Information about process

If he doesn't have an attorney, the first thing you should consider doing is helping to hire him a good lawyer. Obviously, a sexual assault is a serious accusation. The range of punishment for sexual assault can be anywhere from 2 years to 20 years in prison. Depending on the age of the alleged victim, the range can go even higher.  If your brother has claimed indigency, the district court may have already appointed him an attorney. That is not something that would make me feel very comfortable. If he has the resources on his own, or help from family, he needs to hire someone good, if he wants a chance to avoid spending years in prison. You can send your brother a letter through "snail mail." Be careful, though. All letters are opened and screened. Same thing with phone calls. So, if you are able to write him or speak to him over the phone, do not discuss the facts of his case (i.e. who, what, where, when, how, with respect to the allegations). To see if the jail has any provision for a non-citizen to contact family outside the states, I would suggest you contact the jail directly. Do a Google search for the jail. For example, my practice is mainly in Harris County, Texas. So, I would do a search for the 'Harris County Sheriffs Department,' as it is the Sheriffs Dept who has authority of the jails in every County in the State of Texas. Once you find the appropriate Sheriffs Dept web page, you should be able to find a link to the "Jail," or, at least, a phone number.  Yes, theoretically, he can be held for 180 days. The critical issue is whether he is indicted within the allotted time. The state has 90 days to seek an indictment. After he is indicted, to be honest, there is every potential it could take much longer than even 180 days for his case to come to trial. It really just depends on which County he is being held in. There are a ton of issues a hired attorney would be investigating at this point. First, your brother's attorney should be trying to get him a bond. He may be held currently without a bond due to his citizenship status. But, there are still things an experienced attorney would explore to see if they can get him out while the case is pending. Also, if this is a case where there really is no evidence, it may be worthwhile to explore something we call a "grand jury packet," to se if the case could be killed before it is even indicted. Usually, these kinds of cases are very complex. So, there would be a lot of evidence to seek and pore over. This is not the kind of thing he should take lightly, even if he believes 100% that there is no evidence against him.