No one but Bobby Joe Springfield knows what induced him to break into a building owned by Larry McClendon on December 16, 2007 and burglarize the premises. After 18 months of court dates, Bobby Springfield entered into a plea bargain agreement and pled guilty to the offense of criminal trespass and burglary. He was given six months supervision and a $300 fine by the Honorable Dorothy Shead.



Bobby Joe Springfield could have had it a lot worse. He was indicted in Dallas County on a state felony charge that could have caused him to go to prison for up to two years and pay $10,000 in fines had this case gone to trial. In the plea bargain agreement, Bobby Springfield pled guilty to the charges of criminal trespass and burglary and received to what some may feel is a slap on the wrist.

No one knows why Bobby Springfield decided to break into the building. Was it a want of money? As it was close to Christmas, it could have been a desperate act of a desperate man. Most burglaries, however, are done to get money for drugs. Was he a drug addict looking for things to pawn and cash so he could get a fix? No one knows.

In the state of Texas, the law is taken very seriously. Texas is one of the states in the United States that allows executions. Those who commit crimes in Texas are usually punished severely for doing so. Although criminal trespass burglary are no longer capital crimes any longer in Texas, they do carry a severe penalty. Why the judge let him off with the plea bargain that was struck by his attorney, Brian Sanford, is known only to the attorneys involved. Prosecutors work for the state, manage a heavy caseload and look for plea bargain deals as often as possible in order to avoid court. Defense attorneys also look for plea bargains as a way to get their clients off the hook for a much more serious charge.

So Bobby Joe Springfield got off the hook for criminal trespass and burglary. An Order Of Deferred Adjudication was signed by Judge Stead on January 21, 2009. As part of his supervision, he will have to steer clear of any trouble with the law, or he can end up behind bars for breaking the agreement. He will also have to pay up the $300 in fines that were ordered by the judge as well as court costs that amounted to nearly that much as part of the agreement.

A Class B Misdemeanor does not usually carry a jail sentence, even in Texas, although if the supervision is violated, the maximum punishment can be allotted to Bobby Joe Springfield. Whether Bobby Springfield learned his lesson from this experience and has mended his ways is still up in the air. He got a lucky break in a plea bargain and should count his lucky stars that he was born 50 years later than he was or he would most likely had seen jail time.