Texas laws are particularly open to providing second chances and oftentimes a rare mishap, a night of bad decisions or a past toxic relationship, can put one in handcuffs, with a lesson to base the future on, and with the help of a good attorney, a resulting dismissal for the charge one was arrested for.
An Expunction in Texas is essentially a deletion of records of arrest and prosecution that may be granted upon proof that the case one was charged with was dismissed, or one achieved a “not-guilty” at trial, or a statute of limitations period passed from date of arrest with no resulting charge in place. In some cases, if charged, the statute of limitations passed, or a waiting period passed and the State no longer wishes to prosecute a person. Pre-trial diversion programs, when competently completed, may result in a dismissal where one may expunge the record of arrest, but the District Attorney’s Office may retain the record of prosecution, which isn’t public, for administrative tracking of those who completed the program but then reoffend.
It’s not as simple as many make it out to be and if it was extremely simple, the Expunction process probably wouldn’t be fair in distinguishing the folks who had rare issues in their lives from folks that knowingly caused so much harm to others, it would be difficult for their own mother to forgive them.
Sometimes, rather than getting a case dismissed or beaten at trial, one pleads to an offense as a deferred adjudication, which after a period of time, may result in a dismissal, so instead of an Expunction, one may get a Deferred Adjudication, which may be non-disclosed, through a Petition for Non-Disclosure with the Court. A non-disclosure may keep a record of arrest and prosecution from public entities, but government entities may still access the criminal event for which the case was dismissed.
For more information or for assistance with expungement of a criminal record, call The Barrera Law Firm at 956-428-2822 or contact us online.
