arrest. Missing it results in automatic suspension before the criminal case is even resolved.

Felony charges. Hays County felony cases are heard in the district courts in San Marcos. The stakes on a felony conviction in Hays County are identical to anywhere else in Texas — but the path to resolution is shaped by local prosecutorial culture, and Kenneth Hines knows that culture after nearly 20 years in these courts.

How Drug Cases Get Dismissed in Hays County

The Fourth Amendment applies in Hays County exactly as it does everywhere else in Texas. An officer needs reasonable suspicion to make a stop. A search requires either a warrant, probable cause, or valid consent. When those requirements are not met, the evidence that follows is inadmissible.

• The stop has to be legal. If the officer pulled someone over without a legitimate traffic violation or articulable reasonable suspicion of criminal activity, the stop is unconstitutional. Everything found during that stop — drugs, weapons, paraphernalia — is fruit of the poisonous tree.
• The search has to be legal. A traffic stop does not automatically authorize a search of the vehicle. The officer needs independent probable cause or a valid consent that was not coerced. Telling someone they have to consent to a search is not consent — it is coercion, and it makes the search unconstitutional.
• The detention cannot be extended without justification. Once the purpose of a traffic stop is complete, the driver must be free to go unless the officer has developed independent reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. Detaining someone beyond that point to wait for a drug dog or to conduct a fishing expedition violates the Fourth Amendment.

This firm has successfully challenged all three of these issues in Hays County courts. When the constitutional foundation of a drug case collapses, so does the prosecution.

Hays County Courts

Hays County District Courts handle felony criminal cases and are located at the Hays County Government Center at 712 S. Stagecoach Trail in San Marcos.

Hays County Courts at Law handle misdemeanor criminal cases — DWI first offense, assault, drug possession under one gram, and Class A and B misdemeanors generally.

San Marcos, Kyle, and Buda all fall within Hays County jurisdiction. If you were arrested anywhere in Hays County, your case will be processed through these courts.

Serving Hays County from Austin and Georgetown

The Law Office of David D. White, PLLC serves clients facing criminal charges throughout Hays County. Kenneth Hines handles the majority of Hays County cases with nearly 20 years of experience in these specific courts. The firm’s Austin office at 608 W 12th St is approximately 30 minutes from San Marcos and 20 minutes from Buda and Kyle.

A recent Hays County Collision Involving Death case was resolved through deferred adjudication community supervision after Kenneth Hines rejected the State’s ten-year prison offer and proceeded to an open plea before the court. (A separately represented co-defendant in the same incident received fifteen years in prison.) Full case details are on our case results page.

Call (512) 369-3737 any time — attorneys answer after hours.

Free consultation. Flat-rate fees. No obligation.