Asked 1/27/2016 – Arlington, TX

There is a felony assault and impeded breathing against who I’m dating. He is already a felon with a past history of violence that took place year s ago. He did time in the past for it and it was 10 years ago without any history again until now. They want to give him 25 to life based off his history more so then this case. He is doing a jail run on the 1st of Feb and I’d like to know if you’re tried for your past that you did time for already, isn’t that almost double jeopardy and what is a jail run for inmates? Thank youThere is a felony assault and impeded breathing against who I’m dating. He is already a felon with a past history of violence that took place year s ago. He did time in the past for it and it was 10 years ago without any history again until now. They want to give him 25 to life based off his history more so then this case. He is doing a jail run on the 1st of Feb and I’d like to know if you’re tried for your past that you did time for already, isn’t that almost double jeopardy and what is a jail run for inmates? Thank you

Answer

You cannot be tried twice for the same thing (assuming there was a final disposition on the case the first time). The State CAN, however, enhance the punishment range of an offense if it is shown that a defendant has been previously convicted of other offenses. It appears your boyfriend is classified as a habitual violator, meaning that he has at least 2 prior felony convictions, so his punishment range is increased 2 levels and the potential minimum jail time is increased as well. A jail run means the court will order defendants brought down to court from jail in order to process the case, either by plea bargain or setting the case for trial.